Imagined Races: From Environmental Determinism to Geographical Authenticity in Twentieth‐Century Argentina

This article explores how Argentine intellectuals incorporated the natural environment into their accounts of the racial, cultural and political features of the nation. In the late nineteenth century environmental determinism, based on the assumption of a cause–effect relationship between geographical and racial factors, entered Argentina through three main routes: Lamarckism, Darwinism and Spencerianism. By the mid twentieth century, however, anti‐positivist philosophies had been fully incorporated into a body of work that analysed Argentina's socio‐historical foundations. This article examines the shift that occurred during the first half of the twentieth century in how those seeking to define race incorporated the environment into their arguments. The raza was commonly taken to be synonymous with nation. Selected works by sociologist and legal scholar Carlos Octavio Bunge (1875‐1918) and by writer and ensayista Bernardo Canal Feijóo (1897‐1982) will be analysed as influential yet overlooked examples of how ‘the problem of Argentine culture’ could not be separated from the question of nature understood in terms of both physical and human geography. The goal will be to reveal, firstly, the extent to which the notion of the interior as geographical and anthropological desert deeply informed the political vision of the early national period in relation to race and nation and, secondly, how later interpretations of the nation recast American nature as a foundational element of cultural authenticity based on a sentiment of geographical belonging.     

缅甸外交政策的新调整:从对华友好到大国平衡外交

1988年政变上台的缅甸新军人政权,遭到西方国家的制裁,不得不努力发展与中国的关系,以稳定国内局势。在统治得到巩固后,缅甸新军人政权开始奉行大国平衡的外交政策,即在继续发展对华关系的同时,努力改善与东盟、印度和日本的关系。本文还分析了缅甸奉行大国平衡外交政策的原因:内因是缅甸国内的民族主义情绪不断上升,外因是区域内外各有关国家对中国在缅甸及周边地区影响不断扩大存在恐惧心理。     

从中国软力量到东亚软力量

伴随着地区主义运动的不断演进,以非军事对峙和非暴力为基础、强调文化和政策吸引力的软力量开始在地区国际关系中发挥日益突出的作用,软力量的运用也推进了地区主义向纵深发展。国家在地区主义中的软力量可以分为四种表现形式:文化吸引力、政策感召力、地区创制力和地区公信力。中国在东亚地区主义进程中上升的软力量成为促进东亚融合的新动力。同时,地区价值观的塑造、地区参与度和地区主义构想的形成,都影响着地区制度化水平和整个地区在国际事务中的角色和地位。培育东亚作为一个独立地区实体的软力量应当成为中国亚洲政策的一个重要组成部分。     

From vanguard to laggard: Germany in European security and defence policy

Guided by a federalist vision of European integration, Germany used to be a staunch supporter of a European security and defence policy. Whereas Germany's rhetorical support has remained unchanged, it has turned into a laggard in implementing the commitments arising from a European Rapid Reaction Force. Drawing on an interactionist framework, this article demonstrates that Germany's change of course is neither in line with a Europeanised identity nor a result of any deliberate grand strategy to renationalise defence policy. Rather, Germany's failure to live up to its commitments is best understood as an unintended consequence of its integrationist policies in the early 1990s.     

From Pariah to Power: The Berlin Election of 2001 and the PDS Question

In 2001 Berlin's grand coalition collapsed in dramatic circumstances, leading to a Land election which attracted unprecedented attention within the Federal Republic and beyond. The entire campaign was dominated by one question, namely could the post-communist PDS gain a share of power in the city that embodied the victory of the capitalist west over the communist east? This article outlines the background to the election, and examines the campaigns of all the main parties. It then analyses the results, with comparisons between the east and west of the city, and examines the process that finally resulted in the formation of a Red-Red coalition government. It concludes with a consideration of the significance of the election results for all the parties concerned and for German politics. Overall, the election suggests that 'inner unity' may well be unattainable in Berlin, and that an acceptance of the city's diversity may be the way forward for its politicians.     

