bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Perils of Political Courage
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter considers Carter’s view that promoting human rights, diplomacy, and legislation that served the best interests of the people and the cause of international peace was more important to him than winning reelection. By returning the Crown of St. Stephen to the Hungarian people, Carter defied conservative US voters, especially including Eastern European immigrants who had become citizens, who did not want him to give it to a Soviet satellite. His drive to complete the treaties that would give the Panama Canal to the Panamanians was so unpopular that his advisers, including Rosalynn, said he should not do it during his first term or he would never be reelected. He bucked her opposition, as well as that of powerful Democratic Senator John C. Stennis. With the help of Republican Senator Howard Baker, he got the treaties completed and ratified. He also stood up to the allies, especially West Germany, with his demand that they contribute more support to NATO and support the US determination to complete the SALT II arms reduction treaty with the Soviet Union.
Quiet Path to Camp David
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter describes how Rosalynn suggested to Jimmy that if they invited Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin to come to isolated and serene Camp David, it might be the right environment for them to be able to negotiate a peace treaty between their two nations. Carter was skeptical but agreed to try, and some say that thus Rosalynn became the architect of the Camp David Accords. The chapter goes on to show that Walter Mondale thought the time was right for such a conference, though when, at a summit in Bonn, Germany, Carter tried to convince the allies of this he had little luck doing so, especially in reaching Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany who did not like Carter’s insistence that he should bear more of the cost of NATO and that an arms treaty with the Soviet Union would not endanger Western Europe. Carter invited Begin and Sadat to Camp David, but kept it low key and took a major vacation the month beforehand.
Carter’s Coup: China
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter considers one of President Carter’ accomplishments, completing what former President Richard Nixon had begun, namely the normalization of relations with China. The chapter shows that China’s Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping wanted it to happen, while Zbigniew Brzezinski and Cyrus Vance did the preliminary work that led to Deng’s coming to the White House to sign the agreement. Finally, it shows that this was a significant coup because Carter accomplished this normalization while at the same time negotiating the SALT II agreement with the Soviet Union and without the Soviets knowing he was dealing with China. Deng left Washington to tour the US before returning to China, and Carter had to defend his agreement with critics who argued that he had violated an old treaty the US had with Taiwan.
Dangerous Rhetoric and a Harmless Rabbit
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter begins with domestic issues, in particular an accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, after which President Carter had to reassure the nation that there was no danger to nearby citizens and that nuclear energy was still safe. He visited the plant, confirmed his faith in nuclear energy, and addressed the nation again on the nation’s energy crisis. The chapter goes on to relate how shortly after, he installed solar panels on the roof of the White House to demonstrate the possibility that solar energy might be a major part of the answer to the nation’s need for non-petroleum based energy. It also deals with foreign affairs, in particular the crisis caused by the shah roaming the world looking for a place to live: Carter refused to allow him into the US for fear Muslim radicals in Iran would capture the US embassy and take its personnel hostage. Finally, Carter had to deal with the absurd accusation that he was attacked by a “killer rabbit” while fishing on his pond near Plains.
Crisis of Confidence
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter opens with a speech Carter delivered on July 15, 1979, that became a turning point in his career. Entitled “Crisis of Confidence,” it specified problems in US society that the government needed to address and outlined a complicated energy program. Based upon ideas that Pat Caddell got from reading Christopher Lasch and presented to Rosalynn, the speech was not what Carter needed to boost his rating. While Walter Mondale, Hamilton Jordan, and Stuart Eizenstat all advised against it, Rosalynn thought it was a good idea. Clark Clifford referred to the “malaise” in the country, and Carter’s enemies quickly labelled the speech “malaise” even though he had never used the word. In preparation Carter isolated himself at Camp David where he invited groups of government officials and private citizens to tell him was wrong in the country. After the speech, he called for the resignations of all of his cabinet members, most of which he did not intend to accept, but his action caused many officials and citizens to lose confidence in him.
Keeping the Faith
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter relates how Carter was deterred from neither his presidential responsibility nor his plan to win reelection by the disappointment and negative political fallout from the failed rescue attempt. He worked harder on find a way to get the hostages freed, including approaching Algeria, a non-aligned Communist nation for help. The chapter also shows how Carter dealt with the Mariel Boatlift, which transported thousands of Cuban refugees to the United States where he gave them sanctuary in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and elsewhere until they could be assimilated into US society. As the demands of his presidency became more intense, so did the pressure from Ted Kennedy to take the job away from him.
The Agony of Defeat
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter continues the review of Carter’s reelection campaign. Although Carter and Reagan remained almost tied until a few days before the election, Carter lost by a landslide. The hostages remained in captivity, and Carter made a serious error in his single debate with Reagan when he chose the wrong words to emphasize the importance of nuclear disarmament. He was no match for Reagan’s oratorical skills. He and Rosalynn went home to Plains to vote and to grieve their loss, but when they returned to the White House the same day they were more concerned about their family, their staff and campaign workers than themselves.
The Carter Center
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter describes how before they left the White House, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter planned to create a peacekeeping institution for the next stage of their careers. Warren Christopher and Charles Kirbo had studied similar places and gave them good advice. Hamilton Jordan wrote a blueprint for it, and on October 2, 1984, they broke the ground for the Carter Center, a private organization that would mediate disputes, work to improve world health, and promote democracy. They made plans for the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum that, when built adjacent to the center, would be gifted to the National Archives. While that major project developed, they embarked upon their first building project with Habitat for Humanity in New York City, Carter wrote The Blood of Abraham; Insights into the Middle East, and they traveled widely in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America as ambassadors for justice and peace. On October 1, 1986, President Reagan arrived in Atlanta to make the official dedication that marked the opening of both the library and the center.
Humanitarians Adrift
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter opens with the Iran-Contra scandal, which tarnished the Reagan administration when it broke in October 1986, and provided Carter with some of the details about the October Surprise that had possibly cost him the election of 1980. The chapter shows that by then, Carter was more interested in his travels to the Middle East and the Soviet Union in quest of peace. He and Rosalynn fell into a serious disagreement about a book they wrote together, Everything to Gain: How to Live the Rest of Your Life, and their lives were saddened by the deaths of Billy in 1988 and Gloria in 1990, both victims of pancreatic cancer. Nevertheless, they observed elections in Panama and Nicaragua, and witnessed the creation of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers in Americus, Georgia.
Navigating Troubled Waters
Authors: Godbold Jr. E. Stanly
Published: August 2022

