The Jewish–Arab Conflict and the Disintegration of the Ancient Jewish Community in the Village of Peqi‘in

The fate of the last community of Arabized Jews in Palestine, in the Galilee village of Peqi’in is surveyed. Peqi’in (al-Baqi’a in Arabic) is still known as the “Village of the Four Religions,” because of its unique mix of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze, who lived together for centuries in good neighborly relations. Although the Arab-Jewish conflict might not have seemed relevant to the Peqi’in Jews, who had lived there for centuries, they were ultimately pushed out of the village. This pioneering study describes how the Peqi’in Jews, who had became a symbol for the Zionist enterprise, were forced from their home, although senior Zionist leaders strove to protect them and even made them a test of the alliance between the Zionists and the Druze. The sequence of events is recounted, from the start of the Mandate through the stillborn attempt to return the Peqi’in Jews to the village after the establishment of Israel.     

Vietnam’s and China’s Diverging Industrial Relations Systems: Cases of Path Dependency

ABSTRACT

This article explains why Vietnam and China, one-party states that allow only one official trade union, are traversing different paths in their trade unions’ institutional structures, the state’s and trade union’s attitudes towards strikes, their willingness to allow independent trade unions and willingness to engage with the international labour union movement. These will be examined in terms of the path dependency of their recent histories, in which changes have been incremental on a path laid down by pre-existing entrenched institutions, until each national system no longer operated properly and new contingencies obliged the leadership to revamp the system. As a consequence of China’s and Vietnam’s divergent path dependencies, when external contingencies finally forced institutional change, countries have veered onto divergent trajectories – the Trans-Pacific Partnership energising Vietnam to debate the acceptance of autonomous trade unions, while Xi Jinping in China has intensified Party control over industrial relations.     

A Unique Denial: Israel's Foreign Policy and the Armenian Genocide

This article focuses on the Israeli politicization of the Armenian genocide from the perspective of foreign policy. Since the early 1980s Israel's official position has been to not recognize the Armenian genocide. The issue of recognition came to the surface in 1982 after Turkey put pressure on Israel to cancel a Holocaust and genocide conference. This article shows that Israel agreed to pressure the conference organizers to cancel the conference in order to secure protection for Jews fleeing Iran and Syria through the Turkish border. This article also explores the role of informal ambassadors in shaping Israel's position on this issue. Using recently declassified archival documents and oral interviews with key Israeli stakeholders, this is the first investigation into the role of informal ambassadors, specifically the Jewish minority in Turkey, and the American Jewish pro-Israeli lobby. The article also addresses a secondary incentive for Israel's refusal to recognize the genocide: ethnic competition between Jews and Armenians as victims of genocide.     

Decolonising Europe? The Colonial Boomerang

The hidden secret at the core of Michael Haneke's remarkable film of that name is Georges Laurent's denunciation of a young Algerian boy who found refuge on his relatives’ farm after his own parents had perished in the infamous 1961 Paris massacre. In a bizarre return of the repressed, the memory of this betrayal invades and destroys his affluent bourgeois existence forty years later. In this article, I attempt to link this return to the “colonial boomerang” of the suburban revolts of 2005 (and 2007) and the “official” occlusion of past crimes against humanity most clearly shown in the case of Maurice Papon, in which the betrayal of France's Jews and the massacre of Algerian demonstrators merge on the grounds of the Veld'Hiv.     

Australian Internment Life Stories: Recapturing Salvatore Ragonesi between the Public Record and Family Memories

Since the Archives Act of 1983 Australia's Second World War internees have had access to their wartime files, yet little attention has focused on whether they and their families have consulted these records, or on their responses to them. From the early 2000s historians and archivists began discussing the need for combining private oral testimony with official records as part of a wider discourse on the importance of life stories for deepening knowledge about the past. This article explores the impact of a father's official internment records on his son, through the son's sharing of memories, lived experience and his reactions to official documents, in order to provide a more complete story of his father's internment and life than either the public record or the oral testimony alone can produce. We argue that Sam Ragonesi's oral testimony, especially concerning his encounter with Salvatore Ragonesi's official records, contributes to a greater shared understanding of experiences of war on the home front by integrating social, cultural and family dimensions hidden from Salvatore's public history. In this way intergenerational experiences help both to contest the collective image of internment and create a more complex picture of the War.     

