bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Legacy of Dictatorship for Democratic Parties in Latin America
Authors: Frantz Erica , Geddes Barbara
Published: February 2019

When dictators seize power, they face a choice about how to deal with the pre-existing political parties. Some simply repress all parties, some ally themselves with one of the traditional parties and use it to help organize their rule, and others repress pre-existing parties but create a new party to support themselves. This study examines how these decisions affect the subsequent development of party systems after redemocratization. Looking at the experience of Latin America, a region that has experienced its share of dictatorships, we show that dictators who allied with traditional parties or repressed existing ones have contributed to very stable party systems. By contrast, dictators who repressed the old parties but created a new one destabilized their countries’ party systems for some time after the return of democracy.
Electoral Proximity and the Political Involvement of Bureaucrats: A Natural Experiment in Argentina, 1904
Authors: Figueroa Valentín
Published: February 2019

In this paper, I use a slightly modified version of the Becker–Stigler model of corrupt behavior to explain bureaucratic political involvement. Since bureaucrats prefer higher rewards and not to support losing candidates, we expect them to become politically involved near elections – when rewards are expected to be higher, and information more abundant. Taking advantage of a natural experiment, I employ differences-in-means and differences-in-differences techniques to estimate the effect of electoral proximity on the political involvement of justices of the peace in the city of Buenos Aires in 1904. I find a large, positive, and highly local effect of electoral proximity on their political involvement, with no appreciable impact in the months before or after elections.
Parties under Stress: Using a Linkage Decay Framework to Analyze the Chilean Party System
Authors: Morgan Jana , Meléndez Carlos
Published: February 2019

Conventional wisdom suggests Chile's party system is highly institutionalized. However, recent declines in participation and partisanship have begun to raise questions about this veneer of stability. This article assesses the current state of the Chilean party system, analyzing its ability to provide linkage. We specify a theoretical framework for identifying challenges to linkage and constraints on necessary adaptation. We then use this framework to evaluate linkage in the contemporary Chilean system, emphasizing how its representational profile has changed since the democratic transition. The analysis suggests the two partisan coalitions no longer present clear policy alternatives and programmatic representation increasingly depends on policy responsiveness and relics of old ideological divides. Significant institutional constraints impede parties’ ability to incorporate demands from emerging social groups, and clientelism remains a complementary but not core linkage mechanism. This evidence indicates that while representation in Chile has not yet failed, the system contains serious vulnerabilities.
Nation or District? Evaluating the Territorial Scope of Bills through Experimental Designs
Authors: Simison Emilia
Published: February 2019

This paper studies the territorial scope of the bills presented by members of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower chamber of the Argentine National Congress) during Juan Domingo Perón's first two terms in office (1946–1955). Its main objective is to observe the effect that modifying the electoral system (switching from incomplete party ballots in multimember districts to relative majorities in single-member districts) had on that scope. Experimental techniques (an interrupted time-series and a within-subjects design) are used to analyze a novel database including every bill presented in the Chamber of Deputies during the period in question. Contrary to theoretical expectations, an increase is observed in the share of bills with a territorial scope that goes beyond deputies’ districts – especially for those presented by legislators from the opposition and from larger provinces. In addition, by separately analyzing the effect on the ruling party and the opposition, the paper uncovers a plausible explanation for previous nonconclusive findings.
Legislative Coalition Size and Antigovernment Protests in Latin America
Authors: García Ana Isabel López
Published: February 2019

This work examines whether the size, as well as the composition, of legislative coalitions is an additional factor that affects the incidence of protests against national governments in Latin America. Based on aggregate data for 18 democracies from 1980 to 2014, the analysis reveals that the relationship between the size of legislative coalitions in the lower house of national assemblies and the odds of antigovernment protests is U-shaped. Specifically, the odds of antigovernment protests occurring decrease until the president has a coalition comprising 50–55 percent of the national assembly; once this threshold is passed, the odds of protests taking place increase as the coalition grows. This result holds after controlling for the party composition of the governing coalition and other factors previously linked to the occurrence of antigovernment protests. The evidence thus indicates that both minority and supermajority scenarios can be socially destabilizing for Latin American democracies.
Party Identification in an Encapsulated Party System: The Case of Postauthoritarian Chile
Authors: Bargsted Matías A. , Maldonado Luis
Published: February 2019