This chapter turns to President George H. W. Bush’s reelection campaign of 1992 when the Carters learned most of the details about how Bush and other Reagan operatives had met with Iranians in Madrid and in Paris to cut the deal for the Iranians to hold the hostages until after the election in return for a promise that Reagan would return their impounded funds to them. Although the news made Carter “nauseated,” he did not want to embarrass presidents Reagan and Bush, he said, and thus left the investigation to Congress and historians. He joined a group committed to stamping out hate, published Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age, and joined the other living presidents for the dedication of the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. The chapter concludes with Carter’s vigorous opposition to the Gulf War launched by President George H. W. Bush to drive the Iraqis out of Kuwait.
The Politics Children Make
Authors: Gash Alison L. , Tichenor Daniel J.
Published: August 2022

This chapter introduces readers to our primary argument: that young people make and are shaped by politics. Policy movements, reforms, and transformations are rooted in, framed through, or initiated by young people. It introduces readers to some of the key policy movements and moments that catalyzed the project as well as the conceptual framework that will organize our more detailed analyses in Chapters 2–4. In particular, the chapter shows that throughout history, many of the most significant policy transformations have hinged on the presence of young people as subjects, symbols, and agents. Consequently, although they are frequently sidelined in the study and practice of politics, young people are nevertheless critical locations of political contestation and reform.
Leveraging Children in Democratic Politics
Authors: Gash Alison L. , Tichenor Daniel J.
Published: August 2022

This chapter focuses on young people’s appearance as symbols or foci for policies that serve wider goals. It begins with the story of Emmett Till and the ways in which images of his brutalized face and body united Black communities across the nation in grief and rage and explores the power of innocence as a catalyst for public engagement. The chapter goes on to introduce other young people, including Ryan White and Marcelas Owens, whose stories undercut negative discourse on AIDS and the Affordable Care Act. This chapter details the widespread use of young people—by adults—as soldiers and messengers in the most contentious policy debates. And, finally, the chapter reviews the ways in which racial, gender, and sexuality based stereotypes are deployed to valorize some young people while scapegoating others as deviants or threats.
In Search of a Comprehensive Definition of Ethics
Authors: Sachedina Abdulaziz
Published: August 2022

Chapter 2 traces the classical sources to delineate development of the scriptural worldview that was firmly founded upon the moral language of Islamic revelation, the Qur’a>n and the Sunna (Tradition). The chapter explores and explains the ethical-legal terminology that was established by Muslim legal thinkers to point toward a gradual consideration of the texts in the context of Arabic linguistic and lexical nuances to underscore the reliable dimensions of religious-social praxis the faith community needed to organize its first political society (umma). This chapter functions as a historical backdrop for other chapters engaged in investigating and expounding the doctrinal, theological, and juridical foundations of Islamic ethics.
Scriptural Sources of Ethical Methodology
Authors: Sachedina Abdulaziz
Published: August 2022

