Political Science Commons^™

Coming Distractions: The Wobbling Pivot

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Prominent Qing specialist Pamela Crossley of Dartmouth College has a new book coming out in February, The Wobbling Pivot, China Since 1800: An Interpretive History, which is aimed at general readers and is designed to be suitable as well for classes devoted to modern Chinese history. One theme in the book that is likely to be of special interest to those who follow this blog is her frequent discussion of similarities and differences over time in patterns of unrest and the way that the state and its representatives respond to challenges from below. Focusing largely on tensions and modes of …

Procter Family (Sc 2077), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2077. Genealogical notes and correspondence relating to the Procter, Carson and Dinwiddie families. Includes a certified copy of the will of Evan Shelby, father of Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky.

Folklore Collection, 1964-1972 (Fa 471), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Collection 471. Miscellaneous folklore collection relating to legends and beliefs about subjects such as lost gold, Daniel Boone, Indian raids, venomous snakes, and ghosts. Items collected chiefly in the Kentucky counties of Green, Taylor and Lincoln.

Short Takes: More On Obama In China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

All around the internet, China-watchers are commenting on Barack Obama’s inaugural China trip. Some links to check out:

1. At 11:40 PM Eastern Standard Time tonight, President Obama’s town hall meeting with students in Shanghai will go live on the White House website.

2. Ian Johnson of the Wall Street Journal asks “Is Barack Obama Unpopular in China?” Johnson explains that it seems initial enthusiasm for the president has dropped off in recent months:

Internet polls provide anecdotal evidence that China is just not as enamored with the U.S. now as in years past, when the U.S. was seen as …

Marginal Benefit Of Hosting The Summer Olympics: Focusing On Bric Nation Brazil (Rio 2016), Benjamin Mcguirk Wagar

Global Studies Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Hodges, Patricia Ann (Morgan), B. 1931 - Letters To (Sc 2065), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2065. Letters from various Kentucky politicians to Patricia and Paul Hodges, Bowling Green, Kentucky, chiefly related to policies concerning same-sex marriage and immigration.

Obama In China: Readings Around The Web

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

President Barack Obama is en route to Asia right now, and though he’ll also be making stops in Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, the centerpiece of his trip is the three days he’ll be spending in China. Tours of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City are, of course, on the itinerary, but Obama’s schedule in China isn’t limited to sightseeing; he’ll also be meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing and Shanghai to discuss a range of issues, including re-evaluation of the renminbi, relations with North Korea, and climate change. We’ve compiled some of this week’s writings around the web …

798 Faces

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“At Beijing’s 798 art district, I photograph a visitor, who inspects his own photos, while an artwork inspects him. 798 has become a destination for young Chinese to kill time, and shop, in one of the city’s more counter-culture environments.”

“At Beijing’s 798 art district, I photograph a visitor, who inspects his own photos, while an artwork inspects him. 798 has become a destination for young Chinese to kill time, and shop, in one of the city’s more counter-culture environments.”

–Alec Ash

In Case You Missed It: China’S Monetary Challenges, Maura Dykstra

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

When I first left to study in China, I asked around about what presents to bring. I took the advice of a professor, and boarded a plane to Shanghai with two bottles of Johnny Walker and two cartons of Marlboro cigarettes. I had heard tales of men and women in China beseeching their foreign friends to purchase such items at Friendship Stores, and had been reassured that these name-brand products would be eagerly consumed by deprived whiskey-drinkers and smokers on the mainland. I wasn’t in China for more than a week when, stepping into a local convenience store, I was …

Berlin Wall Anniversary And China: Five Readings

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. “What Came Down Was the Wall and What Stood Up Was the People,” by Shi Zhe, a translation of an op-ed from Southern Weekend (hat tip Danwei):

The resurgence of Germany after the war was achieved by each and every person living in a misshaped land. In the end it was regular people that were the main reason West Germany was able to win the peaceful competition between two systems. Their hard work day in and day out the proved themselves to the world, redeeming the dignity of the entire ethnicity. Outsiders usually like to evaluate the Berlin Wall …

Bell, Charles Rowan, 1891-1976 (Sc 2064), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2064. Letter, 18 December 1963, from William A. Stevens, Washington, D.C., to Bowling Green, Kentucky lawyer Charles R. Bell with comments on Congressman William H. Natcher and other mutual acquaintances. Also includes information about Bell’s law career.

Comprendiendo Al Estado: Los Aportes De Guillermo O´Donnell A Su Reconceptualización En América Latina, Augusto Reina, Pablo Bulcourf

Augusto Reina

La obra de Guillermo O´Donnell constituye uno de los aportes más difundidos en el campo de la ciencia política latinoamericana y argentina de los últimos 30 años. Tanto a nivel regional como a nivel mundial, los trabajos que mas notoriedad han alcanzado son aquellos que estudiaron el Estado, particularizado en el subgénero de los autoritarismos burocráticos. Este trabajo se centrara en estudiar el nudo argumentativo de sus trabajos principales Modernización y autoritarismo, El Estado burocrático autoritario, Estado y alianzas y otros artículos conexos a la temática que han servido de base a sus conceptualizaciones posteriores. El concepto de Estado burocrático-autoritario …

The Legacy Of Lu Xun: Photos From Shaoxing

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Earlier this week, The China Beat featured an excerpt from the introduction of Julia Lovell’s forthcoming translation, The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun. Urbanatomy has also recently run a piece on Lu Xun and his legacy in Chinese literature, and a story at China Daily discusses Lu Xun’s writings and Lovell’s translation.