革新后越南越中边境民族政策及其对中国的影响

越南革新开放以后,越南党和政府坚持以经济建设为中心,对其民族政策尤其是北部边境地区的民族政策大力进行调整,从政治、经济、文化、教育等各方面制定了一系列特殊优惠的边境民族政策,并取得了较为明显的成效。同时,由于历史和现实等多方面原因,中越边境地区有9个少数民族跨境而居,再加上中国一方边境地区客观上存在着的许多现实问题,使得越南所推行的特殊优惠的边境民族政策对中国一方的边境民族地区产生了许多负面影响,不利于我国西南边境民族地区和谐的社会主义新农村的建设和发展。     

Beyond Diplomacy? UK Relations With China Since 1997

In developing a framework for relations with China since 1997, official UK policy towards China has had two main aims: to develop commercial opportunities for UK companies and to promote 'positive' social and political change in China. Although some have argued that this represents a contradictory set of objectives, the counter argument is found in liberal theory. Economic engagement will create a dense network of transnational interactions that will generate political change in China as it becomes deeply enmeshed in the global economy. If we follow the logic of this approach through, then the UK government has transferred much of the power to attain its stated objectives in relations with China from traditional diplomatic agencies to governmental economic agencies. More important, individual companies, whilst pursuing their own commercial activities, are effectively carrying out government policy in relation to China. Thus, the key actors in post-diplomatic relations with China are increasingly non-state economic actors.     

Burkina Faso: Between Taiwan's active public diplomacy and China's business attractiveness

Burkina Faso and Taiwan restored official relations in 1994, after which Taipei's aid has been generous. Taiwan's approach to official development assistance has remained largely traditional, closely linking its public diplomacy to its foreign policy objectives. Trade between both countries has remained very modest. In the same period, because of mainland China's rise and active strategy of ‘going out’, Burkina Faso has developed a robust trade and business relationship with China. As a result, the pull to establish official ties with China (and thus end ties with Taiwan) has become a domestic political issue. After the ousting of President Blaise Compaoré in 2014, a failed coup and then the return to democracy as seen in the November 2015 elections, this debate has become more public. While Burkina Faso has remained faithful to Taiwan and continues to publicly appreciate its assistance, there is no certainty that the political values that both Burkina Faso and Taiwan share will prevent a Burkinabe move towards China.     

A sinologist’s observations on North Korea

This report provides reflections on a one-week visit to North Korea in April 1989 by a China scholar who lived in Maoist China. It draws on meetings with American and Chinese specialists on Korea, and with North Korea scholars and Party officials. It compares Kim’s North Korea with Mao’s China in terms of agriculture, policy towards education and intellectuals, and the Cult of Personality; it discusses apparent tentative stpes in the North towards openness and reform, but recognizes the dilemma of understanding complicated forces for the against reform in such a short visit. Finally, the report outlines discussions with North Korea international relations specialists and a member of the Secretariat of the Korean Worker’s Party which welcomed the end of the cold war and improved Sino-U.S., U.S.-Soviet, and Sino-Soviet relations as favorable for peace in the region and Korean reunification. He is author ofAgrarian Radicalism in China, 1968–1981 (Harvard University Press, 1989).     

Civil-military relations in Pakistan: a case study of Sino-Pakistani relations and the port of Gwadar

This article analyses how the dynamics of civil-military relations in Pakistan have ensured policy continuity towards China. By looking at the development of the port of Gwadar, which represents the flagship project of Sino-Pakistani cooperation during the last 15 years, this article contends that the continuity in Pakistan’s policies towards China in the post 9/11 period is explained by a broad-based consensus among the Pakistani elites, in which, however, the military plays a dominant role. Civilian control over the military is a concept that was never fully absorbed in Pakistan and, as the analysis ascertains, most of the policies introduced by General Pervez Musharraf have been adopted by the subsequent civilian regimes under indirect control from the military establishment. The ultimate aim of the Pakistani leadership, civilian and military alike, has therefore been to provide a safe ground for the Chinese investments in the country because of the key role that China plays in Pakistan’s strategic posture. Organised around semi-structured interviews conducted in Pakistan in early 2015, the article is grounded in the relevant literature on civil-military relations and assesses the level of civilian control in three key decision-making areas pertaining to the port of Gwadar: economic policy, internal security and foreign policy.     