This chapter investigates scriptural sources to expound the ethical foundation of Islamic orthopraxy. Scholarly analysis of the scriptural materials, including theological and juridical formulations from their inception in the classical period, was founded upon the logical necessity of discovering the underlying moral connotation of divine commandments to determine whether these prescriptions could be used as precedents to extrapolate other related ordinances. To verify the reliability of the judicial decisions thus arrived at, justificatory reasoning had to make plain the correlation (tala>zum) between scripturally and rationally derived moral values that formed an integral part of orthopraxy in Islamic jurisprudence as a manifestation of divinely approved religious-moral action-guides (taklīf).
Introduction
Authors: Kirkland N. Bryant
Published: August 2022

The introductory chapter establishes the book’s scholarly and theoretical background and discusses ideas of reception and creativity. It recounts the fundamental contours of Herodotus’s ancient reputation (which the author programmatically distinguishes from reception). It proposes two working models of reception: (1) kinetic reception, the relationship between reputation or critical pronouncement and imitation, whereby authors may simultaneously speak to the reputation of Herodotus (as liar, as raconteur, etc.) while also, in their own receptive imitations, displaying a more complicated relationship to their forebear than surface utterances suggest; and (2) hypotextual activation, which (following Gérard Genette) renders intertextuality more layered than it may at first appear. Both models, together with Michel Foucault’s notion of “transdiscursivity,” encourage looking beyond the traditional approach to Herodotus via the history of historiography. The chapter closes with a description of “the Herodotean” which the book distills across five writers.
Introduction
Authors: Lesch Charles H.T.
Published: August 2022

Solidarity refers to our normative commitment toward some person or set of people as well as our psychological motivation to act on that commitment. Liberal democracies need solidarity for at least four reasons: stabilizing society, realizing justice, diminishing dependence, and cultivating moral personality. But they must also navigate a conceptual tension: liberalism valorizes personal freedom, individual dignity, pluralism, and critical reflection; solidarity stresses social unity, visceral attachment, and the subordinating of one’s own interest to the good of the whole. Even more dauntingly, they must confront “Schmitt’s challenge”: according to Carl Schmitt, the solidarity that liberal democracies need comes from sources they cannot themselves produce, like religion. Thus in an age of declining religiosity and rising nationalism, how can we form strong social bonds without racism, demagoguery, and xenophobia? Can we have not only solidarity, but liberal solidarity, in a secular age?
The “Essential We”
Authors: Lesch Charles H.T.
Published: August 2022