Since the return of democracy, party identification has been declining sharply among the Chilean public. We seek to understand this process by applying an age-period-cohort analysis to survey data from 1994 to 2014. In light of the elite-driven and socially uprooted character, or what we call the encapsulated nature, of the Chilean party system, we hypothesize that cumulative electoral experience has had a negative effect on party identification and not the positive effect that Converse's (1969) social-learning model would predict. Our findings support these expectations but also reveal large period effects that have shrunk the overall level of partisan identification and significant cohort effects whereby generations born after the 1950s have become less partisan. We also uncover important nuances that occur across the various mainstream political parties. We conclude that all three sources of social change are leading toward the extinction of mass partisanship from Chilean society.
Transformation or Substitution? The Workers’ Party and the Right in Northeast Brazil
Authors: Alves Jorge Antonio
Published: February 2019

One of the most significant recent changes in Brazilian politics is the inroads made by the Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) and other leftist parties into state and municipal governments in the country's most conservative region, the Northeast. An important strand of literature argues that this is due to a transformative strategy anchored in institutional growth, which is based on opening local party directorates. In contrast, this analysis shows that the PT has made gains in the region by segmenting its strategy – that is, by focusing on two well-established political practices. First, the PT has leveraged executive office at higher levels of government (e.g., federal and state) in order to advance at lower levels (e.g., state and municipal). Second, it has constructed pragmatic alliances with opportunistic parties, thus revealing how the migration of opportunist politicians into allied parties allowed entrenched elites to remain in power. This suggests that the Left's subnational advances are less transformative than they seem and could potentially harm democratic consolidation.
Participation on the Edge: Prior Consultation and Extractivism in Latin America
Authors: Zaremberg Gisela , Wong Marcela Torres
Published: February 2019

Violent conflicts between indigenous groups, multinational companies, and governments over the control of lands potentially containing valuable minerals and hydrocarbons are proliferating in Latin America, as well as elsewhere around the world too. In 1989 the International Labor Organization (ILO) approved ILO Convention 169, which mandates the implementation of prior consultation (PC) with indigenous peoples about any project that could potentially affect their territory. Many interpretations regarding the aims and scopes of PC exist. Some environmental sectors see PC as a mechanism to prevent the implementation of ecologically unsustainable projects in indigenous territories. Part of the indigenous rights sector, however, sees PC as a platform via which to negotiate financial resources for indigenous communities. On the side of governments and multinational companies, PC represents a means to diminish violence and advance projects under more stable political conditions. By examining mining and hydrocarbon projects in Bolivia, Peru, and Mexico, the authors compare cases in which PC takes place and ones where it is not applied. A typology of the outcomes in relation to 1) the prevention of industrialized resource extraction on indigenous lands, 2) redistribution of economic benefits produced by extractive projects, and 3) diminishment of the state repression associated with extractive projects is offered. Findings show that in many cases all three of these results are not simultaneously achieved; the authors explain why some outcomes might be obtained in certain instances and not in others. Finally, the article offers an overall assessment of PC results in light of participation theories.
Macau Residents as Border People – A Changing Border Regime from a Sociocultural Perspective
Authors: Breitung Werner
Published: February 2019

The concept of border people refers to people living with borders, dealing with the related difficulties and taking advantage of the respective opportunities. This concept is here applied to the residents of Macau, whose border checkpoint to the mainland has become one of the busiest in the world. Even though the border control is still in place, it has become very common for Macau residents to cross the border on an everyday basis. This paper links the people's border-related attitudes and activities to the process of Macau's integration with China and argues that the “integration from below” manifested in the growing exchange of people is a crucial factor in the overall integration process.
“The Olympic Torch Burns, and Great Suspicion Blazes” – China Narratives in the German Media during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
Authors: Poerner Michael
Published: February 2019

This paper focuses on the description of China in leading German daily and weekly newspapers during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. On the basis of a brief outline of the main China narratives in German media since the 1950s, this paper analyses China-related articles which were published during the period August 8–15, 2008. It argues that reports on China are mostly based on well established German notions of China and centre around the image of a despotic and/or dangerous China. Therefore, they primarily refer back to the source culture and contain little information of value regarding the target culture.
China's Economic Policy in the Time of the Global Financial Crisis: Which Way Out?
Authors: Schüller Margot , Schüler-Zhou Yun
Published: February 2019