I was especially interested, however, in this essay at Urbanatomy by Anna Greenspan (who has also written for The China Beat), as she provides a tour guide to Lu Xun-related sites in Shanghai. While I haven’t visited any …

Looking Back 20 Years: Who Deserves Credit For Ending The Cold War?, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

Around The Web: Art And China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A few of the stories related to art that have caught our eye recently:

1. The big story in Chinese art this week was the unveiling of a new Mao statue in Changsha (thanks to Shanghaiist for that link), which depicts the future Great Helmsman as a 32-year-old. The Mount Rushmore-esque monolith shows Mao as a romantic young revolutionary, gazing resolutely into the distance as his unusually long hair blows in the wind. Although one member of the design team said that they “were particularly concerned with differentiating it from past images,” the statue evokes the feel of “Chairman Mao …

La Ciencia Política En América Latina, Fernando Barrientos Del Monte

Fernando Barrientos Del Monte

En este ensayo se trata de elaborar un análisis de la Ciencia Política latinoamericana desde la perspectiva de la historia de la ciencia en su vertiente ecléctica. El desarrollo de la CP en América Latina ha estado determinada por dos factores, uno estructural y otro intelectual o académico. El primero es definido por las estructuras dedicadas a la disciplina o al estudio sistemático de los fenómenos políticos, mientras el segundo está relacionado con los paradigmas dominantes –no únicos- en el estudio de la política. En éste ensayo se identifican con fines analíticos tres periodos estructural-intelectuales de la Ciencia Política Latinoamericana: …

Revival, Paul Katz

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Just over two months have passed since the devastation wrought by Typhoon Morakot, but the reconstruction of Siaolin Village 小林村 and its venerable Plains Aborigine (平埔族) culture is already well underway. A major step forward took place this past weekend with the successful restaging of the annual Siraya 西拉雅 ritual known as the “Siaolin Night Festival” (小林夜祭). This event was accompanied by the holding of a conference on the reconstruction of southern Taiwan’s Plains Aboriginal culture (「重建南臺平埔族群文化」學術研討會) and the official opening of an exhibition of artifacts from Siaolin’s Plains Aborigine culture (小林平埔文化特展) at the Chia-hsien Cultural Hall (甲仙地方文化館). Visiting dignitaries …

Some Expo-Disney Connections

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Needless to say, the Shanghai-Disney story, which has just taken a dramatic turn, is one that I’ve been following with great interest. How could I not, when the University of California-Irvine, where I teach and “China Beat” is based, is closer to the original Disney theme park than any other major research university? When my last book not only looked at Shanghai’s past but speculated a bit about what it may become in the near future as it continues to develop? When I’ve published a travel-themed commentary-cum-memoir that alluded to the role that visits to the Magic Kingdom in Anaheim …

Military Doctrine: A Reference Handbook, Bert Chapman

Libraries Research Publications

This is a 2009 Purdue Libraries brownbag presentation on my book Military Doctrine: A Reference Handbook. It describes how the U.S. and other countries formulate and implement strategies for conducting military operations and publishing literature describing how they conduct military operations. Additional contents include highlighting military strategy objectives of various countries and key military doctrine documents produced by these countries.

Coming Distractions: The Complete Fiction Of Lu Xun–A New Translation

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

We’re pleased to present here an excerpt from the introduction of Julia Lovell’s forthcoming translation of Lu Xun’s fiction. Lovell examines the uses (and abuses) of Lu Xun’s writings by Mao Zedong in the decades after the author’s death, pointing out the ways in which the CCP smoothed over rough edges and ignored inconvenient truths as it disseminated Lu Xun’s work for the Chinese public to study. Since the reforms of the late 1970s, Lu Xun has been transformed yet again, and now occupies a status equivalent to that of Charles Dickens in Britain: while his work might be respected, …

Review: Making Religion, Making The State, Miri Kim

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A collection of essays on the religious revival in the People’s Republic of China,Making Religion, Making the State (Stanford UP, 2009) focuses on how the state has influenced the development of Chinese religious institutions and practices. But, as the title suggests, the state’s rehabilitation of different religions has been far from a one-way street, with both clergy and laity prompting the state to adjust its strategies. The essays demonstrate just how complicated this process has been thus far, and suggest that the dynamics of the current religious revival will remain subject to change, albeit under the shadow of a state …

Advocate, November 2009, Vol. [21], No. [3], Gc Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor’s Desk: Education Über Alles. (p. 2)

Adjuncting: The Collapse of the Tenure Track. Alison Powell (p. 4)