This chapter marshals an original interpretation of Martin Buber to develop “solidarity as fate and destiny,” a new theory of liberal obligation. Through a close reading of Buber’s biblical commentaries, the chapter reveals that among his core aims was to conceptualize Judaism’s alternative to Schmitt’s political theology: a “theopolitics,” where human beings, mutually subject to God’s kingship, realize a nondominating form of social organization. The chapter then shows how Buber sought to incorporate the spirit of theopolitics into liberal democracy through a new, two-stage theory of solidarity. In the first, we bind ourselves to some discrete constellation of people, a solidarity of fate. We delight in their joys and ache when they suffer. And though they may have imperfectly rational elements, we nonetheless embrace our moral responsibility for them. When we do, we can advance to a second stage: a solidarity of destiny, a social bond infused with chesed (“kindness”) and defined by active efforts to diminish domination.
China
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This book describes the Chinese economy that appears destined for failure with a financial bubble in peril of popping yet continues to grow against the odds. It focuses on China’s fragile fundamentals and resources for resilience, drawing on discussions with Communist cadres, shadow bankers, and migrant workers. It also pieces together a unique perspective on China’s past, present, and possible futures. With a new chapter on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the book positions China in the context of a rolling series of global crises. It presents a self-sufficient China that can outwit hurdles that have affected other countries in a similar position and gives an informative account of the country’s economic history in the process.
A Tree Cannot Grow to the Sky
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This chapter talks about Xi Jinping, the 63 year-old that marches inexorably toward his second term as General Secretary of the Communist Party and President of China, but finds financial policy as unfamiliar territory. It considers Xi as China’s most powerful leader since the great reformer Deng Xiaoping that made national renewal his rallying cry. It also details Xi’s crackdown on corruption with graft-busters that went after gouging officials no matter what their status. The chapter recounts how Xi put his imprimatur on the Belt and Road Initiative, which is a massive investment program intended to extend China’s strategic reach through Asia into Africa and Europe. It mentions the nitty-gritty of the financial sector that seems like an unwelcome distraction for Xi’s big picture of a “China dream,” state-planned prosperity to counter the American dream of rugged individualism.
China’s Debt Mountain: The Borrowers
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This chapter mentions Liaoning, a province of 44 million in the rustbelt Northeast, that is one of the few places where China’s inefficiencies and dysfunctions are quite evident. It recounts Liaoning’s struggling state-owned enterprises and creditors, such as the Dongbei Special Steel Group, whose chairman, Yang Hua, was found hanged in his home. It also details how the Liaoning government tried to strong arm Dongbei’s creditors to agree to a deal, swapping their loans for an equity stake. The chapter explores China’s corporate debt that rings alarm bells, noting that it’s a very high number in international comparison and off the scale relative to both major developed and emerging economies. It describes other provinces in China and certain pockets of industry that have high stress levels, particularly the iron and steel sector whose debt for listed firms averaged 17 times annual earnings.
China’s Debt Mountain: The Lenders
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This chapter begins with an account of Anbang Insurance Group, China’s third largest insurer that boasted turbo-charged growth in 2017. It points out that China’s insurance regulator charged Anbang with “disrupting market order” although it had a string of high-profile acquisitions and had deep connections to the Communist Party elite, Wu Xiaohui. It also addresses what pushed China’s regulators to crack down so hard and so publicly on Anbang, one of the mainland’s biggest insurers. The chapter details how Anbang was gaming China’s regulatory system, taking advantage of status as an insurance firm to soak up cheap funding, and using that to go on an acquisition spree that appeared to have little commercial logic. It cites Anbang’s Longevity Sure Win No.1 as an example of a product that provided neither longevity for the company nor a sure win for investors.
Xi Jinping and the Start of China’s Fourth Cycle
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This chapter describes Xi Jinping era, which was clear from the beginning was going to be different from his predecessor. It mentions that Xi is the princeling son of Xi Zhongxun, who fought in the revolutionary war alongside Mao Zedong and played a starring role in Deng Xiaoping’s early reform and opening, while Hu Jintao was the son of a small business owner and a teacher. It also stresses that, compared to Hu, Xi started at a position of strength after the Standing Committee was shrunk from nine back to seven members. The chapter details Xi’s first flexing of muscles, which was not on economics but politics as he warned the Politburo a few days after taking office that corruption could end the Party and the state. It looks at Xi’s promised crackdown that target both “tigers and flies”—high ranking officials and lowly local bureaucrats.
Deleveraging without Self-Detonating
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This chapter discusses China’s equity market meltdown and yuan devaluation trauma, which had long been confirmed by the Wall Street’s traders to the International Monetary Fund’s PhDs. It points out that China’s apparent success was the iridescent patina on a rapidly expanding bubble that is soon to burst. It also puts emphasis on the lesson that China’s leadership must learn, which is to tackle risks to financial stability. The chapter explains how China’s policy makers had achieved faster growth, a steady debt-to-GDP ratio, and a shrinking shadow banking sector a year and a half into the deleveraging campaign, which started in 2016. It elaborates the deleveraging campaign that hammered confidence and triggered a wave of defaults in an attempt to deflate the bubble and bring about the crisis it was intended to avoid.
War-Gaming a China Crisis
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This chapter cites the novel China Dream by exiled storyteller Ma Jian and Liu Cixin’s science fiction fantasy The Dark Forest, which are used to describe China’s future. It explains that Ma Jian’s dystopian rhapsody tells of a society trapped by its failure to come to terms with its past. It also analyzes Liu Cixin’s vision of a China that is effortlessly part of global political, economic, and technological leadership. The chapter refers to calculations of China’s debt that focus on the borrower side, wherein loans to business, households, and government are added up. It clarifies how China’s combination of advanced economy debt levels and emerging market income levels is a unique disadvantage, emphasizing that maxing out on debt at a middling level of development made it more difficult for China to close the gap with high income countries.
It’s Never Too Late
Authors: Orlik Thomas
Published: August 2022

This chapter implies that reading the history of modern China is like reading the history of China’s collapse theories as the days for China’s inefficient state firms and bad-loan-laden state banks seem to be numbered. It recounts the rise of the middle class and their demand for participation in the political process, which was expected to sound the death knell for Communist Party rule. It also mentions the great financial crisis that was expected to topple China’s exports, driving unemployment higher and threatening regime stability. The chapter talks about China’s 1.3 billion population and “can do” government, which accelerated the country up the developmental ladder. It points out how the 1.3 billion population was important initially as a source of cheap labor, enticing foreign firms to set up production in factories.
Introduction
Authors: Masoud Tarek , Mainwaring Scott
Published: August 2022

