THE POWERS OF XI JINPING

Since becoming head of the Communist Party in China in late 2012, Xi Jinping has accrued an impressive raft of titles. He has been compared to the founder of the regime, Mao Zedong, and is seen by some as sitting at the centre of a network of different power sources. But is power as personalised as this model makes out in contemporary China, with all its complexity and diversity? And can one person really rule the continental sized country in this paternalistic way? This article argues that Xi's powers are intrinsically linked with the organisation that he leads and which his power is sourced in – the Party itself. Far from him being the emperor of modern China, it is the Communist Party which acts as the all-seeing, all-powerful ruler. In this model, Xi is its servant, not its master.     

NEW CHALLENGES

<正>A diverse range of global issues puts Chinese diplomacy to the testThe National People’s Congress,China’s top legislature,opened its annual full session on March 5.Both the Report on the Government Work delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at its opening and the press conference held on March 8 by Foreign Minister Wang Yi on its sidelines made one thing abundantly clear:What happens inside China is linked to and profoundly affects the outside world.Likewise,     

Drinking and drug use by college students: Comparing criminal justice majors and non-majors

The current research examined drinking and drug use among college students. Using a self-report survey of students from a midwestern university, the frequency of alcohol use, binge drinking, and drug use were explored. Particular attention was paid to drinking behaviors and drug use among Criminal Justice (CJ) students compared to students from other majors. Differences were found between CJ and non-CJ students especially in terms of drinking behavior; fewer differences were found between majors in terms of drug use. Issues of moral authority were examined as well as issues of employability. Implications for CJ students, faculty and advisors are discussed.     

Male Marriage Squeeze and Inter-provincial Marriage in Central China: evidence from Anhui

Since the 1990s, inter-provincial female migration for marriage has become important in central and eastern rural China. Using survey data from X County in rural Anhui Province, we explore the arrangement of inter-provincial marriages, as well as the characteristics of husbands and wives, marital satisfaction and marital stability for these marriages. We find that inter-provincial marriage is an important option for local men to respond to the marriage squeeze and the increasing expense of marriage. It helps to relieve the shortage of marriageable women in the local marriage market. Because this kind of marriage is based on economic exchange, but not affection, it is often subject to a higher risk of marriage instability, and can lead to such illegal behaviors as marriage fraud and mercenary marriage.     

The Middle-Income Kingdom

正The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened in Beijing on November 8. The first day consisted of the report made by Hu Jintao, General Secretary     

Service Domains – The New Communities: A Case Study of Peterlee Sure Start,UK

In this paper, a Sure Start programme is used to explain an emergent ‘Service Domain’ model, built around innovative and creative service integration and complementary multi-professional partnerships for pre-school children and their families in disadvantaged communities. Sure Start, the cornerstone of the government's ambitious policy to eradicate child poverty in the UK by 2020, and a major departure from traditional single agency service delivery, emulates the Head Start initiative in the USA where funding came directly from federal government and by-passed state legislatures. The Sure Start funding mechanism had a pre-requisite to establish multi-agency partnerships with equal parent representation, as a result of central government's frustration with the failure of mainstream agencies to unite strategically and operationally to deliver integrated services. The Sure Start initiative represented a nationally coordinated attempt by central government to address previously disjointed approaches to children's services integration.