Reinterpreting India's Rise through the Middle Power Prism

Abstract

India's spectacular rise in recent years has been the source of hyperbolic theorising and speculation on its major power status. Middle power theory offers a set of dynamic analytical parameters which allow for re-evaluating India's global influence and identifying both strengths and weaknesses of its power projection and resources. Placing emphasis on themes of Third World leadership, good international citizenship, multilateral activism, bridge-building diplomacy, and coalition-building with like-minded states, the middle power concept can encapsulate key aspects of India's contemporary agency and account for structural dynamics which constitute a reformist world-view through the reconfiguration of the Indian state within the existing world order. Overall, middlepowermanship delineates fundamental continuities in India's foreign policy tradition, epitomises India's existing position in the neoliberal world order, while providing a good indication of the directions India will take on the global stage in the short and medium-term.     

Public support for democracy in hong kong

Hong Kong witnessed a large-scale public rally and extensive support for democracy in mid-2003. This article explains the support by means of variables extracted from cultural, instrumental and sociological approaches. Drawn from the cultural approach, ‘post-materialistic activism’ and low levels of ‘respect for authority’ are found to be most powerful in explaining mass support, among all explanatory variables. Since culture seldom changes overnight, popular support for democracy may be sustained in the short and medium term. The calculation of the economic consequences for democracy, a variable drawn from the instrumental approach, has no effect on mass support. Thus, any attempt to suppress popular demand for democracy by offering economic sweeteners alone may prove futile. The most important instrumental factor among the public is ‘their confidence in political parties’. Whether pan-democratic parties can elevate such confidence becomes pivotal to boosting and sustaining this support. The lack of relatively stronger support among the younger and more educated stratum of people in Hong Kong does not bode well for prospects of increased mass support in the future. Finally, the article offers a small footnote on the implications for the ‘Asian values’ debate.     

Potential,freedom and space: reflections on Agamben’s potentialities in the West Bank

A special kind of infrastructure has emerged around the West Bank, which lays bare Israel's capacity to spatialise its colonial power and to constantly solidify its presence. Reading these spatial devices through Agamben's work, this paper proposes a reflective attempt to read this site of contemporary occupation through a “resistant” lens as a novel take on Agamben's spatial topology and political aesthetics. The paper offers preliminary remarks on the search for alternative theoretical construction of Agamben “potentialities”. The paper allow speculations on the heterotopian nature of Israeli produced infrastructures, perceived at once as actualised potentials in space, and spaces of potential.     

Protecting personal data in wartime: The destruction of the alphabetic tabulators in Oslo

As a contribution to this special issue of CLSR, Jon Bing offers a unique wartime account of one of the earliest attempts to prevent ‘online processing’ of personal data by the occupying authorities for oppressive purposes.     

The South African National Credit Act fails to protect homeowners against various interest rates hikes

Where a credit provider makes a proper financial assessment and finds that the low-income consumer will be able to satisfy in a timely manner all the obligations under all the credit agreements to which the consumer is a party he will in all probability conclude the credit agreement with the consumer. Obviously the affordability assessment made by the credit provider will depend on the prevailing interest rates at the time. There has been several interest rate hikes since June 2006 to December 2008 in South Africa that has had a detrimental impact on low-income home owners. Due to the various interest rate hikes and the prevailing high interest rates many consumers have lost their mortgaged homes. The South African National Credit Act of 2005 has failed to take into its purview cases such as these, and as a consequence there is no sort of consumer protection available for the low-income group who become over-indebted, because of the constant rising interest rates on their mortgage loans.     

马克思的社会形态演进理论与全球化解析

全球化热潮在当今世界发展进程币日趋明显,一系列伴随的问题和困惑正迎面而来,在以马克思主义为主流意识形态的中国,必须用马克思主义的理论和观点来指导和认识社会历史的发展状况,对于全球化,深入理解而不是简单认识马克思的社会形态演进理论十分关键。全球化和马克思的社会形态演进理论之间的关系将迎刃而解,社会历史发展的规律和中国在全球化之下的发展路径和疑惑将得到解决。     

从思想世界的重演到法律历史整体性的终极指向

思想世界的通达应当是我们研究法律历史整体性的一个基本前提。但是,如何进入古人的思想世界,依据何种标准进行评价及其在价值论基础上重新进行认同,进而演绎活着的法律文化传统,是一个相当重要的核心问题。正是在此意义上,在这个没有封闭的框架中,我们需要找出一种适应时代阐释的活着的东西——历史中从来无法断绝的更为本原的思想。它不仅仅需要历史的传统来界定和彰显它的存在,而且需要一种出自日常生活的观念来支持和认同此种活着的思想。人类社会变迁的历史就是从虚无性之中开出的历史,所有的历史都是被人类的思想观念赋予了相对意义的历史,全部人类行为所到之处都被异化为一个意义世界。职事之故,传统中国的法律道路也只能在这个前置性的框架中才能得到建构和确切的理解,也只有在逐层剥离思想精义的外壳之后,方有可能看清楚法律道路的走向。     

新帝国主义论及其理论缺失

“9.11”事件后,库珀提出了新帝国主义论,将当今世界的国家分为后现代国家、现代国家和前现代国家三类。库珀的新帝国主义论暗含三个错误的前提假设,即:前现代国家是一撮无可救药的“失败国家”;前现代国家是恐怖主义泛滥的直接责任者;新自由主义式的全球治理是解救前现代国家的灵丹妙药。对于库珀所谓的后现代国家来说,要从治本的意义上根除这些影响世界秩序的不稳定因素,只有祛除其所奉行的经济帝国主义,改革现有的不公正、不合理的世界经济秩序,而不是诉诸于新帝国主义,维护和加强现有秩序。     

世界博览会的经济增长效应分析

回顾举办世界博览会的发展历程,从投资、消费、改革开放与市场化角度分析举办世界博览会对经济增长的积极影响,世界博览会能够促进投资、拉动消费,具有增长极效应、开放效应和市场化效应;从政府财政支持、基础设施建设、市场开拓与组织管理、场馆及其配套设施利用角度分析世界博览会亏损产生的原因及其对经济增长产生的消极影响。2010 年上海世界博览会的举办在向世界展示中国改革开放与经济转型的伟大成就的同时,也为中国经济发展带来各种风险和挑战。     

相互依存式霸权：“第二世界”和金砖国家的崛起透析

在全球化背景下,以金砖五国等新兴国家为代表的“第二世界”崛起对全球产生广泛影响,并由此带来了国际关系与国际政治经济的变迁。葛兰西的核心理论框架——“霸权”概念以及以考克斯为代表的新葛兰西主义学派对探究新兴国家崛起的问题是有启发作用的,但是全球化与跨国资本主义的深化对新葛兰西主义学派提出了挑战。在整合新葛兰西霸权理论和后霸权批判理论,并将“第二世界”和“相互依存”加入分析框架之后,理论界提出一种新观点,即新兴国家作为一种新型反霸权的国际政治经济力量,在全球资本主义时代,尚不能建立起替代性的独立霸权,而“相互依存式霸权”将主导当今这个时代。“相互依存式霸权”定义为根植于金砖国家的崛起所带来的基于地区合作所形成的联盟型关系,这一联盟型关系的形成主要为了牵制并超越由单一国家或单一权力中心（西方）所产生的霸权。届时在国家利益、地区走向、共同政治议程、政治联盟以及潜在危机管控等方面,“第一世界”（西方国家）和“第二世界”（新兴国家）将相互影响、相互制约,共同重塑国际安全与国际政治经济秩序。