A large body of literature highlights the importance of structural prerequisites or contextual factors for ensuring democracy’s emergence and survival. These include economic development, macroeconomic performance, state capacity, religious and ethnolinguistic homogeneity, democratic cultures, and the existence of democratic neighbors and international patrons. And yet, history provides numerous examples of democracies that have persisted in the absence of these things. Chapter 1 analyzes the correlates of democratic survival for third-wave democracies and finds that structural factors cannot account for several long-lived democracies that have emerged since the mid-1970s. The “hard” cases of Argentina, Benin, Timor-Leste, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine show that contextual factors may facilitate democracy, but they do not fully determine its endurance. Instead, the introduction and the chapters that follow it illustrate that democratic survival depends on the constraints that important political actors, such as political parties and militaries, face. These constraints may be external, in the form of institutions and the countervailing power of other actors, but in many cases they are internal, in the form of deeply ingrained commitments to democracy that cause actors to prioritize it over other desiderata.
The Politics of Permanent Pitfalls
Authors: Slater Dan
Published: August 2022

Indonesia is vulnerable to four modes of democratic collapse: a failure of the state, a military takeover, a transition to electoral authoritarianism, or the rise of a majoritarian, illiberal “democracy” in which minority rights are trampled. That Indonesia has managed to avoid these pitfalls is a function of the legacies of the authoritarian period. Chapter 3 discusses how Indonesia’s historical inheritances have helped it survive the politics of permanent pitfalls, at least thus far. The story of Indonesia is one of autocrats who unwittingly erect the scaffolding that later helps to hold up (an admittedly imperfect) democratic edifice. Four inheritances from the authoritarian New Order period (1966–98) are emphasized: an encompassing national identity that helped to instill a sense of belonging; the emergence of an independent, technocratic bureaucracy, capable of governing even after the removal of the dictator; an autocratic “ruling party” that survived the transition; and the autocrat’s strategy of dividing and ruling over the military apparatus, which left it without the ability to act collectively to abrogate democracy.
Africa’s Democratic Outliers
Authors: Beatty Riedl Rachel
Published: August 2022

Chapter 4 shows that the emergence and survival of democracy in Benin and South Africa was not a function of ideological commitments to democratic government on the part of political leaders. In both countries, democracy emerged and was sustained as the result of bargains by incumbents who understood that the authoritarian status quo was unsustainable, and opponents who realized that economic and social stability required compromise with the ancien régime. The chapter posits that democracy survived in South Africa and Benin because the old elite was given a place in the new political system and was thus disincentivized from engaging in subversion.
Economic Crises, Military Rebellions, and Democratic Survival
Authors: Mainwaring Scott , Simison Emilia
Published: August 2022

Chapter 7 analyzes the survival of democracy since 1983 in Argentina, which had been plagued by a history of authoritarian actors and five democratic breakdowns between 1930 and 1976. The democratic regime has also endured three long and severe economic crises since 1983. Normative commitments to democracy on the part of political parties, labor, social movements, and business, and the policy moderation of all key actors (a profound contrast to the situation during the country’s previous democratic experience of 1973–76) have played a key role in Argentina’s democratic survival. The source of these normative commitments and the shift to policy moderation was the brutal and inept military dictatorship of 1976–83. That experience was so catastrophic for Argentina that political leaders across the political spectrum came to value democracy. They acted to uphold the democratic system even during severe economic downturns, hyperinflation, sharp increases in inequality, and dramatic increases in poverty and unemployment. When groups of officers engaged in military rebellions during a particularly difficult period for the Argentine economy, masses and elites were unified in rejecting them.
Why Democracies Survive in Hard Places
Authors: Mainwaring Scott
Published: August 2022

Chapter 8 concludes the volume by analyzing the factors that enable democracy to survive in hard places, based on the case studies presented in the preceding chapters. Actors’ (especially parties’ and heads of government’s) normative preferences about democracy help explain the endurance of democracy in Argentina, Benin, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Timor-Leste. The repudiation of a terrible past, such as a failed dictatorship, an armed conflict, or a war, have contributed to sustaining a commitment to democracy. A large partisan opposition and institutional constraints (strong legislatures and courts, and effective governance) can protect democracies, but they do not go far toward explaining democratic longevity in the cases in this volume. International actors and influences, particularly the European Union and the United States, and voters’ preferences can contribute to supporting democracy, but they do not explain its endurance in the cases covered by this book.
A Performer's Guide to Transcribing, Editing, and Arranging Early Music
Authors: Schab Alon
Published: August 2022

