Japan's ODA in the 21st century

In this article, Atsushi Kusano, Professor of Policy Management at Keio University, Tokyo, discusses the challenges facing the Japanese government as it continues its active promotion of official development assistance (ODA). The government is being exposed to competing pressures from the domestic and international communities. In response to these pressures, Professor Kusano argues that the Japanese government should improve the transparency of its ODA program, think strategically and set clear priorities for assistance, and incr ease public understanding and support. However, the future of Japan's ODA program, he says, depends not only on the efforts of the Japanese government, but also on the positive action by the people of Japan and by developing countries themselves.     

Two moments in African thought: ideas in Africa's international relations

How ideas influence Africa's international relations is an interesting subject of scholarly inquiry. This article illuminates the authors and events that shaped the germination and dissemination of ideas during two critical moments in Africa's international relations. The argument is that while ideas are important in Africa's international relations, there is a dearth of universal African ideas that could permeate the heterogenous and fragmented African political landscape.     

Ideology in brick and tile: Timurid architecture of the 21st century

This study analyses the impact of politics on urban development and, in particular, on Timurid heritage in present-day Uzbekistan. It outlines the problem of landscape manipulation for the advancement of a political ideology. After presenting a brief overview of Tsarist and Soviet restoration practices, the article focuses on the post-Soviet nation-building schemes through public iconography, urban renewal measures and heritage construction. Architectural and epigraphic restorations of Timurid monuments in Samarqand and new constructions in Tashkent provide a valuable illustrative framework. As world heritage sites, the Samarqand monuments are examined both in their historical and current socio-political contexts; the role of UNESCO is also analysed. The study benefits from and contributes to critical heritage studies and urban development as a narrative of power-making and relational space.     

Revisiting the national question and rethinking the political trajectory of Africa in the 21st century

Abstract

The national question in postcolonial Africa encapsulates the totality of national and social challenges that needs resolution. These include the burden of building postcolonial nations, reconstructing postcolonial states, promoting economic development, entrenching popular democracy, defending national sovereignty, consolidating political power, and eventually achieving regional integration and pan-African unity, as long term goals. To resolve these issues, founding fathers crafted different national projects as working ideological and political frameworks, aimed at resolving the national question. This article builds on the continuing concern about the national question, to carry out a critical historiographical study of the nature and conflicted agendas of national project(s), while at the same time providing substatiation for their resuscitation during the current age of failing capitalist neo-liberal project. The premise of the article is that the national question remains relevant beyond the 20^th century as it entails dealing with unresolved national and social questions including challenges of converting territorial nationalism into pan-Africanism as well as democratising global asymmetrical power politics in the 21^st century.     

South Africa's political miracle: The international dimension

This article raises some important questions such as does Nepad have what it takes to create change and bring added value amid all the many other development initiatives? Is it sustainable? Does it have the credibility to fly?     

The Baltic Sea region in international relations of the twentieth century: The seminal nature of the interwar period

Abstract

The article addresses the idea and problems of political cooperation and integration of the Baltic Sea countries in the twentieth century from the point of view of a small nation. In the interwar period such cooperation between both old and new nations was virtually non-existent. Still, the second half of the 1920s became a sort of prediction of the direction in which the relationships between the small nations on the Baltic might develop when the region was not dominated by imperialist great power policies. The end of the twentieth century in this region differs radically from the first half of the century in both the former and the latter. Yet the developments of today signify the realization of the visions of that period.     

China's political discourse towards the 21st century: Victimhood, identity, and political power

Political discourse is critical to the legitimisation of China's ruling elite and critically informs its formulation and execution of political action. This study explores the theme of victimhood in China's contemporary political discourse. The constructed nature of political discourse—the ‘official story’ in Benedict Anderson's phrase—draws upon a range of supporting sources. Of central importance is the role of history and one of its key features is the portrayal of China as victim. This offers a distinctive pole of identificatory attachment for the construction of a modernist reading of national Chinese political identity. The study conducts discourse analyses of three primary texts. It is concluded that objectified discursive power remains an influential factor in Chinese politics. “Without legitimacy, words are invalid; invalid words lead man to nowhere” (Mingbuzheng zhe yanbushun; yanbushun zhe shibucheng)—Confucius This paper was presented at the 10th Anniversary Conference of the American Association of Chinese Studies, Washington D.C., 16–17 April 1999. The authors would like to thank their panel discussants, Professor Peter Li and Dr. Gary Rawnsley, for their comments and suggestions on this paper.     

