What China Offers and Why The United States Resists

正James Peck,visiting professor at New York University and founder of the Culture and Civilization of China project at Yale University Press and the China International Publishing Group,shared his views on China’s rising role in dealing with global inequality in a world dominated by the U.S.-centric globalism.An edited excerpt of his article fol ows:In the words of the great African-American abolitionist,Frederick Douglass,"To understand you have to stand under."Today many of us live in the United States in a world of     

Constitutional Amendment and Revision Revisited

State constitutional amendment and revision procedures differsubstantially from formal procedures for amending the US Constitution.Popular participation and frequent change in state constitutionscontribute to significant differences between state and nationalconstitutional politics. State constitutions are widely perceivedto be "political’ documents, whose amendment is not muchdifferent from ordinary legislative and electoral politics.The U.S. Constitution is regarded as relatively permanent and"above politics." Neither perception is wholly accurate. Differencesbetween state and national procedures and politics are at issuein the recent revival of state constitutions as sources of civilrights and liberties. An analysis of constitutional amendmentssuggests that use of the ballot proposition, which is uniqueto the states, tends to restrict civil rights somewhat in criminaljustice while somewhat expanding support for new rights in otherareas, including those not fully protected by the national government.     

Co‐enforcing Labor standards: the unique contributions of state and worker organizations in Argentina and the United States

Labor inspection is a central response to the tremendous gap between formal regulations and outcomes for workers throughout the world. Scholarly and policy debates on labor regulation have focused on improving the targeting of enforcement, changing strategies of street‐level agents, and creating private alternatives to state regulation. This paper argues that these proposals, while important, fail to systematically incorporate the potential contributions of worker organizations and, as a result, overlook opportunities for co‐enforcing labor standards, a key element of labor inspection. By contrast, we develop a framework to analyze the relationships between worker organizations and state regulators that underpin co‐enforcement. We ground this framework empirically in comparative cases, set in Argentina and the United States, presenting two cases of co‐enforcement in highly different institutional contexts. In so doing, we seek to illuminate key attributes of labor inspection and guide attempts to enhance enforcement by forging partnerships between regulators and worker organizations.     

Why the U.S. Should Abandon Hostility Toward China

正America's greatest existential threat today is not China;it is making China into America's existential threat.The war of words launched by the U.S.over the coronavirus is a sad commentary on the lack of necessary cooperation,not to mention a lack of compassion initially for the severity of the epidemic in China in the early months.The escalating hostility toward China now so evident in Washington will all but ensure a competitive rather than any collaborative search for vital solutions.The result will be wasted resources,duplicative research,insufficient financing,and the undermining of international dissemination of advanced green technologies.And this is only to note the consequences for coping with just one of humanity s looming crises.     

How Should the U.S. View the Communist Party of China?

正The astonishing transformation of China—its economic prowess, its rapid urbanization without slum cities, its scientific and technological prowess, the education of its vast population, its modern infrastructure which is the envy of much of the world, and its continually evolving pattern of governance that has enabled all these developments—has of course all occurred under the leadership of the Communist Party of China(CPC).     

Observatory's linguistic landscape: semiotic appropriation and the reinvention of space

Using a longitudinal ethnographic study of the linguistic landscape (LL) in Observatory's business corridor of Lower Main Road, the paper explores changes brought about by the influx of immigrant Africans, their artefacts and language practices. The paper uses the changes in the LL over time and the development of an “African Corner” within Lower Main Road, to illustrate the appropriation of space and the unpredictability, which comes along with highly mobile, technological and multicultural citizens. It is argued that changes in the LL are part of the act of claiming and appropriating space wherein space becomes summarily recontexualized and hence reinvented and “owned” by new actors. It is also argued that space ownership can be concealed through what we have called “brand anonymity” strategies in which the identity of the owner is deliberately concealed behind global brands. We conclude that space is pliable and mobile, and that, it is the people within space who carve out new social practices in their appropriated space.