Telling the Chinese Story

"Anew milestone for Chinese drama,this is on par with Netflix,Amazon original works,"wrote a fan on U.S.-based video streaming website Viki after watching the Chinese historical drama The Longest Day in Chang'an.The TV series,which was launched on Chinese online platform Youku on June 27,became a hit this summer.From July 1,it has been put on partnering streaming platforms and TV networks in Japan,Malaysia,Viet Nam and Brunei.YouTube.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics by Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink. Domestic Society and International Cooperation: The Impact of Protest on US Arms Control Policy by Jeffrey Knopf.     

Scottish Presbyterian networks in Ulster and the Irish House of Commons, 1692–1714

SUMMARY

Throughout the seventeenth century Ireland gradually came under British control, culminating in the reimplementation and consolidation of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy rule in the aftermath of the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688–91. The Irish Parliament became the vehicle for securing the Ascendancy position within eighteenth-century Irish society. Although the Catholic threat never disappeared, some within the Ascendancy focussed their attentions towards the Scottish Presbyterian community in Ulster, a resilient and growing group that had been reinforced by 40,000–70,000 Scottish migrants arriving in Ireland during the 1690s. Viewed as a stubborn sect who controlled the majority of trade in Ulster, some within the Ascendancy feared that their supposed economic control of the province would ultimately lead to political control of the region, and possibly Ireland as a whole. Indeed, during the parliamentary sessions of 1692, 1695–99, 1703–13 and 1713, when the foundations for securing the Ascendancy were put in place, so too was legislation designed to curtail the strength of the Scottish Presbyterians in Ulster. This article examines whether the Scottish Presbyterian community deserved to be considered such a threat to Irish political elites by analysing the role and networks of Ulster MPs of Scottish Presbyterian origin in the Irish House of Commons during the reigns of King William and Queen Anne. The article also analyses the impact of legislation passed against nonconformists in Ireland during this period in order to assess what effect it had on the Scottish Presbyterian community.     

Scotland,Renewable Energy and the Independence Debate: Will Head or Heart Rule the Roost?

Political support for renewable energy development, especially offshore renewables, is particularly conspicuous in Scotland and is a centrepiece of SNP policy. However, this is built on something of a paradox because, put simply, without the subsidies paid by electricity consumers in the rest of the UK, the Scottish Government's ambitious targets for renewable energy would be politically unachievable. We argue in this paper that if Scotland does move towards independence, then there could be little reason for the UK to continue paying (much) of the subsidies since the resulting renewable generation would no longer contribute towards UK renewable energy targets. We suggest that the potential scenarios, and their implications, needs to be far better considered in the arguments around the Scottish constitutional position and the broader aims of UK energy policy.     

Services Trade: Past Liberalization and Future Challenges

Services trade has truly become an engine of world growth. Overthe past two decades, international trade in services has grownfaster than world merchandize trade, which in turn has grownfaster than world output. A combination of policy liberalizationand technological progress has facilitated trade in many previouslyuntradable services. However, very little progress has beenmade towards new policy liberalization in the ongoing Doha DevelopmentRound. This article discusses trade in services in five sections.Following a short introduction, Section I presents data on thepast growth of services trade flows and makes rough projectionsof future expansion. The second and third sections summarizethe achievements of the WTO in the service field, both as anegotiating forum and a dispute settlement system. The thirdsection also emphasizes how FTAs are now playing the leadingrole in services liberalization. The fourth section critiquesthe absence of progress in the Doha Round and the fifth sectionexamines the hot issue of services outsourcing. The concludingsection offers policy recommendations for containing a possibleprotectionist backlash and promoting new liberalization.