The book offers an introduction and a guide to three of the principal tasks with which performers of early music engage throughout their professional lives: (1) how to transcribe music from manuscripts and early prints; (2) how to use such historical sources when editing one’s own performance material; and (3) how to arrange music for early instruments. Taking its cue from the founding generation of the early music revival, the book highlights ways in which the unprecedented accessibility of sources that musicians enjoy today, and the greater control that musicians now assume over various aspects of music production, may reinvigorate the early music revival and adapt it to a changing artistic world.
Political Meritocracy in China
Authors: Bell Daniel A.
Published: August 2022

This chapter distinguishes between the ideal and the reality of political meritocracy in China and asks what’s necessary to reduce the gap between the two. The first section lays out the theoretical case for justifying political hierarchies between rulers and citizens in large-scale political communities (such as China) that do not use periodic elections to select rulers. The second section asks if it is possible to limit abuses of power in a political meritocracy, with a focus on the contemporary Chinese political context. I conclude that more democratic practices and values short of competitive elections at the top will be necessary to save the political system, though current trends point in the wrong direction.
Locating Meritocracy in Early Modern Asia
Authors: Sheth Sudev , Zhang Lawrence L. C.
Published: August 2022

This chapter seeks to define “merit” in the states of early modern China and India. Rather than projecting any one definition of merit, such as individual examination success, onto the past, the authors suggest that merit ought to be contextually understood within the parameters of the Qing and Mughal political systems. By examining many personnel records from the Chinese civil service and then tracking several individual career profiles from the Mughal court, the authors argue that the three factors of family, loyalty, and job competencies were the chief attributes of “merit” across both societies. Individuals were evaluated by their superiors for their familial ties and personal backgrounds, factors that cannot be separated from their achievements. This comparative analysis of the Qing and Mughal administrative worlds raises the critical question of whether families, not individuals, should be the proper unit of inquiry in attempts to locate “meritocracy” in early modern Asia.
Meritocracy and the Making of the Chinese Academe Redux, 1912–1952
Authors: Lee James Z. , Yunzhu Ren Bamboo , Liang Chen
Published: August 2022

This chapter takes advantage of two newly expanded big historical data sets to update an earlier article on this same topic in China Quarterly. This chapter describes three salient features of the Chinese academe during the Republic of China: highly internationally trained, with a large proportion of females relative to other developing and even some developed countries, and with a heavy emphasis on STEM subjects. It then concludes with a more detailed description of how the social and spatial origins of China’s university students and university faculty members changed from a national population of civil servant families to business and professional families largely from Jiangnan and the Pearl River Delta. This chapter makes use of newly expanded data sets, including the China University Student Dataset—Republic of China, and the China University Student Dataset—Overseas.
The Merits and Limits of China’s Modern Universities
Authors: Kirby William C.
Published: August 2022

China has a long history of advanced learning, but its modern universities are quite young. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the establishment of Chinese universities based on international models signaled the end of a millennium of promoting talent through competitive civil service examinations and the beginning of a century and more of experimentation and contestation on the purpose of higher education. Over the course of the past century, universities have propelled China to the first ranks in science and engineering, while—whenever political circumstances have permitted—also promoting the values of open inquiry that have marked the world’s leading institutions of higher learning. Today, Chinese universities have the potential for leadership, but can “world class” universities—however they are defined—exist in a politically illiberal system? To answer affirmatively, Chinese universities must adroitly manage the merits and demerits of their higher education system.
Reimagining Merit in India
Authors: Babu D. Shyam , Prasad Chandra Bhan , Kapur Devesh
Published: August 2022

India’s pernicious caste system severely constrains the educational and career outcomes of its former untouchable castes and the tribal communities, which together account for nearly a quarter of the country’s population. It renders millions inferior and apparently “meritless.” Despite seven decades of development, caste inequalities have remained entrenched partly because India failed to address the cognitive dimensions of discrimination. Although affirmative action has improved economic and social well-being of these groups, it suffers from design and implementation defects. As the beneficiaries are selected on the basis of identity, affirmative action ends up perpetuating social identities instead of attenuating them. In its current form, affirmative action is more akin to distributing fish than to teaching how to fish. Several new approaches rooted in social psychology and cognitive neuroscience focus on merit as an individual effort rather than a group trait. Some markers of merit are more unambiguous, including nurturing and celebrating individual merit in sports, math, chess, music, and so on. Additionally, target groups are encouraged to focus on STEM as well as entrepreneurship.
Meritocracy Enabled by Technology, Grounded in Science
Authors: Aggarwal Varun
Published: August 2022

