...At the turn of the 20th century China was the world's oldest continuously extant civilization, being four thousand years old, but, a mere twenty years later that bastion of civilization was thrown into turmoil and discord by the arrival of western civilizations who brought with them a new ethos and dictum on the structure of society that, would open the eyes of the insular Chinese people and awaken the great sleeping dragon, that would propel them into modernity. A number of factors were present in China at the turn of the century that would led to the gradual establishment of Communist rule under the charismatic, enigmatic Mao Zedong. At the time of the CCP's inception in 1920 China was a deeply divided socially, economically and politically backward country ruled by self-serving, despotic war-lords and encumbered by foreign powers who held unequal treaties which entitled them to special economic and territorial privileges in China, a source of great discontent to the Chinese people. This great social upheaval gave rise to new and more radicalized schools of thought, led by disenchanted intellectuals who strove to unify China and rid her of her many tyrannical overlords.The Nationalist KMT Party were the Communists main contender for power; not only were they the public face of politics in China, they also had the backing of Soviet Russia, but, over time Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT would come to represent consummate despotism; Siphoning of public funds, their brutality towards...
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...www.GetPedia.com History of China: Table of Contents q q Historical Setting The Ancient Dynasties r r r Dawn of History Zhou Period Hundred Schools of Thought q The Imperial Era r r r r r r First Imperial Period Era of Disunity Restoration of Empire Mongolian Interlude Chinese Regain Power Rise of the Manchus q Emergence Of Modern China r r r r r r Western Powers Arrive First Modern Period Opium War, 1839-42 Era of Disunity Taiping Rebellion, 1851-64 Self-Strengthening Movement Hundred Days' Reform and Aftermath Republican Revolution of 1911 q Republican China r r r Nationalism and Communism s Opposing the Warlords s Consolidation under the Guomindang s Rise of the Communists Anti-Japanese War Return to Civil War q People's Republic Of China r r Transition to Socialism, 1953-57 Great Leap Forward, 1958-60 r r r r r Readjustment and Recovery, 1961-65 Cultural Revolution Decade, 1966-76 s Militant Phase, 1966-68 s Ninth National Party Congress to the Demise of Lin Biao, 1969-71 s End of the Era of Mao Zedong, 1972-76 Post-Mao Period, 1976-78 China and the Four Modernizations, 1979-82 Reforms, 1980-88 q References for History of China [ History of China ] [ Timeline ] Historical Setting The History Of China, as documented in ancient writings, dates back some 3,300 years. Modern archaeological studies provide evidence of still more ancient origins in a culture that flourished between 2500 and 2000 B.C....
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...Chinese desire to geo- strategic reach into Africa as a going global strategy this has been the plan as far back in the 1978 eras of Mao Zedong. China’s objective in the new phase of assertiveness is to maintain strong economic ties in Africa, unlike the previous objective of building a coalition of sharing common goals with Africa as ‘Third World’. This geo-economic factor is influenced by the desire for resources to fuel its economic growth and gain energy security. China in strengthening her diplomatic and political ties sees Africa not just as ally to bid for influence and power, but as a source for natural resources . China has established Confucius Institutes (state-funded Chinese Cultural Centers) that have sprung up throughout Africa, teaching local people the culture and traditions. One wonders if China is positioning itself for taking over supremacy and advancing her Soft Policy in Africa. It is perhaps important to see our languages and cultures going out there too. The China- Africa Cooperation which was aimed at strengthening China’s diplomatic and political ties stared in post colonial Africa. The African plight of political freedom from their colonies, referred to as aggressors according to the Chinese and their desire to have a say in the international arena has given the Chinese a reason to defend their being in Africa. The analysis of the Beijing Consensus verses the Washington Consensus scores some marks for the Chinese in African’s aspirations. The...
