Language Imperialism-Democracy in China

IF you are an American or European citizen, chances are you’ve never heard about shengren, minzhu and wenming. If one day you promote them,you might even be accused of cultural treason.     

Europe Needs Its Own Confucianism

THE East is a career," writes Benjamin Disraeli in his 1847 masterpiece Tancred. The quote is short, but controversial. Was Disraeli dismissing an entire continent as a testing ground for young ambitious Western statesmen, as some have said? I prefer Edward Said’s interpretation of the quote, outlined in his influential 1978 masterwork Orientalism. Said took Disraeli to mean that, "to be interested in the East was something bright young Westerners would     

Explaining Variation in the Effectiveness of Transnational Energy Partnerships

This article analyzes the effectiveness of transnational multi‐stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development—also known as “Type II outcomes” of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development—in the sustainable energy sector. We combine quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitatively, we use a database of 340 partnerships, including 46 partnerships that focus on energy. Our qualitative analysis includes case studies of five partnerships that appear as the most effective and five that are operational but only with modest degrees of effectiveness. We study two competing hypotheses. The first, rooted in institutionalism, assumes that variation in effectiveness is related to organizational structures and procedures. The competing hypothesis emphasizes the power of actors and expects partnerships that involve key business actors and powerful Northern states to perform better. We conclude that the level of institutionalization is most important in explaining effectiveness, while powerful partners and the type of internal organization may further enhance effectiveness.     

The Institutionalization of Private Governance: How Business and Nonprofit Organizations Agree on Transnational Rules

This article assesses the recent trend of cooperation among antagonistic private actors that results in the creation and implementation of issue-specific transnational norms and rules and the subsequent shift from public to private forms of governance. Many political scientists agree that authority also exists outside of formal political structures. Private actors increasingly begin to make their own rules and standards that acquire authority beyond the international system. This observation is often referred to as private transnational governance as opposed to public or international governance. Although the concept of private governance gains prominence in academic debates, it is not clear how private governance on the global scale is constructed and maintained or what specific or general conditions are necessary for private governance to emerge. Based on the review of common theoretical propositions, this article develops an integrated model along which the necessary conditions for the emergence of private governance can be assessed and understood. As most research has hitherto focused on institutionalized cooperation between business actors (self-regulation), this article takes a closer look at those transnational systems of rule that result out of the enhanced cooperation between profit and nonprofit actors (coregulation).