This contribution analyses the impact of the global financial crisis on the Chinese economy and the policies implemented by the Chinese government to cope with it. We argue, first, that China has not been able to decouple its economic performance from that of the U.S. and other developed countries. Second, although economic growth in the second quarter of 2009 showed that the stimulus package is working, the current development does not seem to be sustainable. In order to avoid another round of overheating, the government needs to adjust its stimulus policy. Third, the current crisis offers opportunities to conduct necessary structural adjustments in favour of more market-based and innovative industries, more investment by private companies and a stronger role of private consumption in economic growth. Fourth, with the external demand from the OECD countries declining, Chinese export companies need to further diversify their international markets and reorient their production and sales strategies to some extent towards the domestic market.
“Building a New Socialist Countryside” – Only a Political Slogan?
Authors: Ahlers Anna L. , Schubert Gunter
Published: February 2019

In March 2006, China's National People's Congress officially promulgated the central government's intention to “build a new socialist countryside”, a new policy initiative and approach to rural development. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in two Chinese counties in 2008 and 2009, this article investigates how the new policy is being substantiated and implemented at the local level. It argues that by combining China's new fiscal system of transfer payments to poor local governments with administrative reforms, intensified internal project evaluation, and efforts to increase the rural income through a mixture of infrastructural investment, agricultural specialization, the expansion of social welfare, and accelerated urbanization, “building a new socialist countryside” constitutes more than a political slogan and has the potential to successfully overcome rural poverty and the rural-urban divide.
Reorganizing Rural Public Finance: Reforms and Consequences
Authors: Tian John Q.
Published: February 2019

This article examines recent reforms to restructure rural public finance in China and their impact on local-government finance. The focus is on how fiscal income and financial expenditure are managed by local-level governments, particularly at the county and township levels, and how rural public and social services are financed. The article also looks at the development of intergovernmental transfers, ongoing administrative reform, more recent initiatives to extend public finance to cover rural residents as part of the comprehensive rural reform, and a new campaign to build a new socialist rural China.
Commentary on “A Modest Proposal for a Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development” by Chang Ya-chung
Authors: Hughes Christopher R.
Published: February 2019

This critique assesses Prof. Chang Ya-chung's draft basic agreement for cross-Strait relations by arguing that it overstates changes in Beijing's Taiwan policy, which is based on a strategy that has not seen substantial change since it was devised in the early 1990s to prevent the island's democratization leading to the exercise of self-determination. By over-estimating Taiwan's political, diplomatic, military, and economic vulnerability the proposal unnecessarily narrows down Taibei's options to the point where it has to accept Beijing's one-China principle. This merely closes off other options that Taiwan can just as readily pursue, such as continuing to develop cross-Strait relations through ad hoc solutions to practical problems or seeking more imaginative ways to create a durable modus vivendi with international support. Even more problematic is that a political framework for stability based on the principles of Chinese nationalism is unlikely to be acceptable for Taiwan's liberal-democratic politics and could thus amount to an unnecessary risk that would lead to a less durable cross-Strait status quo than that which has been maintained over the last two decades.
Commentary on “A Modest Proposal for a Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development” by Chang Ya-chung
Authors: Cabestan Jean-Pierre
Published: February 2019

The main question that Chang Ya-chung's Modest Proposal triggers is whether a political and security agreement can realistically be reached today. The twelve agreements signed by Beijing and Taibei since 2008 should be saluted as conducive to constructing détente, non-military confidence-building measures and de facto government-to-government relations across the Strait. However, in the foreseeable future, is it realistic to ask for more? Actually, a temporary or long-term political agreement between Taibei and Beijing will not be reached if the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) refuse to formally recognize each other's separate existence and sovereignty in one way or another, at least tacitly, and if they do not agree to address security issues squarely with the assistance of the USA. Finally, no meaningful agreement can be reached either if the PRC Chinese and certain segments of the Kuomintang (KMT) (Guomindang) fail to recognize Taiwan's specific history or realize that the Taiwanese have been developing a distinct identity since 1949 and even more so since the island's democratization took place in the late 1980s.
Chinese Foreign Policy in Transition: Trends and Implications
Authors: Zhang Baohui
Published: February 2019

Chinese foreign policy has been transformed in recent years. This article seeks to provide a systematic analysis of the most salient features of the new Chinese foreign policy. It identifies five such features. Based on these features, the article suggests that China is poised to become a true global power. This view differs significantly from Gerald Segal's famous claim in 1999 that China was no more than a middle power. The article utilizes many current Chinese sources to help readers understand China's new motives and goals in international and regional affairs.
The Political Economy of Collective Labour Legislation in Taiwan
Authors: Wang James W. Y.
Published: February 2019

