Digital Commons Network^™

The Dirt On China Reporting, Pierre Fuller

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Reporting China for a Western readership gets a whole lot easier once you master the discursive montage of cheap China associations. When discussing the Chinese state, for example, plug in Orwell. When referencing anything in the period 1949-1976, plug in Mao. If, say, your topic is changing environmental behavior among the Chinese, ascribe it only to orders from the “new emperors” above; national pride could also do. And so on. A recent International Herald Tribune and New York Times website report, “Smoke Clears, Dust Does Not in Beijing,” follows the formula to a T.

Reporting China for a Western readership …

Raharimanana : « Le Viol Des Douceurs », Patricia Célérier

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

constant and paradoxical paradigm, violence is at the core of the Malagasy writer, Jean-Luc Raharimanana’s work. What are its representations, its modulations and functions in his shortstories, his novel, Nour, 1947, and his narrative, L’arbre anthropophage ? His poetic elaboration of violence puts his production at the juncture of postmodern and committed literatures and gives it a singular value in the world of postcolonial literature.

A Difusão Do Orçamento Participativo Brasileiro: ‘Boas Práticas' Devem Ser Promovidas?, Brian Wampler

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The "third wave" of democratization has been accompanied by the spread of new institutions that allow citizens to deliberate and decide policy outcomes. Leading international organizations, such as the World Bank and the United Nations, have disseminated "best practice" programs identified with "good government" policy reform efforts. One of the most well-known programs, Participatory Budgeting (PB), was first adopted by Brazil's Workers' Party (PT) in 1989 as a means to promote social justice, accountability, and transparency. There has been widespread adoption of PB in Brazil, led by the PT. Yet, by 2001, nearly half of PB programs had been adopted …

E-Government For Development: A Case Study From Mozambique, Gertrudes Macueve

The African Journal of Information Systems

This paper draws upon Amartya Sen’s concept of "development as freedom" as an effective approach to analyze e-government for development initiatives. An interpretive analysis of three projects ongoing in Mozambique report that although some "freedoms" are currently reachable through these initiatives, a lot needs to be done to achieve "development as freedom." The use of this theoretical approach provides a valuable contribution to the research domain of ICTs for development. This article also draws practical recommendations to assist managers of e-government projects in Mozambique, as well as other developing countries.

Economic Development And The Absence Of Democracy In China, Megan Whipp

Masters Theses

My research will look at the reasons for China's lack of democracy. China has become increasingly developed giving the Chinese people greater wealth, improved education, and better access to healthcare. Based on Seymour Lipset's 1963 study which finds economic development fosters democracy, China should have become democratic. But, China is not a democracy.

The methodology employed in this study is a case study. A case study ensures an in-depth analysis of the relevant factors which could affect China's prospects for democracy. This study advances the understanding of China's continued authoritarian rule finding two factors especially influential. The first factor is …

The Chinese Press In The Spotlight, Timothy Weston

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In recent weeks, the Chinese press has struggled to cover a series of major and difficult stories. Moreover the Chinese press itself is being watched and critiqued by the Western world with intensity and curiosity. What we are seeing in the Chinese press now is a world in transition and flux.

First was the Chinese press’ discussion of the Tibetan demonstrations, its virtual refusal to acknowledge the validity of any foreign criticism, and its exposure of a reflexive, threatening, and brittle nationalism, especially among some Chinese youth. However, that was followed by its honest and educational reporting during the hand …

Cultural Responses To Disaster In China, Pierre Fuller

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A land of floods, fault lines and food crises, China has rarely been one of mercy in the Western imagination. Today, with millions of Chinese dealing with another world-class disaster on their soil, the Western press appears to be singing a different tune. For one, Tuesday’s New York Times heralded that “Many Hands, Not Held by China, Aid in Quake,” reporting that even official Chinese media sees private donations exceeding the state’s total so far of half a billion relief dollars. This “striking and unscripted public response” of “blood drives, cake sales, charity fund-raisers and art auctions” might even pose …

Disaster Relief: Material And Spiritual

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Last night, the members of one of the Buddha’s Light International Association (國際佛光會) relief teams returned to Taiwan, most in tears due to the horrifying devastation they had witnessed. They also reported a disturbing new development: an increasing number of survivors are starting to take their own lives.