The Jews of China and their Contribution to the Establishment of the Jewish National Home in Palestine in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

This article deals with the contribution of Zionists throughout the world to the building of the National Home in Palestine, including the Zionist communities in the Far East – India and China. It examines the vast Zionist activity taking place in China, with the Zionists of China making a significant contribution, especially considering the small size of its Jewish community. In contrast to popular belief, in the period discussed in our research China was not distant and disconnected from the Zionist centres in Palestine and Europe. Written Zionist propaganda and Zionist representatives did not overlook China. The notable extent of donations and investments made by the Jews of China benefiting the National Home through the Jewish Colonial Trust, the Jewish National Fund, and the Foundation Fund is the result of two main factors: firstly, the economic strength of the community, especially the very wealthy Iraqi Jews, and secondly, the Zionist passion of the Chinese Jews. The Kadoorie family, whose donations assisted in purchasing land for the Hebrew University, the building of Ha'emek Hospital, and the establishment of the Galilee agricultural school, played a pivotal role. There is no doubt that Eliezer Kadoorie serving as head of the Zionist Organization in China as well as some of its institutions helped widen the circle of donors among upper and middle class Zionists in China, and shared in their prominent part in creating the Jewish National Home in Palestine.     

DIALOGUE WITH THE WEST

Abstract

This portrayal of China by one of the most respected intellectuals ever to emerge from the shadowy labyrinth of the American diplomatic establishment mirrors twenty years of concentrated work by American China scholars. Not every China expert would accept all of Kennan's assumptions or express them in such strident form. Yet over the last two decades the China profession has evolved a style of thought, a mode of asking questions, which has largely substantiated such views in both the public and scholarly worlds. The majority of China watchers have pleaded for “tolerance” and “patience” towards the People's Republic as she gradually learns, aided by a flexible American containment policy, to “adjust” to the “international community of nations” and the “rationalizing” qualities implicit in the “modernization” process. While protesting against certain aspects of America's foreign policy toward China, however, their thought and work has reinforced, at times deepened, the ideological justifications that support America's role in Asia and her attitudes towards China.     

侨务与外交:对中国侨务政策的思考——以中印(尼)关系为例

自20世纪50年代以来,"侨务服从外交"一直是中国处理对外侨务的指导原则。在中国与印度尼西亚的双边关系中,中国为了建立包括印尼在内的国际反帝统一战线,在侨务政策上作出让步,以换取印尼在中国对外战略上的支持。随着冷战后两极体制的终结,以及中国在经济上的崛起,中国实施侨务政策的大环境发生变化,侨务政策也因此出现调整的空间,但中国侨务政策调整的限度和可能性依然受制于一系列因素。     

The Vietnamese experience and the third world

Abstract

Based on Vietnam's experience over the past years, I wish to make some general observations about development in the third world. The major consideration, though not the sole one, for my treating such a topic is undoubtedly my own participation in the Vietnamese experience and my personal familiarity with many of the aspects involved. Furthermore, the historical process has moved so fast over the past years in Vietnam that my country has passed rapidly through a succession of different phases. Over a period of 15 years, an adult would have lived under totally different social, political and economic regimes, directly experiencing such important movements as a war of national liberation, land reform, and the transition from a colonial and feudal regime to an independent and finally socialist state.     

中俄军事技术合作:现状、问题与对策

本文介绍了中俄之间的军事技术合作的进程、内容和发展动力等问题,重点分析了中美俄三方对中俄军事技术合作的态度,特别是美方和俄方的官方与学界的不同观点.作者在此基础上,阐述了中俄军事技术合作中的问题及原因:交易量下降,围绕价格、技术转让、知识产权的分歧等,但认为中俄军事技术合作的潜力和前景依然看好,同时对中国国家利益关系重大,作者为此提出了深化中俄军事技术合作的可能对策.     