This article provides a seminal analysis of collective labour legislation in Taiwan. A chronological review of Taiwan's legislative process suggests that the context of incorporation, institutional framework, mechanisms for delivering reforms, and sequence of reforms together shape the legislative outcomes of labour reforms at the collective level. While most labour legislation was revised and passed after the preceding sequence of economic transition, the reform of collective labour rights was greatly constrained by the flexible labour-market structure. In order for politicians to form new alliances with labour organizations, legislation of collective labour rights was a strategy to cultivate support during electoral periods. Consequently, the industrial relations changed following the enactment of substantial reform-oriented labour legislation. Theoretically, the historical analysis of legislative procedure unveils evolutionary reform paths for collective labour rights in new democracies. At the same time, empirically, Taiwan demonstrates an alternative reform path in combination with incremental steps and progressive agendas. For new democracies of small economy, a window of opportunity for the progress in collective labour legislation remains open today, albeit with limitations.
The Impact of Social Movements on Taiwan's Democracy
Authors: Philion Stephen
Published: February 2019

This article discusses and critiques the four articles that comprise this volume on Taiwan's social movement and democratization. I argue that the four articles suggest that while Taiwan's social movements have made a clear impact on Taiwan's democratization, they remain challenged by the neo-liberal orientation of elected governments, in both KMT and DPP forms. The article provides brief comparison to East Asian NICs and Western experiences with social movements. A strength of the articles is their attention to the complex ways social movements and democratization have impacted each other for the past two decades, with attention to unintended consequences. It concludes with some thoughts on the implications of how nationalism and globalization will continue to shape the potential of social movements in Taiwan.
Property-driven Urban Change in Post-Socialist Shanghai: Reading the Television Series Woju
Authors: Liang Samuel Y.
Published: February 2019

In late 2009, the television series Woju ([Formula: see text]) received extremely high audience ratings in major Chinese cities. Its visual narratives engage the public and comment on social developments by presenting detailed pictures of urban change in Shanghai and the everyday lives of a range of urban characters who are involved in and affected by the urban-restructuring process and represent three distinct social groups: “white-collar” immigrants, low-income local residents, and powerful officials. By analysing the visual narratives of these characters, this article highlights the loss of the city's historical identity and shows how the reorganization of urban space translates into a reallocation of resources, power and prestige among the social groups. The article also shows that Woju represents a new development in literary and television production in the age of the Internet and globalization; its imaginative construct of the city was based on transnational and virtual rather than local and neighbourhood experience. This also testifies to the loss of the city's established identity in cultural production.
Divorcing China: The Swing from the Patrilineal Genealogy of China to the Matrilineal Genealogy of Taiwan in Taiwan's National Imagination
Authors: Chuang Yin C.
Published: February 2019

This paper explores the popular concept of the relationship between Taiwan and China as a feminine/ masculine dichotomy which has been constructed within Taiwan's national imagination. First, I will focus on how this dichotomy has been created within the process of identity-shifting in Taiwan since the 1990s as manifested in Taiwanese pop songs. Second, I will demonstrate how it has been appropriated within the process of nation-building. Two primary questions will be addressed: How is the national imagination of Taiwan in Taiwanese pop songs constructed through maternal and feminine images? How is the matrilineal genealogy in Taiwanese pop songs appropriated by the opposition camp, namely the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to mobilize voters? I will investigate, from a cultural studies perspective, how cultural imagination has come to serve as the vehicle to formulate resistance, mobilize voters, gain power and, most importantly, reconstruct Taiwanese nationalism within Taiwan's political limbo for decades. Furthermore, Margaret Somers' discussion (1993, 1994, 1995a, 1995b, 1995c; Somers and Gibson 1994) of narrative identity is adopted as the framework for this paper in order to look at how identities are constructed within and across multiple realms. My research methods consist of conducting in-depth interviews and analysing texts.
Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia: A Comparative Analysis of the South China Sea and the East China Sea
Authors: Yee Andy
Published: February 2019

This article systematically compares maritime territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. It draws on the bargaining model of war and hegemonic stability theory to track the record of conflicts and shifts in the relative power balances of the claimants, leading to the conclusion that certainty and stability have improved in the South China Sea, with the converse happening in the East China Sea. To enrich the models, this article also considers social factors (constructivism) and arrives at the same conclusion. This calls for a differentiated methodological approach if we are to devise strategies to mediate and resolve these disputes.
The Evolution of Environmental Policy in the People's Republic of China
Authors: Edmonds Richard Louis
Published: February 2019

