Law Commons^™

International Order After The Financial Crisis, Harold James

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

How is international order built, and how is it legitimate, in a world in which political and economic foundations are rapidly shifting? What are the consequences of the rise of major new powers for the structure and the functioning of the international system? Great wars or great financial crises have in the past led to disorientation about the moral foundations of society, domestically and internationally. The paper examines parallels with the Great Depression, and in particular the weakening of multilateralism and of small political units, and the strengthening of large powers with hegemonic claims. The paper then turns to an …

The Balance Of Power, Public Goods, And The Lost Art Of Grand Strategy: American Policy Toward The Persian Gulf And Rising Asia In The 21st Century, Flynt Leverett, Hillary Mann Leverett

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

An important driver of relative decline in America’s international standing is the failure of its political elites to define reality-based foreign policy goals and to relate the diplomatic, economic, and military means at Washington’s disposal to realizing them—the essence of “grand strategy.” For several decades, American policy has been pulled in opposite directions by two competing models of grand strategy. In one—the leadership model—America maximizes its international standing by adroitly managing regional and global power balances and promoting the processes of economic liberalization known collectively as globalization. In the second model—the transformation model—America seeks not to manage power balances but …

Island Disputes And The "Oil Factor" In The South China Sea Disputes, Clive H. Schofield

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The South China Sea has long been regarded as one of the key potential flashpoints for conflict in the Asia-Pacific, alongside North Korea and Taiwan. Recently tensions have been on the rise and relations between China and the other South China Sea littoral states have become more fraught – characterised not only by diplomatic claim and counter-claim (though frequently framed in less than diplomatic language) but also, more worryingly, by confrontations at sea.

Context, as they say, is everything. This article briefly outlines geopolitical drivers that sustain these complex and seemingly intractable disputes, and seeks to shed light on their …

Chinese Merchants In Singapore And The China Trade, 1819-1959, Jason Lim

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Chinese merchants in Singapore were involved with the China trade after the British established a trading post in Singapore in 1819. These merchants were regarded as Chinese citizens by the Chinese state and expected to be engaged in patriotic activities such as the promotion of Chinese goods as “national products” in the 1930s, and comply with Chinese government regulations during the Sino-Japanese War and after the communist victory in China in 1949. This paper traces the vicissitudes of the China trade for the Chinese merchants in Singapore as the island went through phases of political and economic stability, international competition, …

Review Of Zheng Yangwen And Charles J-H Macdonald, Personal Names In Asia: History, Culture And Identity And Khun Eng Kuah-Pearce, Rebuilding The Ancestral Village: Singaporeans In China, Jason Lim

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Both Personal names in Asia: History, culture and identity and Rebuilding the ancestral village: Singaporeans in China share a common theme of individuals and communities having to change with the times. Personal names examines individual and collective reactions to societal transformation through name changes; Rebuilding the ancestral village examines Chinese Singaporeans’ collective memory of, and struggles to maintain ties with, such villages in China.