This chapter looks at how one can enable greater meritocracy in the job market by making use of technology and science. I describe the scientific tools Aspiring Minds uses to measure job skills and scale these assessments to millions of candidates using technology. This chapter describes the five pillars of Aspiring Mind’s work: Science of developing assessments, artificial intelligence and machine learning methods to develop measures commensurate with this science, other technologies to translate these into high-fidelity assessments available cost-effectively at scale, an orientation to publishing data to inform public policy, and a consideration toward fairness to develop assessments free from racial, gender, ethnic or other biases. The chapter calls for a team of social scientists, measurement scientists, and technology innovators to join hands in order to use these pillars to help design systems to realize the vision of meritocracy at scale.
Khedrupjé on Madhyamaka Epistemology
Authors: Yakherds The
Published: August 2022

This chapter explores Khedrupjé Gelek Pelsang’s defence of Tsongkhapa and how he anticipated some of Taktsang’s critiques and attempted to defend Tsongkkapa’s system of interpretation of Candrakīrti. We examine the philosophical context in which both operated and their main rivals, particularly Rongtön Sheja Kunrig. The analysis begins with an examination of Khedrupjé’s defence of Tsongkhapa’s account of causality, a concept that lies at the heart of Buddhist philosophy. Is the Madhyamaka presentation of emptiness tantamount to nihilism? If not, how can it avoid nihilism while denying any foundations? What does it mean to “follow mundane convention” regarding relative truth? Does this mean that Mādhyamikas embrace all of the conceptual implications of ordinary beings’ knowledge of the world? If not, where do they diverge? And how do buddhas relate to the conventional? Does their omniscience present a barrier to comprehension of the perceptions of ordinary beings?
Taktsang’s Madhyamaka
Authors: Yakherds The
Published: August 2022

This chapter explores Taktsang’s reading of Candrakīrti and how it forms the basis for his critique of Tsongkhapa, whom he accuses of attempting to merge foundationalist epistemology (Pramāṇavāda) and antifoundationalist Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka. The result, according to Taktsang, is tantamount to a poorly articulated version of the lower philosophical system of Svāntrika Madhyamaka. Tsongkhapa, Taktsang argues, fails to grasp the implications of the three levels of analysis (no analysis, slight analysis, and thorough analysis), and as a result he misinterprets Candrakīrti and falls into an incoherent foundationalism. We examine the implications of Taktsang’s distinction between a buddha’s own perspective (rang ngor) and the perspective of others (gzhan ngor). Nothing can be coherently posited of the former because the minds of buddhas are utterly transcendent. When we attempt to discuss the nature of buddhahood, we can only do so from a mundane perspective, one that employs words and concepts. These distort and misrepresent buddhas’ omniscience, and so the only viable approach is to declare that it is ineffable.
The Unlikely Environmentalist
Authors: Moore Scott M.
Published: August 2022

China’s rise transformed the global environment and made it the single most important player on nearly every global environmental issue. As the world’s largest emitter, consumer market, and investor in large infrastructure projects, China became indispensable to protecting the planet’s climate, its biodiversity, and its natural resources. Beijing’s environmental policies were among the most ambitious in the world, but its economy continued to rely heavily on coal and a resource-intensive industrial structure. China’s efforts to limit environmental harms, moreover, were focused heavily at home, even as its ecological footprint expanded dramatically abroad. Most concerning of all, Beijing’s approach to environmental protection combined elements of authoritarianism and protectionism. Under these circumstances, competition rather than cooperation with China might hold the key to saving the planet.
The Global Talent Show
Authors: Moore Scott M.
Published: August 2022

China’s rise is often measured in terms of physical goods and infrastructure. Its biggest impact, however, may be the growth of the Chinese diaspora, which has transformed communities ranging from America’s university campuses to Africa’s small business sector. For the most part, these flows of people, their skills, and ideas have been a boon for the host countries. But in some places, they also stoked social tensions. At the same time, economic and social shifts have intensified a global competition for talent, especially in scientific and technological fields. These trends have profound implications for China, other developing nations, and developed countries like the United States that have historically won the global talent show by default—but now must work harder to compete effectively.
Digital Dilemmas
Authors: Moore Scott M.
Published: August 2022

Data is the coin of the digital realm, and in the twenty-first century China gained important advantages in collecting and distributing it. At the same time, China’s growing role in the digital economy posed significant concerns over privacy, censorship, and surveillance far beyond its borders. The risk that Beijing might export digital censorship and surveillance practices to other societies has grown markedly. Within China, meanwhile, data privacy has become a significant political issue. These developments pushed information security, data privacy, and digital network integrity to the top of priority lists in Beijing and elsewhere. They also underscore the need for the United States to revamp its data policy, and reveal a narrow path toward dialogue between China and other nations on digital and data governance issues.
The Baltimore Uprising
Authors: Board Jr. Marcus
Published: August 2022