‘Their Blood is Eastern’: Shahin Makaryus and Fin de Siècle Arab Pride in the Jewish ‘Race’

This article studies the origins and functions of a belief in Jewish race in the Arab fin de siècle through a case study of the writings of Shahin Makaryus and al-Muqta?af, the influential journal he co-edited. The article begins by examining the racial definition of the Jews proffered by Makaryus and al-Muqta?af. It situates this view, first, within the then-recent controversy surrounding Darwinism and the problem of secularism within the Arab renaissance of the fin de siècle and, second, within the contemporary Egyptian discourse about race concerning Egypt's rule over the Sudan. It then studies the presumed implications of this categorization of the Jews for their supposed racial relatives, the Arabs. It argues that it was precisely the imagined racial link between Jews and Arabs that made race an attractive category for understanding the Jews in the minds of certain Nahda thinkers. Next, it examines Makaryus's approach to Jewish nationalism and Zionism and contends that his apparent sympathy toward the movement may be understood, at least in part, in relation to his racial definition of the Jews. Finally, it concludes with some reflections on the implications of this study for our understanding of secularism in the world of the Nahda.     

Fragments of lives arrested; a memoir of Lebanon's Jewish community

This article mines an early history of modern Lebanon by placing a special focus on the country's Jewish community and examining inter-Lebanese relations where Lebanese Jews take centre stage. Like Lebanon's Christians – Maronites in the main – Lebanon's Jews reveal themselves to have played an important role in the establishment of the Lebanese republic as a ‘confederation of minorities’. But the role of Lebanese Jews was a discreet, low-pitched one, and their ‘voices’ and ‘stories’ seem to have been left out of traditional history books. This article is an attempt at correcting a lacuna of exclusion vis-à-vis Lebanese Jews, mending their memory and restoring them to their rightful place as a foundational element of modern Lebanese history and socio-cultural production.     

Japan's Purchase of Disputed Islands: Fallout and Misperception

Despite numerous channels for communication and abundant supply of information, misperceptions occur in international politics, and the recent interaction between Japan and China over a group of disputed islands is a case in point. Their quarrel has intensified, leading to a sudden deterioration of civil and official ties, with effects felt in the political and economic realms, and repercussions on the overall relationship. Although some would argue that both sides do not have a better choice, their interaction reveals certain misperceptions and therefore other possibilities. This article surveys the actual conditions after Japan's decision to nationalize the disputed islands in 2012, illustrates misperceptions on both sides in their interaction based on those findings, and probes into the possible causes of such misperceptions.     

本轮经济下行阶段增长与就业相背离了吗?

近年来,伴随中国经济进入下行阶段,中国经济增长由高速转向中高速,从官方公布的数据来看,总体就业形势却并未如预期那样恶化,以致有观点认为目前我国经济运行出现了“增长与就业相背离”的现象。本文试图解释“增长与就业相背离”这一现象的发生。通过利用相关数据并构造科学的方法计算中国经济下行阶段失业率,以此判断中国经济下行阶段经济增长是否与就业相背离,通过实证分析发现在本轮经济下行阶段增长与就业并没有相背离。本文的研究结论对于深刻理解中共中央关于就业优先政策具有重要现实意义。     

从利益攸关方到战略再保证:霸权衰落下的中美关系

近五年来,美国对华政策定位经历了从利益攸关方、中美国、G2到战略再保证的转变,也成为当前国际关系领域研究的热门话题。这种转变与美国霸权衰落紧密相连,是美国为了延续霸权,希望中国继续融入其霸权体系的手段之一。面对复杂多变的国际局势,战略选择成为中国当前必须慎之又慎的问题。历史证明,与霸权国的对抗没有出路,因此中国只能选择合作。机制化的双边协调对话必然是今后中美关系保持良性发展的趋势,也是中国努力的方向,但也必须时刻警惕美国对华战略中的陷阱。