To a certain extent, this should not be too surprising. Inland earthquakes often devastate economically deprived regions, where the livelihood of most people hangs by a thin thread even before a disaster strikes. This was the case for Taiwan’s 921 Earthquake, which was also followed by a rash of suicides. Now that …

A Mid-Week Reader

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. If it isn’t already part of your media China blog circuit (it has just become part of ours), check out the Wall Street Journal’s China Journal. Run by Sky Canaves, the blog apparently draws on more than twenty journalists, and even ran a recent entry on Beijing’s air quality (that’s a favorite Western media story that has slipped out of sight lately).

2. Tim Johnson’s blog, China Rises, has a few moving recent on-the-ground reports from Sichuan. Zhongnanhai also has reports from an individual in Sichuan. For detailed information about the earthquake and its casualities (including maps), see the …

History Of Chinese Red Cross: Part Ii, Caroline Reeves

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

As Chinese rush to aid their countrymen and other countries rush to aid the Chinese, it is important to note that Chinese participation in mutual aid and in the international relief community is not new. Here I continue with part II of the earlyhistory of the Chinese Red Cross Society.

At the turn of the twentieth century, China was being torn apart not by the movement of tectonic plates, but by political, social and intellectual currents. In a world shaken by the new imperatives of Social Darwinism (that posited a divide between “modern” nations that would thrive and “backward” ones …

Chinese Responses To Disaster: A View From The Qing, Kathryn Edgerton-Tarpley

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Media reports of this week’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan highlight trends seen as impressive and new in terms of PRC responses to disaster. The quick response of state leaders symbolized by Premier Wen Jiabao’s much-heralded arrival in the disaster area only five hours after the earthquake hit on Monday, for instance, stands in stark contrast to the PRC’s handling of major catastrophes during the Mao-era, when Chairman Mao and other top leaders failed to act on reports that people were starving to death by the thousands during the Great Leap Famine of 1959-61. An estimated 30 million people died as …

History Of Chinese Red Cross: Part I, Caroline Reeves

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Among the scenes of devastation—small bodies in shrouds; crumpled buildings and bridges; dazed survivors—another image flashes across the screen: something familiar, something reassuring to international viewers. Out of the chaos appears the symbol of the Red Cross, on the arm of a medic, on the side of an ambulance: a sign that there might be some hope—or at least some comfort—for these victims of China’s horrific earthquake.

As we watch the unreal footage of a natural disaster that has, so far, claimed almost 30,000 lives, we are brought back to our own comfort zone by the presence of that familiar …

Further Reading Recommendations On China Earthquake

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. David Bandurski has written an interesting comparison of official and commercial coverage of the earthquake in China at China Media Project.

2. Increasingly, Chinese people are calling for probes into why so many schools collapsed in the earthquake. Recent coverage includes a report by Richard Spencerfor the Telegraph and several from AFP: one here and another here.

3. Meanwhile, domestic Chinese media has begun to report that Western media is praising China’s relief efforts. Indeed, Monroe Price at Huffington Post (we have linked to several of his columns recently) writes about Western media’s “Olympic truce” with China.

4. For …

New Olympics Blog

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In yet another sign of the China-centered media hoopla certain to accompany this summer’s Olympic Games, The New York Times started a blog last week, “Rings: The 2008 Olympics.” The blog will draw on reporters from a variety of desks and bureaus, though much of the early coverage has been done by Jeff Z. Klein (who keeps the Times’ blogs on soccer and hockey) and sports columnist George Vecsey (who promises future China reading recommendations). So far, about half the blog’s posts have centered on athletic news–a good reminder after the torch relay, protests, and other Olympics-related coverage of recent …

More Links For Reading On The Earthquake

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. This BBC “Day in History” piece gives a feel for how the 1976 earthquake was covered.

2. Shanghaiist, which has had coherent as-it-happened coverage since Monday, has a feature of side-by-side Youtube clips of coverage from Al Jazeera, AP, and others. The Al Jazeera report, by Melissa Chan, receives a well-deserved nod fromShanghaiist. (You can view more of Chan’s reports for Al Jazeera here, here, andhere. They are filled with unique footage.)

3. Wieland Wagner’s opinion piece for Der Spiegel contrasts Wen Jiabao’s megaphone-amplified voice (the prime minister has been touring disaster areas to comfort victims) with the political …

Earthquake Coverage, Possible Action

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

There is an enormous amount of worthy coverage of the earthquake. If you have suggestions for other recommended reading, please post a comment.

1. Some of the best coverage in the United States is coming from NPR, who had Melissa Block and Robert Siegel in Sichuan to cover other stories at the time of the quake. At NPR, you can see photos, listen to and read the coverage of rural areas, and even hear Melissa Block, who was mid-interview when the earthquake struck, narrating what she saw from the street.