This paper outlines how the evolution of China's policy and study of the environment are reflected in the scholarly literature, paying special attention to the impact of the country's environmental developments on international relations. In particular, it examines accounts of how China has moved from an isolated national scientific and environmental control infrastructure into the centre of international environmental debates as its society has opened and the geographical scale of ecological problems has expanded. The paper also identifies the continuing inhibitors to China's ability to control environmental degradation -including lack of transparency, elite manipulation, and bureaucratic weaknesses – despite the opening of China's system to limited participation of civil society in its environmental debates.
Streamlining Local Behaviour through Communication, Incentives and Control: A Case Study of Local Environmental Policies in China
Authors: Heberer Thomas , Senz Anja
Published: February 2019

This article describes how China uses evaluation ratings and monitoring as incentives in order to foster the implementation of environmental policies at the local level. It is argued that decentralisation in China leaves room for actors at the local levels to manoeuver and bargain with those on higher levels for flexible adjustment of implementation policies according to local conditions. However, decentralisation is accompanied by significant institutional changes in the structure of intergovernmental communication, incentives and control. Accordingly, decentralisation in China exhibits a specific design which leaves space for divergent local environmental policies while also engendering “grassroots mechanisms”. On the whole, this new institutional setting benefits the implementation of environmental policies.
Water Scarcity and Allocation in the Tarim Basin: Decision Structures and Adaptations on the Local Level
Authors: Thevs Niels
Published: February 2019

The Tarim River is the major water source for all kinds of human activities and for the natural ecosystems in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China. The major water consumer is irrigation agriculture, mainly cotton. As the area under irrigation has been increasing ever since the 1950s, the lower and middle reaches of the Tarim are suffering from a water shortage. Within the framework of the Water Law and two World Bank projects, the Tarim River Basin Water Resource Commission was founded in 1997 in order to foster integrated water resource management along the Tarim River. Water quotas were fixed for the water utilization along the upstream and downstream river stretches. Furthermore, along each river stretch, quotas were set for water withdrawal by agriculture and industry and the amount of water to remain for the natural ecosystems (environmental flow). Furthermore, huge investments were undertaken in order to increase irrigation effectiveness and restore the lower reaches of the Tarim River. Still, a regular water supply for water consumers along the Tarim River cannot be ensured. This paper thus introduces the hydrology of the Tarim River and its impacts on land use and natural ecosystems along its banks. The water administration in the Tarim Basin and the water allocation plan are elaborated upon, and the current water supply situation is discussed. Finally, the adaptations made due to issues of water allocation and water scarcity on the farm level are investigated and discussed.
Regional Organizations in China's Security Strategy for Africa: The Sense of Supporting “African Solutions to African Problems”
Authors: Van Hoeymissen Sara
Published: February 2019

African regional organizations play a significant role in maintaining peace and security on their continent. This article looks at how China, as an emerging power in Africa, has incorporated these organizations into its policies on African security crises. It asserts that China has explicitly endorsed regional conflict resolution mechanisms, which it perceives as having a less intrusive impact on third world countries' sovereignty than have initiatives taken under the global collective security system led by the UN Security Council. Moreover, China strengthening cooperation with African regional organizations and aligning its stance with the views emerging from these regional bodies is an important way in which China has tried to respond to the rising security challenges and political demands it is faced with in Africa. The article briefly considers what influence China's increased attention to African regional bodies is having on efforts by Africa's traditional donors to help build – but also shape – Africa's emerging peace and security architecture.
An Overseas Naval Presence without Overseas Bases: China's Counter-piracy Operation in the Gulf of Aden
Authors: Kamerling Susanne , Van Der Putten Frans-Paul
Published: February 2019

This article aims to assess how China is using its navy to secure its interests in the Gulf of Aden, and what this means for the European Union. The analysis of how China's naval presence in the Gulf of Aden has evolved since early 2009 suggests that China's increasing interests and involvement in Africa do not necessarily lead to the establishment of Chinese naval bases in or close to the continent. To supply its ships, the Chinese navy may well continue using the commercial-diplomatic model that China has been developing. This model is based on China's close diplomatic relations with countries in the region and the extensive presence of Chinese companies to whom logistical services can be outsourced and who are under a greater degree of state influence than most Western multinationals. One of the consequences of this approach is that although China may not establish overseas military bases, it may be able to keep expanding its naval presence in or around Africa.
Contrasting Rhetoric and Converging Security Interests of the European Union and China in Africa
Authors: Stahl Anna Katharina
Published: February 2019