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...Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China Ezra F. Vogel REFERENCES American Rural Small-Scale Industry Delegation. Rural Small-Scale Industry in the People’s Republic of China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. Atkinson, Richard C. “Recollection of Events Leading to the First Exchange of Students, Scholars, and Scientists between the United States and the People’s Republic of China,” 4 pp. Bachman, David. “Differing Visions of China’s Post-Mao Economy: The Ideas of Chen Yun, Deng Xiaoping, and Zhao Ziyang,” Asian Survey, 26, no. 3 (March 1986), 293-321. Bachman, David. “The Fourteenth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.” New York: Asia Society, 1992. Bachman, David. “Implementing Chinese Tax Policy.” In Lampton, ed., Policy Implementation in Post-Mao China, pp. 119-153. Backhouse, E. and J.O.P. Bland. Annals & Memoirs of the Court of Peking. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1914. Bainian chao (百年潮) (Hundred Year Tide). Monthly. Beijing: Zhongguo zhonggong dangshi xuehui, 1997 -- . Barfield, Thomas J. Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1989. Barman, Geneviève Barman and Nicole Dulioust. “Les années Françaises de Deng Xiaoping,” Vingtième Siècle: Revue d’histoire, no. 20 (October-December 1988), 17-34. Barman, Geneviève and Nicole Dulioust. “The Communists in the Work and Study Movement in France,” Republican China, 13, no. 2 (April 1988), 24-39. Barnett, A. Doak, with a contribution...
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...The Maritime Strategy of China in the Asia-Pacific Region Origins, Development and Impact HUANG, AN-HAO Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 School of Social and Political Sciences Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper ABSTRACT This thesis aims to examine how and why a continental-oriented China has shifted its maritime strategic orientation and naval force structure from its coast toward the far seas in an era of interdependent international system. Generally, China is an ancient continental land power with an incomplete oceanic awareness. With the transformation after the Cold War of China’s grand strategy from landward security to seaward security, maritime security interests have gradually become the most essential part of China’s strategic rationale. Undoubtedly, the quest for sea power and sea rights has become Beijing’s main maritime strategic issue. Given China’s escalating maritime politico-economic-military leverage in the Asia-Pacific region, its desire to become a leading sea power embodying global strategic thinking means that it must expand its maritime strategy by developing its navy and preparing for armed confrontation in terms of international relations realism. Conversely, Beijing’s maritime policy leads at the same time towards globalization, which involves multilateralism and strategic coexistence of a more pragmatic kind. This research...
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...Reviews Koichi Iwabuchi, Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002. 275 pp., including references and index. ISBN 0-8223-2891-7. In this book, Koichi Iwabuchi, a Cultural Studies scholar based in Japan, explores intellectual discourses, marketing strategies and audience consumption of Japanese popular culture in a transnational Asian context. In other words, he examines Japan's encounter with a 'modern' Asia by focusing on the diffusion of its commercialized popular culture. This has been made possible by the globalization of media, which itself encouraged an incipient expansion of a hitherto largely domestic-oriented Japanese media production system to other Asian markets. There have been two results from this expansion of mediated popular culture. In the first place, it brings into question the assumed hegemony of American mass culture (from Disney to McDonald's) and shows how, in East and Southeast Asia at least, Japanese contemporary culture is extremely significant – especially in the global cities of Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore and so on. Second, and more troubling so far as Iwabuchi is concerned, Japan's 'return to Asia' from the 1990s, when it began reasserting its Asian identity, contains echoes of World War II colonialism since Japanese tend to regard themselves as 'above' other Asian countries because of their superior technology and production capacity...
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...as a way of supplementing them and ensuring you have a firm awareness of major events, individuals and ideas. 1. The seeds of conflict 2. Emergence of Cold War, 1944-53 3. The ‘Thaw’ & ‘Peaceful Co-existence’ 4. The arms impact of the arms race 5. Sin-Soviet relations 6. Détente 7. End of Cold War Reminder of the structure of Unit 3 • Unit 3 = 25% of total marks • Written exam: 2 hours • Answer ONE question from Section A (30 marks), and ONE from Section B (40 marks) - choice of 2 questions in both sections • Section A – discuss an historical issue • Section B – use source material & knowledge to discuss an historical event Section A – themes to explore in your revision: 1. The post-Stalin thaw and the bid for peaceful coexistence in 1950s: a) USSR: Khrushchev b) USA: the responses of Dulles, Eisenhower and Kennedy. • the continuation of the Cold War in the 1950s following the retirement of Truman & death of Stalin, despite the bid for improved relations on the part of the USSR in the form of unilateral cuts in the size of the Red Army and withdrawal from Austria and Finland. • the concept of peaceful coexistence & what motivated Khrushchev & the Soviet leadership, & why the USA under Eisenhower & his Secretary of State, Dulles, and later Kennedy and his staff, responded in the way they did. • the role of personality, particularly that of Khrushchev, in shaping relations in these years should be addressed...