Rural industrialization in China: From backyard furnaces to township and village enterprises

This article examines the development of rural industrialization in China from the late 1950s to the mid-1990s. The initial attempt to industrialize China during the Great Leap Forward resulted in a short-lived rural industrialization program, epitomized by the frenzied establishment of hundreds of thousands of backyard furnaces. The second wave of rural industrialization came in the late 1960s and gave rise to the development of local “five small industries” aimed at providing goods and services for agricultural development. Since the introduction of economic reforms in the late 1970s, rural enterprises, known as township and village enterprises, have experienced explosive growth. They are no longer limited to the five small industries, but are engaged in producing consumer goods for both domestic and international markets. This article looks into the driving forces behind the growth of TVEs during the 1980s and examines the evolving roles and challenges they face in the 1990s. Li tu bu li xiang jin chang bu jin cheng. (Leave the land but not the village; enter the factory but not the city.) —A popular Chinese saying about rural industrialization in the 1980s This is based on a background review chapter of his doctoral dissertation, entitled “Industrialization and Energy Use: An Emprical Study of China's Township and Willage Enterprises,” University of Pennsylvania, 1997.     

From Guangzhou to Yiwu: Emerging facets of the African Diaspora in China

ABSTRACT

Yiwu, known as the largest commodities market in China and in the world, is becoming the destination of choice for Africans doing business in China. In this article we compare how Africans are received in Yiwu and Guangzhou, home to the largest community of Africans in China. We argue that the relatively negative reception of Africans in Guangzhou, compared to the more efficient and civil treatment of Africans in Yiwu, is one reason why Yiwu is eclipsing Guangzhou. How the state interfaces with Africans on migration matters has consequences for broader Africa-China relations.     

Curbing Chinese missile sales: From imposing to negotiating China’s adherence to the MTCR

This article explores and assesses the ongoing American effort to elicit Chinese adherence to the guidelines and parameters of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). In 1991 and 1992, the United States employed mainly economic pressure in pursuit of this goal, an approach that resulted in China’s first written commitment to respect the regime’s restrictions. Subsequently, although economic pressure has remained the primary tool, Washington has also begun of necessity to discuss Chinese proliferation concerns, American arms sales to Taiwan in particular. This development led to China’s reaffirmation of its MTCR commitment in 1994. Despite these agreements, however, this aspect of the Sino-American relationship remains fraught with potential problems and will require sustained diplomatic attention in the future.     

From Patrimonialism to Profit: The Changing Flow of Funds from the Chinese in Malaysia to China

ABSTRACT

Unlike the period before World War II, the Malaysian Chinese no longer look towards China as a home they will ultimately return to. This is seen in the flow of funds to China from the Malaysian Chinese. Before the war the motivation was patrimonial. The funds were in the form of patriotic bonds and collections and remittances that went to the home provinces of the Malaysian Chinese mostly in Fujian and Guangdong. Since the 1990s the funds flow has mainly been in the form of investment meant for gaining profit. This motivation was not different from that of business investors from other nations investing in China. It is important to demonstrate this motivation in order to allay suspicions by indigenous Southeast Asians that the Chinese who live in Southeast Asia are diverting funds meant for Southeast Asia to China.     

布什上台以来美国的对华政策

布什政府的对华政策尚未完全成型,但它已使中美关系再次陷入危机.此次中美关系所发生的危机具有不同于以往几次危机的特征.今后相当一段时间对华采取强硬路线将是美国对华政策的主流.美国对华政策在形成的过程中将受到各种内外因素的制约.     

从一国社会主义到中国改革开放

马克思主义创始人考察了人类社会发展的历史,论证了资本主义发达的高度将是社会主义的基础,因而设想,社会主义将会在英、法、德、美等先进资本主义国家最先建立。历史的发展和革命运动的实际却是尚未完成民主主义革命任务、相对落后的俄国,率先建立了社会主义国家。这样,第一次世界大战催生的俄国社会发展顺序的颠倒,就把世界社会主义运动聚焦到怎样建设社会主义国家。斯大林体制的一国社会主义,是特定时代条件下,斯大林将马克思主义应用于俄国实际所建立的社会主义。斯大林宣布苏联已建成完全的社会主义社会,其实只是完成了民主主义革命遗留的历史任务。完成这一历史任务成为斯大林体制的历史负荷。第二次世界大战后建立的社会主义国家,基本上也是民主主义革命任务尚未完成的相对落后的国家。历史的共性是斯大林体制被当作社会主义共同模式的时代条件。世界各社会主义国家共有的、越"左"越革命的幼稚病,是小生产占优势国家背负的、改革斯大林体制的沉重历史包袱。中国改革开放,建设中国特色社会主义,终于为相对落后国家在完成民主主义革命遗留历史任务之后,搞清楚什么是社会主义,从而开创了建设社会主义国家的新时代。