Oz’s Reorientation White papers illustrate the country’s new Asia-centered priorities

Between 2009, under the government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Australia, and 2013 when Julia Gillard was leader, Australia has produced two white papers on defense. The difference, at least in terms of their tone, is striking and has attracted much media commentary in Australia and abroad. These two important papers need to be put in context. Australia is geographically a huge country.     

‘Schloss Neuwahnstein’? Why the Länder continue to strengthen their representations in Brussels

The establishment of representative offices in Brussels marked the start a qualitative new step in the engagement of the German Länder in European Union (EU) policy. Despite a contested birth, more than 20 years' operation in Brussels have seen these offices become full elements of the sponsoring Länder administrations. This article argues that in both functional and operational terms, the Brussels Länder offices have developed over time to approximate the role played by their federal level counterparts, the Länder representations in Berlin. Enhanced investment by the Länder in their EU presence underscores the increasing relevance of EU issues for the exercise of their domestic policy responsibilities. However, the Länder offices in Brussels remain disputed entities, as federal and Länder government views of their mission and appropriate engagement differ sharply. Thus, while direct engagement in Brussels has become the norm for the Länder administrations, tensions over access to the EU sphere continue to mark Bund-Länder relations in Brussels – more that ten years after a legal solution was established. The article concludes by considering the broader implications of this situation.     

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,     

Cruel and Unusual Punishment in the Roman Empire and Dynastic China

The paper compares cruel and unusual punishment in two ancient empires, Imperial Rome and Dynastic China, through an exploration their imperial legal codes and, to a lesser degree, through the examination of selected exemplary cases. The paper argues that both empires utilized extraordinary punishments in cases where conduct threatened social order or major cultural values. However, while the Romans generally extended these punishments to include cruel mass spectacles, the Chinese employed unusual public punishments in a more instrumental manner primarily to ward off the threat of disorder and the thirst for cruel spectacle for its own sake was absent.     

Prevalence and Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence Among a Sample of Construction Industry Workers

This study assessed the prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) among a sample of unionized construction industry workers, and tested the reliability of new measures of IPV normative beliefs. Study participants (n=100) voluntarily completed confidential and anonymous self-administered questionnaires that measured occupational factors, hazardous drinking, and normative beliefs. Measurement of past-year IPV was based on the Conflict Tactics Scale, Form R. Measures of IPV normative beliefs showed good reliability (Cronbach’s α 0.94–0.95). Past-year IPV prevalence was 26%. Logistic regression models were developed to assess the contribution of each factor to risk of past-year IPV perpetration. Perceived workplace racial/ethnic discrimination, job strain, interpersonal workplace conflict, normative beliefs, and hazardous drinking were positively associated with elevated IPV risk.Construction industry workers may have higher rates of IPV compared to general population samples that represent various occupations and social classes. Occupational factors appear to be significant correlates of IPV among these workers.