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...votes. Since then, the PAP has not looked back, dominating all Parliamentary General Elections while the opposition has failed to make any significant inroads in the political scene. However, it should be noted that over the years, the PAP has had a few upsets along the way with J. B. Jeyaratnam breaking the PAP’s monopoly of the Parliamentary seats with an unexpected victory in the 1981 Anson by-election. The next 3 elections in 1984, 1988 and 1991 then saw a downward swing in PAP’s popular vote, culminating in the PAP garnering only 61.0% of votes and losing 4 seats in 1991. This was significant in the fact that firstly, it was the lowest percentage of votes garnered by the PAP and secondly, it was the most seats lost to the opposition post independence. These trends at that time seemed to suggest that Singaporeans was ready to embrace the opposition after years of effectively living in a “One Party State”. However, that notion was overwritten almost immediately as the PAP came back strongly and reversed the decline, gaining back more than 65% of the votes in the next three elections, even getting 75.3% in 2001, its...
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...The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy The Reagan Doctrine In the political history of the United States, the Presidential Doctrines hold an important position. Presidential Doctrine can be defined as a set of principles or practices applied by a President to a particular situation, region, or government, and a President may formulate a doctrine alone or with the help of advisers within the entire administration (Jones, 2013). According to the Monroe Doctrine to the Reagan Doctrine, in the realm of the U.S. politics and foreign affairs, presidential doctrines have played a pivotal role, and if studied from the perspective of the Cold War, the importance of the Reagan Doctrine can be ascertained. The presidential doctrine of Reagan which is popularly known as the Reagan Doctrine played a significant role in decreasing the global influence of the Soviet Union. In the course of the Cold War but it also played a crucial role in shaping the long term foreign policies of the United States in a tumultuous manner primarily because of its role in supporting the anti-Sandinista rebels (called “Contras”) and for eventually instigating the U.S. – Iran conflict, and it is due to such a roles that even today the Reagan Doctrine is considered strategically an important political approach. The Soviet regime provided a chance for Reagan to formulate a doctrine which will be able to strengthen the motivation of these rebels and eventually bring an end to the Soviet ...
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...Journal of Economic Literature 2011, 49:4, 1076–1151 http:www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jel.49.4.1076 The Fundamental Institutions of China’s Reforms and Development Chenggang Xu* China’s economic reforms have resulted in spectacular growth and poverty reduction. However, China’s institutions look ill-suited to achieve such a result, and they indeed suffer from serious shortcomings. To solve the “China puzzle,” this paper analyzes China’s institution—a regionally decentralized authoritarian system. The central government has control over personnel, whereas subnational governments run the bulk of the economy; and they initiate, negotiate, implement, divert, and resist reforms, policies, rules, and laws. China’s reform trajectories have been shaped by regional decentralization. Spectacular performance on the one hand and grave problems on the other hand are all determined by this governance structure. ( JEL O17, O18, O43, P21, P25, P26) 1. Introduction hinese economic reforms, which have been in flux for three decades, have more than doubled China’s economic growth, from an average of 4.4 percent annually before 1978 to an average of 9.5 percent after 1978. * University of Hong Kong and WCU–SNU. The first draft of this paper was written at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) when I was visiting there. The hospitality and generous support of HKUST are greatly appreciated. Comments from participants in conferences and seminars at the China...
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...Chinese News Analysis Essay: Do you think that there has been any relaxation of state control over the Chinese media over the past couple of decades, or is there simply a cycle of tightening and loosening the state control on the media that does little to reduce the power of the government? (Give examples to support your answer) Since the establishment of People’s Republic of China (PRC) on 1st October 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had a tight control on the Chinese media. Prior to the reform in 1979, all of the Chinese media outlets were controlled by the state. The number of media sources was strictly regulated, and the content, length and even format of newspaper had to adhere to the CCP guideline. (Hassid, 2008) The total control of Chinese media during the Mao era had a profound impact on flow of free information among Chinese people as the news providers were either funded directly by the state or indirectly through policy of forced subscription and cross subscription between publications. (Hassid, 2008) Even though there have been significant changes in the relationship between the Chinese government and the Chinese media ever since Deng Xiaoping’s reform from the late 1970s with the rise of local, provincial, and regional media organizations, as well as online media platforms, the Chinese government is still very much controlling the Chinese media and its centralized power. The Chinese media was once regarded as a singular entity during the time of “building...