The Commonwealth in the 21st Century

The Commonwealth in the Twenty-First Century finds itself in a difficult predicament. Neither in the 'Global North' nor the post-colonial 'South' do its stakeholders invest in the organisation as a key instrument for international governance. The space which it once occupied as a mediator between rich and poor nations has either closed or been taken over by other entities. But might the Commonwealth find a new role for itself by returning to its roots as a vehicle for the exploration of the commonweal, in particular as a focus of contemporary attempts to democratize the international system? The story of the Commonwealth itself, from its origins as project for a racial imperial oligarchy in the nineteenth century to struggles for its renegotiation as a space of equality, first of 'white dominions' with Britain, and second in the era of Decolonization, is a parable of how rights and participation can be widened. Might the Commonwealth in the Twenty-First century not drive new global conversations about inequality, social and economic rights, and different cosmopolitan futures?     

A battle of principles: South Africa's relations with Iran

This paper provides a detailed case study and theoretical explanation for one of the least appreciated bilateral relationships of democratic South Africa. It analyses South Africa's post-apartheid relations with Iran as a case study to illustrate and discuss the contradictory principles that appear to guide South Africa's foreign policy. South Africa's tempered reaction to Iran's nuclear programme is in contradiction with its non-proliferation stance, but can be understood by looking into the ideology of the ruling African National Congress.     

The Commonwealth in contemporary international relations

The Commonwealth functions in contemporary international relations as a ‘mini’ version of multilateralism, encompassing issues of geopolitics, the global economy, climate change, and human rights and democracy. While essentially an organisation of developing countries, it also includes the United Kingdom and the ‘old Dominions’. There is a particular focus on the role of small states, even though the Commonwealth also includes some very large developing countries. Apart from its global role, the Commonwealth can be significant in regional contexts where there is some concentration of Commonwealth members. The Commonwealth also has a role as a context for civil society organisations. The article provides an assessment of the role of the Commonwealth within these various settings.     

略论21世纪的石油地缘政治学

本文探讨了21世纪石油地缘政治学的基本研究内容,即全球的石油分布、供应和需求与地缘政治的紧密联系及相互影响。在经济全球化时代,随着中国的石油安全与世界石油市场的联系越来越密切,中国应加强对石油地缘政治的研究。     

路在何方:21世纪的印尼华人--对当今印尼华人分离分治的一种文化学思考

本文运用文化学原理,剖析了当今的印尼华人依然分离分治的现实,并指出这决不仅仅是少数人的行为所致,而是印尼华人"两集团四群体"一体多元状态的深刻反映,是印尼华人文化一体性与多元化矛盾运动的必然结果,是不以人们的主观意志和美好愿望为转移的一种文化运作机制所致.因此,大可不必为世纪之交印尼华人大联合大团结之昙花一现而悲观失望、横加指责.不过,鉴于凡印尼华人大联合大团结之际,便是其合法权益得以保障、社会地位得以改善之时,因此,又不可对当今印尼华人的分离分治无动于衷、顺其自然.文章依据印尼华人及其文化的本体性征和运动态势认为,印尼华人应该充分利用当前印尼民族民主运动所给予的最好机遇,在坚持投身于印尼政治改革、经济重振、文化重构、民族重组、国家重建的过程中,努力求同存异,殊途同归,以真正实现华人的大联合大团结,而自觉理性地践履、建构、完善印尼华人文化则是其千头万绪之纲、百废待兴之领,因为印尼华人文化是印尼华人消除派性的"基本建设工程",又是印尼华人整合为一的"求同存异之本",还是印尼华人得以顺时应变、与时俱进、绝处逢生、千秋万代的"安身立命之道",归根结底,是面临挑战与机遇、分化与重组的21世纪印尼华人进行"部族"建设,最终实现以"华族"整体在印尼民族中与各原住民"部族"殊途同归、和谐共济并谋取更好生存、更大发展之出路所在.