Using the invisible weapons framework with a focus on grassroots non-events, the political neglect of structural accountability, and elite agenda-setting, this chapter deconstructs the events surrounding the 2015 police killing of Freddie Gray Jr. in Baltimore. The analysis focuses on autonomy—people’s sense of choice—and the ways resistance was embraced without radicalism. The chapter shows how, when the Uprising shifted toward more radical forms of engagement, neoliberal norms were used to put people back in place. This work was so effective that even local gang members vowed to support local police, elected officials, and clergy in instituting a curfew. The political ramifications of the invisible weapons framework are evident across the individual, community, and national levels—culminating in the mayor and president chastising radical protesters as thugs and criminals. Such actions reinforce silencing and co-optation, political disempowerment and dissonance.
Confronting the Caliphate
Authors: Svensson Isak , Finnbogason Daniel , Krause Dino , Martínez Lorenzo Luís , Hawach Nanar
Published: August 2022

When jihadist groups establish their own governance and proto-states, they, to some extent, rely on the acquiescence of the civilians under their control. Therefore, civilians are not only victims of coercive control but are also agents of change, sometimes providing fundamental challenges to the jihadists’ governance attempts. Civilians in Mali, Iraq, Algeria, and Syria have engaged in various forms of civil resistance against jihadist groups: refusal to cooperate, participation in public protests, and various forms of more covert everyday resistance. Exploring civil resistance against jihadist groups, the book not only studies the conditions under which it occurs but also the forms it takes. It explores who chooses to resist and the conditions under which such resistance can be successful. Confronting the Caliphate is a comprehensive study of this topic, based on original research from surveys in Mosul; disaggregated data on protests across communities in Syria; a comparative analysis of Mali, Iraq, and Yemen; and accounts of resistance in Algeria. It clearly shows that civil resistance is not only possible but is much more prevalent than previously assumed. The rule of jihadist groups presents civilians with some of the most difficult and dangerous circumstances for engaging in civil resistance, but the book demonstrates how they can nonviolently and successfully resist.
Civil Resistance in Jihadist Proto-States
Authors: Svensson Isak , Finnbogason Daniel , Krause Dino , Lorenzo Luís Martínez , Hawach Nanar
Published: August 2022

Over the past decade, jihadist proto-states have been created at an unprecedented scale. With research about the phenomenon having been characterized by a strong focus on the involved armed actors, this chapter makes a case for why more attention should be paid to civilians living in these jihadist proto-states. The chapter draws linkages between three rarely connected research fields: jihadist terrorism, rebel governance, and nonviolent civil resistance. It outlines the empirical strategy adopted by the book, which leverages a three-leveled research strategy, approaching the subject from a country-, sub-national-, and individual-level of analysis. Moreover, the chapter presents the four guiding questions along which the book is structured: When does civil resistance in jihadist proto-states occur? How does it manifest itself? Who participates in it? And, why is it—sometimes—successful? Last, it summarizes the main findings with regard to each of these questions.
Civil Resistance Against Jihadists: How?
Authors: Svensson Isak , Finnbogason Daniel , Krause Dino , Lorenzo Luís Martínez , Hawach Nanar
Published: August 2022

This chapter focuses on the question of how civil resistance in jihadist proto-states manifests itself. The first part of the chapter explores this question on a sub-national level, presenting new and unique data on a total of 624 protest events against jihadist groups during the Syrian Civil War. It presents descriptive statistics and shows that the responses by the jihadists to these protests varied between outright repression and relatively lenient behavior. The second part of the chapter explores the question from an individual level of analysis, presenting new and unique descriptive data from a survey with residents of Mosul who lived under the Islamic State. It distinguishes between three main types of resistance undertaken by individuals: public action, noncooperation, and everyday resistance. Whereas public forms of resistance were less frequently reported, the majority of respondents engaged in at least some form of noncooperative behavior or a form of everyday resistance.
Civil Resistance Against Jihadists: Who?
Authors: Svensson Isak , Finnbogason Daniel , Krause Dino , Lorenzo Luís Martínez , Hawach Nanar
Published: August 2022

This chapter examines who the protagonists of civil resistance are in jihadist proto-states. Through a series of regression analyses with survey data from Mosul, it shows that both motivations and capabilities matter for who participates in civil resistance at the individual level: First, the chapter identifies the alien character of IS as a main driver, as civilians with negative perceptions of foreign IS members were more likely to engage in civil resistance; second, social capital appears to be a significant predictor, which points to the importance of social networks and access to information in facilitating civilians’ coordination and mobilization. When the analysis is disaggregated into three types of civil resistance (public actions, noncooperation, and everyday resistance), the findings show that the profile of those engaging in public actions differs from the profiles of the other two categories. The chapter argues that the different dynamics with regard to public actions may reflect the particular risks associated with this type of behavior.