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...Why and What Do We Compare? The Story of Revolution and Democratization Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University Introduction The field of comparative politics starts with the assumption that knowledge in the social sciences must proceed by way of the search for comparisons, or what has been called "suggestive contrasts." Scholars of comparative politics compare in order to discover similarities and explain differences. As infrequent and highly complex events, revolutions have attracted a great deal of attention from comparativists. In this article, we will address the following topics: • The Concept of Revolution • Why Revolutions Happen? • Can Revolutions be Predicted? • What Do Revolutions Accomplish? • What Are some of the Failures of Revolutions? • Comparing Characteristics and Outcomes of Some Revolutions • Questions The Concept of Revolution: According to the American philosopher Richard Rorty "revolution," like such other words as "reason," "democracy," and "socialism" is a "thick word" which can be contrasted with such "thin words" as truth, dialogue, and justice. How do we define a "revolution?" How are revolutions distinct from other forms of political change such as Coup d'état, rebellion, mutiny, insurrection, or uprising? All of the above nouns may denote acts of violence aimed at changing or overthrowing an existing order or authority. However, there are important legal and political differences among them as well. ...
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...www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev World Development Vol. 33, No. 5, pp. 729–743, 2005 Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0305-750X/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.12.001 Economic Liberalization, the Changing Role of the State and ‘‘Wagner’s Law’’: China’s Development Experience since 1978 DAMIAN TOBIN * CeFiMS, SOAS, University of London, UK Summary. — The paper applies Wagner’s Law of increasing state activity to illustrate the changing function of the state in China as a consequence of economic liberalization. Wagner’s Law describes the association between increasing national wealth in progressive states and the rise in state activity and expenditure. This indicates that the causes of bureaucratic expansion are to be sought, not just in terms of political pressures, but the interplay between political considerations and the economic necessities, resulting from the emergence of new property rights. A simple illustrative model is developed to measure the effects of increasing national wealth and the growth of the public sector. This suggests that the patterns of economic development observed by Wagner in 19th century Europe are not unlike those observed in China today. Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Key words — Asia, China, economic growth, public sector 1. INTRODUCTION The relationship between economic growth and the size of the state sector has long been a topic of interest for public policy practitioners...
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...Accessed: 05/09/2012 13:59 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Asian Survey. http://www.jstor.org W i l l i a m a . Ca l l a h a n China’s Strategic Futures Debating the Post-American World Order a b S t r aC t This essay examines how China’s “harmonious world†foreign policy has unintentionally created opportunities for citizens to challenge elite discussions of foreign policy. Although they are relative outsiders, the essay argues that citizen intellectuals are a growing influence as a source of ideas about China’s future—and the world’s. K e y W o r d S : China, foreign policy, strategy, public intellectual, civil society Although we did not recognize it at the time, Beijing’s current assertive foreign policy started in September 2005 when Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered a major speech to a global audience at the United Nations. From the podium of the General Assembly, Hu introduced “Harmonious...
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... BERNATH LECTURE The New International History of the Cold War: Three (Possible) Paradigms* The Cold War is not what it once was. Not only has the conflict itself been written about in the past tense for more than a decade, but historians’ certainties about the character of the conflict have also begun to blur. The concerns brought on by trends of the past decade – such trifles as globalization, weapons proliferation, and ethnic warfare – have made even old strategy buffs question the degree to which the Cold War ought to be put at the center of the history of the late twentieth century. In this article I will try to show how some people within our field are attempting to meet such queries by reconceptualizing the Cold War as part of contemporary international history. My emphasis will be on issues connecting the Cold War – defined as a political conflict between two power blocs – and some areas of investigation that in my opinion hold much promise for reformulating our views of that conflict, blithely summed up as ideology, technology, and the Third World. I have called this lecture “Three (Possible) Paradigms” not just to avoid making too presumptuous an impression on the audience but also to indicate that my use of the term “paradigm” is slightly different from the one most people have taken over from Thomas Kuhn’s work on scientific revolutions. In the history of science, a paradigm has come to mean a comprehensive explanation, a kind of scientific “level”...
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