In recent years, both the European Union (EU) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) have considerably stepped up their presence in Africa, including in the field of peace and security. This article discusses how the EU's and China's understanding of governance and sovereignty affects their respective security strategies in Africa. It argues that although European and Chinese rhetoric significantly differs in terms of the doctrines of sovereignty and governance, the conventional wisdom of two competing security models is inaccurate. As a matter of fact, Brussels and Beijing pursue converging security interests in Africa, a fact that can open the door for coordinated Sino-European crisis management efforts.
The Political Economy of Sino-Peruvian Relations: A New Dependency?
Authors: Gonzalez-Vicente Ruben
Published: February 2019

This article reviews dependency postulates and examines whether they are applicable to explain the political economy of China's contemporary relations with Peru. It argues that the dichotomy between Peru as a commodity-providing periphery and China as a core manufacturing centre is insufficient to explain the ways in which power is embedded in the international economic system, and particularly inadequate to identify winners and losers in the international division of labour. Thereby, in line with some recent international political economy discussions of power, the article proposes that China should not be understood as a self-contained economic entity, but as a hub where natural resources are mobilized for transnational production. Furthermore, contending that a focus on nation-states fails to capture the complexity of (underdevelopment dynamics, it suggests that notions of internal colonialism, flexible sovereignties and postcolonial analyses of representation provide fresher perspectives from which to understand the distribution of power along the political economy of Sino-Peruvian relations.
China, Global Governance and the Future of Cuba
Authors: Hearn Adrian H.
Published: February 2019

China's deepening engagement with Latin America has been accompanied by concerns about the Chinese government's regard for international conventions of economic governance. Critics claim that across Latin America and the Caribbean, Chinese aid and trade are characterised by excessive state intervention. This article argues that, for two reasons, the rationale for these misgivings is dissipating. First, since the onset of the global financial crisis, China has gained influence in multilateral institutions, prompting them toward greater acceptance of public spending in developing countries. Second, recent developments in Cuba show that China is actively encouraging the Western hemisphere's only communist country to liberalise its economy. China sits at the crossroads of these local and global developments, prompting Cuba toward rapprochement with international norms even as it works to reform them.
Political Polarization in Taiwan: A Growing Challenge to Catch-all Parties?
Authors: Clark Cal , Tan Alexander C.
Published: February 2019

For the last decade, politics in Taiwan have become increasingly polarized over the national identity issue. Yet, the bitter division between the two major parties is not really reflected in the electorate. We seek to explain this paradox by examining the changing nature of political parties, in particular the growing role of ideological activists in campaigns, the rise of cultural and identity issues, the difficulty for new parties to emerge, the decline of catch-all parties, and the tendency for major parties to engage in cartel activities.
Liberalist Variation in Taiwan: Four Democratization Orientations
Authors: Wang Hung-jen
Published: February 2019

In this paper I analyse how Taiwanese liberalist scholars have discursively and operationally shaped the meanings of Taiwanese democratization via a mix of liberal values and nationalist concerns. I will argue that a valid understanding of democratization in Taiwan has never emerged in a way that adequately responds to a liberalist perspective of the country's ongoing political development. Instead, such an understanding has been subjectively influenced by liberal intellectuals writing on the subject. In other words, current discourses in Taiwan represent efforts on the part of scholars to manage connections between liberalist values and nationalist concerns rather than shared views regarding facts emerging from Taiwanese democratization. In this paper I discuss four types of liberalist orientations to Taiwanese democratization – universal, moderate, pragmatic and nationalist – in the contexts of national-identity constraints, a balance between liberal values and national identity, and flexibility regarding liberalist and nationalist concerns. I conclude that democratization research in Taiwan reflects an aspect of knowledge production formulated by the relationship between the researcher and the subject under study.
Cross-Strait Relations and the Way Forward: Observations from a European Integration Perspective
Authors: Fleischauer Stefan
Published: February 2019

The new policy platform in Taiwan of economic liberalization toward the Chinese mainland which was inaugurated by President Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu) in 2008 has been the source of both expectation and anxiety. While some observers believe that this policy of rapprochement will usher in an era of cross-Strait prosperity and peace, others are concerned about Taiwan's de facto sovereignty as well as the negative economic impacts that the liberalization policy might entail. In particular, it has often been claimed (or feared) that the liberalization process will lead to some form of political integration between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. In this article, I wish to offer some insights into the current state of cross-Strait interactions derived from the European integration process.
Seeing like a Minority: Political Tourism and the Struggle for Recognition in China
Authors: Bulag Uradyn E.
Published: February 2019