Health Issues: Rapid HIV Testing Returns to GC on Dec. 3. Collette Sosnowy (p. 5)

Political Analysis: The Militarization of Crowd Control. Justin Rogers-Cooper (p. 6)

Dispatches from the Front: Grading Papers is Hell (But It Doesn’t Have to Be). Talia Argondezzi (p. 8)

Books That Changed the Way We Think: Autonomy! Review of Autonomia: Post-Political Politics, edited by Sylvère Lotringer and Christian Marazzi (MIT Press, 2007). Ashley Dawson (p. 9)

Lessons in Terror at John …

Community Outreach And Empowerment Through Service Learning And Volunteerism, Christopher Malone

Cornerstone 2 Reports : Community Outreach and Empowerment Through Service Learning and Volunteerism

Pace University and Vote 18 are teaming up in 2009-2010 to launch an exciting program for NYC high school kids to provide them with an in-depth experience in political literacy and civic engagement. The NYC Political Literacy Project brings Vote 18 together with Pace University students to provide high schoolers with a dynamic way to get involved with local, state, and national politics. The object is to teach civic engagement and literacy through direct interaction with real campaigns, issues, events, and people in each of the high school students’ local communities. Students will engage the events of their communities through …

Learning Purposefully In Capacity Development: Why, What And When To Measure?, Alfredo Ortiz Aragón, Peter Taylor

Alfredo Ortiz Aragón

Many capacity development (CD) programs and processes aim at long‐term sustainable change, which depends on seeing many smaller changes in at times almost invisible fields (rules, incentives, behaviours, power, coordination etc.). Yet, most evaluation processes of CD tend to focus on shortterm outputs focused on clearly visible changes. This opinion paper will offer some ideas on how to deal with this paradox, by examining how monitoring and evaluation (M&E) does, or could, make a difference to CD. It explores whether there is something different and unique about M&E of CD that isn’t addressed by predominant methods and ways of thinking …

De Nederlandse Coin Aanpak: Drie Jaar Uruzgan 2006-2009, George Dimitriu, Beatrice De Graaf

George Dimitriu

Zelden leidde militaire inzet tot zo veel discussie als de missie Task Force Uruzgan (TFU) in Afghanistan. Wat doen de Nederlandse troepen precies in Uruzgan? En hoe hebben ze de strategie de afgelopen twee jaar op het tactische en operationele niveau uitgewerkt en toegepast? Dit artikel behandelt de moeizame discussie over de missie van TFU. Vervolgens nemen de auteurs drie ISAF-operaties onder de loep. De meest complexe en cruciale fase van dergelijke operaties “de fase van consolidatie (hold)“ komt uitvoerig aan de orde. De auteurs bieden een kader om deze schakel in de uitvoering beter te begrijpen. Ze geven zo …

The Hidden Costs Of Terror, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In this month’s featured article, former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) gives a thoughtful and insightful account of how post-atrocity accounting and reconstruction feels ‘from the top’. What can an incoming head of state possibly do or say that will redress and repair the social and human costs of decades of violence? What about the centuries of injustice and inequality that fueled the flames? In fact Toledo did perhaps as much as he could, and more than many thought he would be able to, in recognising and beginning to address the ethnic, class, and institutional faultlines that tore Peru apart …

The Peruvian Precedent, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the early days of September 2009, former Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) president Salomón Lerner received a series of sick anonymous messages: “We will do to you what we did to your dogs.” Lerner’s two pet dogs had been fatally poisoned. The poisoning and the death threats against Lerner joined other vicious retaliations, including continuous attacks on another powerful human rights symbol, Lika Mutal’s “The Eye that Cries,” a sculpture in Lima that mourns the tens of thousands of Peruvian victims of internal armed conflict. In a twisted way, the poisoning, death threats, and attacks show that Peruvian …

Lijia Zhang: Virtually And In Person

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Last Thursday, Lijia Zhang gave a talk at the University of California, Irvine campus to a packed room. In addition to discussing her book, Socialism is Great!, Zhang also discussed her experiences as a writer in China.

Currently in residence as a fellow at the University of Iowa’s International Writer’s Program (for Iowa Citians, Zhang will be giving a reading at Prairie Lights todayat 4 p.m.), Zhang has also been hosting a talk show in China. Click here to see her interview with the Australian ambassador to China, Dr. Geoff Raby; you can find more videos at Blue Ocean Network’s …

The Kenyan Woman: Her Historical Relationship With The State, Rosalia Wanja Ngugi

Theses and Dissertations

The historical relationship between the Kenyan state and women provides lessons and insight as to how women in a colonized state relate to the government and the gains, or lack thereof, that exist. Kenyan women were critical in the nationalist movement that intensified in the 1950s, culminating in independence in 1963. Some women fought in the forests and others were information and food distributors. Many women played a role in furthering the nationalist movement. Independence promised fruits that few women received. Through a historical analysis and an understanding of two women's organizations in Kenya, Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organization and The …

November Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Healing the Past, Protecting the Future. By Alejandro Toledo. Americas Quarterly. July 13, 2009.