MAINTAINING A UNITARY STATE: COUNTER-TERRORISM,SEPARATISM, AND EXTREMISM IN XINJIANG AND CHINA

This essay reviews the history of Uighur related terrorism in Xinjiang as well as elsewhere in China and discusses the political motivations and effectiveness of the Chinese government in suppressing terrorism. The essay assesses both the motivations of the Uighurs engaged in terrorism, as well as the motivations for counter terrorist by the Chinese authorities. A key objective of the essay is to determine what are the political and other reasons that drive the Chinese government’s counter terrorism strategy and tactics and whether these have been effective or counter-productive. The essay assesses the counter terrorism strategy of the Chinese government in Xinjiang Province and across China, the political motivations for the strategy, the impact and success or otherwise. The essay discusses if the government is combatting terrorism, or separatism, or extremism, the confusion of these terms, and whether this has had any impact on the effectiveness of counter terrorism.     

朝贡体系下古代东亚秩序形成与维系的内在逻辑——批判地借鉴英国学派的分析方法

古代东亚秩序的形成与维系，同历史悠久的朝贡体系有着直接的关系。因此，要有效揭示古代东亚秩序的内在逻辑，应当批判地借鉴以历史主义见长的英国学派的分析方法，探讨朝贡体系的运行机制和内在本质。在古代，中国与朝鲜长时段的朝贡体系实质上是一种由中国主导并以其特有文化为基础、周边诸政权普遍认可和积极参与的特殊国际制度。就中国而言，完全独立的政治体制、自给自足的经济结构、等级制的世界观，使其对外部的需求仅限于其他政权对其至高无上地位的承认及其对相关制度安排的服从。而对周边诸政权来说，只有与实力超强的中国建立朝贡关系，它们才能获得合法性和安全保障，并取得与中国贸易的机会，从而实现生存与发展两大目标。由此可以得出如下结论：在缺乏文化共识的前提下，由地区强国主导，可以促成某种功能性的国际制度，使地区秩序得以维护，并在交往过程中反向促成文化认同。这一结论修正了英国学派关于共有文化与国际制度的关系的观点。     

中日甲午战争与东北亚国际关系的变化

中日甲午战争中清朝的惨败给中国社会带来空前严重的社会危机,大大加深了中国社会半殖民地化的程度。而战胜国日本则国力日益强大,跻身于资本主义列强的行列。甲午战争后,日本的崛起和扩张加剧了东亚地区国家关系的变化,给这一地区的国际关系带来直接而深远的影响。东亚国际秩序由以中国为中心的传统宗藩朝贡体系向近代殖民条约体系转型,中朝日近代新型的国家关系逐渐建立起来,传统的宗藩体系土崩瓦解。本文以中日甲午战争的爆发与传统华夷秩序的瓦解为切入点,探讨甲午战争后东亚传统邻邦中朝日三国新型近代国家关系建立始末及其对三国关系产生的影响。     

冠状病毒感染性疾病尸体检验相关病原学检测回顾与展望

冠状病毒曾经给世界带来两次严重的人类间大流行,包括严重急性呼吸综合征(severe acute re?spiratory syndrome,SARS)和中东呼吸综合征(Middle East respiratory syndrome,MERS),2019年岁末新型冠状病毒肺炎(coronavirus disease 2...     

The More Assertive and Pragmatic New Energy Policy in Putin’s Russia: Security Implications for Northeast Asia

The article examines Russia’s New Energy Policy (NEP) and its impact on Northeast Asian security and the development of the Russian Far East. In contrast to analyses highlighting competition between China and Japan for Russian resources, to the contrary it is argued here that greater cooperation among consumer states in Northeast Asia would be beneficial for Russia. Although the NEP has resulted in changes in the composition of foreign investors in Russian energy projects, the author suggests that Moscow is interested in multinational cooperation in the energy sector because it would help diversify the regional energy market and contribute to the development of the Russian Far East and eastern Siberia.

Assembling security in a ‘weak state:’ the contentious politics of plural governance in Lebanon since 2005

Lebanon is most often depicted as a ‘weak state’ lacking territorial sovereignty and thus fostering the proliferation of violent non-state actors that generate political instability and regional insecurity. In contrast, this essay explores the dynamics of security politics in Lebanon since 2005 through the lens of hybrid sovereignty. It shows how an assemblage of state and non-state actors has been able to navigate between rival understandings of insecurity, producing at times shared, but still contested, understandings which have sustained a system of plural governance over security that has been able to respond to a shifting geography of threats.     

Foreign Terrorist Fighters: managing a twenty-first century threat

In the aftermath of the Arab uprisings Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) have emerged as a significant security challenge. Since the 1980s and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan the notion of a ‘foreign fighter’ has been closely linked, if not synonymous, with those ideologically or religiously motivated individuals who have travelled to join conflicts in Islamic lands. This article will explore the contemporary FTF movement, offering a comparison of Afghanistan in the 1980s and Syria in the contemporary period. It will explore the international community’s expansive responses to the challenge of FTFs, with special focus on the role of the United Nations.     

Kurdish policies in Syria under the Arab Uprisings: a revisiting of IR in the new Middle Eastern order

The effect of the Arab Uprisings on the interplay of state and non-state entities is revealed as influencing the emergence of multiple players of non-state status pursuing democratic rights, and as attempting to dismiss regional despotism as an intrinsic element of ongoing transition in the Middle East. This article focuses on the positive overall effect on the Kurdish movement of unity and cooperation between KRG and PKK-PYD actors to achieve Kurdish harmony, and as interconnected paradigms vis-à-vis their influence and interaction with regional players. Given the rise of the Kurds in Syria and the KRG’s regional importance as the first actual Kurdish de facto state entity, the PKK’s role appears key for unifying and institutionalising the relatedness of the Kurdish movements in Iraq and Syria. An empirical understanding of the Kurdish case, explained through a conceptual model of ‘multi-dimensional interrelations’, may further clarify how the theoretical framework can be applied to International Relations.     

Post-Arab Spring: changes and challenges

This paper advances the proposition that post-Arab Spring politics are a product of globalisation’s economic and social liberalisation. The global market and privatisation have fundamentally deconstructed centralised autocratic rule over state and society, while facilitating corruption and selective development, culminating in public outrage. The political order of the Middle East and North Africa since the Arab Spring synthesises globalisation’s dialectic duality, in which economic integration has contributed to the demise of national authoritarianism, inciting communalism and political fragmentation. This paper analyses emerging political trends and challenges based on a comparative analysis of Egypt and Tunisia.     

东亚区域的文化共性探析——以日本茶道和谐美的考察为中心

区域一体化是集经济一体化、政治一体化、社会规范化和文化均质化于一身的综合进程,这一进程起步于经济领域,外溢于政治、防务和社会领域,但将终结于文化领域.重新审视、追溯东亚区域文化的源流,寻求东亚区域各国的文化共性,对于促进东亚区域的和平、繁荣,有着积极的现实意义.本文将以日本茶道为例,探讨东亚和谐思想的共性.