This paper outlines the operation of what may be called “political tourism” in China, and analyses the role of the sensorial technology of “seeing” in the kind of narrative this tourism engenders. Beginning in 1950, the newly established People's Republic of China launched an annual tradition of inviting non-communist elites to attend the May Day and the National Day (1 October) parades on Tiananmen Square in Beijing and in some metropolitan cities. Unlike contemporary ethnic tourism, wherein minorities and their cultures become the objects of the tourist gaze, Chinese political tourism aims at bringing minority leaders out of their putative “isolation”, treating them with hospitality, and ultimately making them “see with their own eyes” China's “true face”.
A Comparative Analysis of the Cash Handout Policy of Hong Kong and Macau
Authors: Kwong Bruce Kam Kwan
Published: February 2019

In 2011, Hong Kong SAR government announced an unprecedented policy of cash handouts of 6,000 HKD to all permanent residents at the age of 18 or above as a means of defusing public discontent with economic policy and poor governance. Macau SAR has also been distributing similar cash handouts since 2008 to temper public dissatisfaction and widespread demonstrations. Initially, both SAR governments were very reluctant to initiate universal cash handouts. Unlike standard welfare programmes that are budgeted for annually, the cash payment scheme in Hong Kong SAR was a one-off handout. In Macau SAR, however, the payment scheme went from being a short-term policy to a long-term policy, while other welfare programmes were also allocated more public money. This paper argues that although such cash handout policies are avoidable, they are still being adopted by politicians who place self-interest above the public interest.
Paradoxes of Prosperity in China's New Capitalism
Authors: Ten Brink Tobias
Published: February 2019

This article gives a broad characterization of China's political economy, as well as specific aspects of its socio-economic instabilities. With a focus on China's export-oriented industry sectors, concepts from comparative and international political economy are applied to show how the Chinese economy can be understood as a variegated form of state-permeated capitalism that at the same time is deeply integrated into world economic processes. The article goes on to portray the socio-economic dynamics, as well as the instabilities of China's new capitalism, that are at the root of the state leadership's attempts to turn away from a one-sided model of export and investment-driven growth. Thereby, a number of obstacles are revealed for the “rebalancing” of the economy: a continued dependence on exports, a lack of domestic consumer demand which impedes a significant “social” upgrading, the ongoing low-wage model for which there is no end in sight, the limits of the state's steering capacity and the weaknesses of its fragmented, competition-driven structure.
Moving beyond Cheap Labour? Industrial and Social Upgrading in the Garment and LED Industries of the Pearl River Delta
Authors: Butollo Florian
Published: February 2019

Based on field studies in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in 2010 and 2011, specific paths of industrial upgrading in the garment and IT industries are identified. The analysis reveals that there exists a multiplicity of upgrading trajectories, all of which have different implications for skill development and the character of work. While the modernization of industries relies on the input of higher skilled work, primarily in the fields of R&D and marketing, this barely is the case with regard to manufacturing. While labour intensity in the examined cases is diminishing in absolute or relative terms, internal divisions between low-skilled and high-skilled work are reconfigured rather than overcome.
The Chinese Presence in Burkina Faso: A Sino-African Cooperation from Below
Authors: Khan Mohammad Guive
Published: February 2019

Burkina Faso currently has no diplomatic relationship whatsoever with the People's Republic of China. Engaged in cooperation with Taiwan since 1994, it is one of only three African countries not a part of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation. This unusual situation has produced a unique manifestation of the Chinese presence in Burkina Faso, where the estimated 600 Chinese migrants are primarily private entrepreneurs. This phenomenon of “globalization from below” – or, this migration of entrepreneurs that transcends the absence of diplomatic relations – creates new intimate social relations between the Burkinabe and Chinese people who come into contact with each other. Far from simply turning Chinese and Burkinabe into economic competitors, these relations have also led to the emergence of many forms of interpersonal and business cooperation. In this paper, I therefore demonstrate how Sino-African cooperation from below has developed in Burkina Faso, which stands in radical contrast to the latter's cooperation with Taiwan, which takes place almost exclusively on a broader state-to-state level. The empirical evidence of this study is drawn from field survey interviews and observations of both Chinese and Burkinabe entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso between 2010 and 2011.
Change and Continuities: Taiwan's Post-2008 Environmental Policies
Authors: Grano Simona A.
Published: February 2019

