Trade unions and social capital in transitional communist states: The case of China

In the study of social capital in Asia, it has been common to see kinship networks as the formation of social capital relations that create trust within society or within Asian states. This paper explores social capital surrounding industrial conflicts to see how unions relate to social capital formation in the context of recent reforms in state socialist China. This paper will argue that in the face of spontaneous outbursts of rapid social capital formation, as in industrial conflicts, the role of institutional agents is important for sustaining social capital. In China, the traditional model of the states bureaucratic trade unions has proved poorly adapted to coping with rapid social capital formation, either as organizer or suppressant. In the case of new workplaces, however, without the history of cynicism and state corporatism, the official unions that seek to represent members and sustain social capital are able to do so quite effectively. To build social capital, it is not necessary to destroy existing trade unions in China but to reorient their focus from bureaucratic centralist to representative organizations.     

The Role of the Broker When Environmental Claims Occur

While environmental incidents tend to occur infrequently, they are often serious enough to disrupt the operations of the entities that experience releases of hazardous materials. The consequences of such events may include third-party claims for bodily injury and property damage, orders to clean up contamination, and regulatory actions against responsible parties. Fortunately, environmental insurance is available to provide protection against the financial consequences of a wide variety of pollution events. This article looks at the role of the broker in assisting clients to identify, analyze, and insure against environmental liability. With properly drafted policies and active participation in the claims management process, the broker can play a significant role in assuring that an environmental insurance policy responds as anticipated when an unexpected incident threatens a client's operations.     

Conclusion: International Political Economy—The Reverse Salient of Innovation Theory

This conclusion attempts to answer three sets of questions regarding our experiment in cross-field collaboration: What did we find and were these findings cohesive? What did our findings add to the debate? What are the implications of our findings, and, more importantly, what's next? It suggests that politics have become a "reverse salient" in innovation theory. Specifically, innovation scholars have yet to devise a theory that fully incorporates distributive politics and their security and competitiveness implications into a general explanation of technological change. This gap is holding back progress in fields that depend on innovation as an explanatory variable. It should therefore be made a priority for innovation scholars across the social sciences.     

Sino-African Relations and the Problem of Human Rights

China's political and economic activities in Africa are increasingat an exponential rate. Equally, they are attracting criticism,chiefly over Beijing's no-strings-attached stance on human rightsand governance. It is clear that many African states that enjoyChinese support not only trample on civil and political rights(as per Western ideas of human rights), but also subvert theircitizens’ economic and social rights (as per China's discourseon human rights). If whilst adhering to the principle of non-interference,Chinese activities actually make things worse for some in Africa,then Beijing's argument that basic socio-economic rights aremore important for the poor than abstract politicalrights is potentially problematic. This is because there isa danger that Beijing's engagement in Africa might be exploitedby autocrats on the continent for their own, well-understood,reasons. Doing no harm, rather than a studied disinterest, needsto be part of China's overall African policy, something thatBeijing is bound to recognize. The author gratefully acknowledges the British Academy, CarnegieTrust for the Universities of Scotland, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundationfor International Scholarly Exchange, and the Russell Trustof Scotland for financial support for fieldwork on Sino-Africanrelations, carried out in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Namibia, SierraLeone, South Africa, and Uganda. The ideas for this articlewere initially tested at seminars at Wilton Park, the Universityof Plymouth, the State Department, SAIS-Johns Hopkins University,and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I am gratefulto participants in these events, this journal's two anonymousreviewers, and Shaun Breslin for commenting and helping to crystallizemy thoughts. Any errors remain my own.     

Choices for Chinese Political Science: Methodological Positivism or Methodological Pluralism?

Like its American counterpart, Chinese political science is experiencing a similar concern regarding its societal relevance as it attempts to assess and focus on China’s unique political and social concerns. Should Chinese political science tread the same path? Should it pursue a purely methodological positivist approach or should it engage in a more holistic and methodologically pluralistic approach such as that found in public administration? A mixed-methods approach, which includes both problem-driven research and theory-driven research, might be a better way to serve both the discipline and China.     

Passive Drip Stain Formation Dynamics of Blood onto Hard Surfaces and Comparison with Simple Fluids for Blood Substitute Development and Assessment,

The spreading dynamics of blood dripping onto hard surfaces is compared to two spreading models. Samples of human blood, porcine blood, and Millipore^® water were dripped onto cardboard, foamcore, and glass surfaces in low velocity passive drip simulations. Final stain diameter, the total number of spines and scallops, and angle of impact were measured and analyzed. Spreading is best predicted by applying the concept of effective viscosity to the Scheller and Bousfield (R² = 0.91) and Roisman (R² = 0.89) spreading models. In the tested conditions, blood spreads with Newtonian tendencies; however, has quantifiable differences in stain appearance to Newtonian fluids like water. This is encouraging for the development of water‐based fluids as synthetic blood substitutes (SBSs). The work presents an assessment platform to quantify and score the performance of simple water‐based fluids using final stain diameter (6 points) and number of spines and scallops (6 points) at six dripping heights between 20 and 120 cm. The angle of impact of a stain alone is not a sensitive measure of SBS performance, but stain formation scores the SBS's performance with another 1 point. Together these features generate a quantitative relative ranking system, of a maximum possible 13 points, that can be used to support the use of a particular fluid for the creation of a drip stain. The performance of twenty simple fluids in the simulated dripping assessment test is described.