In representative governments, a healthy turnover of power among ruling parties is viewed as a critical sign of democratic principles. In a political environment where voters’ opinion is the key political driver, the greatest challenge facing the NGO community is often that environmental concerns only represent secondary aspects of the policy-making process. This article focuses on the transformations (or lack thereof) in Taiwan's environmental governance, under different political parties, particularly during the past few years. I begin with an overview of the key issues that have characterised Taiwan's environmental movement and its battles, starting with the democratic transition of the mid-1980s, before focusing on two developmental projects – Taiwan's eighth petrochemical plant and fourth nuclear power facility – to bring to light the most significant changes and continuities in the environmental-policy realm. I pay special attention to the post-2008 period and the ensuing renaissance experienced by the environmental movement, among others. The final section considers the consequences of the KMT's second electoral victory – in January 2012 – for environmental policies and, in light of the article's findings, summarises what has changed and what has consistently remained the same under different ruling parties.
Running Out of Time? The Evolution of Taiwan's Relations in Africa
Authors: Rich Timothy S. , Banerjee Vasabjit
Published: February 2019

This article highlights the precarious nature of Taiwan's diplomatic relations in Africa. Whereas Cold War rationales initially benefitted Taiwan, economic interests now appear to incentivize African countries to establish relations with China. Through qualitative and quantitative data covering much of the post-World War II era, this analysis argues that economic factors have trumped political rationales for Taiwanese–African relations. In addition, this article problematizes both conceptions of diplomatic recognition and Taiwan's enduring relations with Africa.
Winning Hearts and Minds? Cadres as Microbloggers in China
Authors: Esarey Ashley
Published: February 2019

China's local governments are facing a crisis of public confidence and have struggled to handle political dissent and popular protests. In an attempt to promote political stability, local officials around the country have utilized Twitter-like microblog sites ([Formula: see text], weibo) to upgrade their capability to influence citizens and engage in rapid information management. Through the analysis of microblogging by prominent propagandists whose identities and professions are known to the public, this article finds some evidence that microblogging could be helping cadres to win hearts and minds, although such microblogging poses new risks to the state as netizens challenge propagandists and state policies in exchanges that reveal political pluralism and disapproval of state policies. While venting on weibo may enable people to blow off steam, the reluctance (or inability) of official microbloggers to engage their critics in meaningful dialogue suggests the limited utility of official microblogging as a means of furthering political stability through the improvement of state–society relations.
The Temporal Experience of Chinese Students Abroad and the Present Human Condition
Authors: Hansen Anders Sybrandt
Published: February 2019

This article examines the experiences of Chinese elite university students abroad through the lens of temporality. In the struggle to get ahead, elite students are expected to carefully deploy their time. Studying abroad, it is argued, has become one more step in a culturally idealised temporal arrangement of how one is expected to go about advancing. The downside to this ethics of striving is shown to be a pervasive sense of restlessness ([Formula: see text], fuzao). The article shows how relocating to a different life environment allowed a group of elite students to respond to their temporal predicament in existentially creative ways that registered socially as personal maturation. It is argued that these responses were set in motion by the students’ inhabiting an expanse of not-yet-purposeful time. Treating the temporal experience of Chinese elite students as a pronounced inflection of an increasingly global temporal mode of striving, the article enquires into the temporality of the present human condition.
“I will Change Things in my Own Small Way”: Chinese Overseas Students, “Western” Values, and Institutional Reform
Authors: Thøgersen Stig
Published: February 2019

The article is based on a longitudinal study of Chinese college students who studied abroad as part of their BA programme in Preschool Education. It first examines the Chinese discourse on preschool education in order to understand the current situation in the students’ professional field. The main section then discusses students’ attitudes to what they perceived to be key values and principles in early childhood education in the West: freedom, individual rights, equality, and creativity. Students generally expressed strong support for these values and wanted to reform Chinese institutions accordingly. The article argues, based on this case, that while Chinese students abroad may not see themselves as the vanguard of macro-level political reforms, some of them certainly want to play a role in the gradual transformation of Chinese institutions in their respective professional fields.
The Evolution of China's Pay Inequality from 1987 to 2012
Authors: Zhang Wenjie
Published: February 2019

This paper provides new estimates of the evolution of pay inequality in China, overall and also by region and sector, in the period from 1987 to 2012, using the between-group component of Theil's T-statistic measured across regions and sectors. We find that China's overall pay inequality started to rise rapidly in the early 1990s and that it peaked in 2008, with the between-province component peaking as early as 2002. Since 2008, overall pay inequality has decreased, with between-province and between-sector inequality both showing steady declines. We argue that China's pay inequality during the reform period was not simply a matter of economic inequality; it was the joint product of both market and institutional forces. In this vein, we also argue that the recent decline of overall pay inequality after the 2008 global economic crisis was not a temporary phenomenon triggered by the global downturn, but a long-term outcome driven by both economic and policy factors.