2. Rebecca MacKinnon posted a short piece with links to …

China Around The World: Japan, James Farrer

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

My knowledge of Japanese media coverage of China is largely limited to print media, and mostly as a regular consumer of the major liberal daily Asahi Shimbun. Despite this relatively narrow window, several features of Asahi‘s China coverage strike me as noteworthy.

One obvious difference with American newspaper reporting is a far greater focus on historical features. During the past year, Asahi ran an excellent series on turning points East Asian history, that included essays on Japan’s colonial expansion in Korea, Taiwan, China and other parts of Asia. One series of articles compared the way these events were described in …

Taelspin: The Spirit Of May Fourth

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This past week marked the 89th anniversary of the May 4th demonstrations, the defining event of a decade of intellectual vitality and ideological debate as teachers, students, authors and scholars drew on a panoply of ideas to make sense of the world, their nation, and how best to build a strong and vital society.

At the heart of this movement was a true marketplace of ideas. Young intellectuals rushed to read the latest issues of their favorite journals, of which there were hundreds, pages brimming with the back-and-forth of open minds at work.

The question in the hearts of these …

Reading Recommendations

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

A couple issues have been generating a great deal of media interest lately: continued coverage of the situation in Tibet, and the political views (and demonstrations) of Chinese students. Here are a few recommendations for further reading on those two topics:

1. We referenced this piece in an earlier posting, but just in case you didn’t make the jump that time, we wanted to urge you to do it again. China Digital Times hasthis fascinating translation of a Qinghua student’s description of what happened when several Public Security Bureau officers dropped by his group’s Carrefour protest planning meeting.

2. James …

Vietnam’S Youth Given A Rare Chance To Protest – Against China, Caroline Finlay

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Vietnam’s history has been intertwined with that of China for thousands of years, and it hasn’t all been pretty. Wave after wave of Chinese invaders have controlled Vietnam for more than half of the last two millennia, and the influence on Vietnamese language and culture has been stronger than that of any other neighbouring country. The Vietnamese follow Mahayana Buddhism, and Confucianism continues to influence the education system. The Mon-Khmer roots of the Vietnamese language are all but drowned under the pressure of a massive number of Chinese loan words, the adoption of Chinese tonal pronunciation, and until the Latin …

Coalitions For Victory: The Necessity Of Alliance Creation For Progressive Ballot Initiative Campaigns, Julie Bero

Honors Theses

My paper consists of three sections. In the first, I explain the function of ballot measures and discuss why Americans have supported or opposed the use of direct democracy. I will also offer the history of direct democracy. In the second section, I will discuss the current national state of affairs in direct democracy, specifically analyzing recent ballot measures. I will analyze three cases, focusing on information gathered from the news media and personal interviews with campaign organizers. Finally, I will draw conclusions about these three measures and assert implications for the future of direct democracy.

Torching The Relay, Geremie R. Barme

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

[The following remarks were written in response to a series of questions from writers at Woroni, the paper produced by students at The Australian National University. They were drafted on April 28 and revised on May 3, 2008. I would add that I was travelling in China during the Australian leg of the Olympic Torch Relay. My thanks to Tom Swann of Woroni for inviting me to respond to his questions, and to Jeffrey Wasserstrom for suggesting that China Beat post this material.—GRB]

Q: In general, the article will be asking: why was there such a powerful expression of Chinese …

Boycott Tidbits And Queries: Some News And Views That Didn’T Fit

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1) Some Questions:

How do you say “I’m from Quebec” in Chinese?

When protesters gathered outside of Carrefour stores in China and sang songs (they must have sung something: one photograph shows someone with a guitar), were any of these reworked versions of “Frere Jacques”?

Why hasn’t anyone commenting on the boycotts of 2008 mentioned the one that took place one hundred years ago?

How can focusing on fried chicken alter our sense of the similarities and differences between the Chinese student protests of 1989, 1999, and 2008?

These are some questions that I either started pondering while I was …

Attacking Ethos: The Rhetorical Use Of Uncertainty In The 2004 Election, Theron Allen Verdon

Dissertations

The rhetorical use of uncertainty in political communication (and other areas) has many implications. Uncertainty plays a major role in everyday life. Therefore, it likely plays a major role in political decision-making. Research has shown that uncertainty about a candidate affects a voter's voting preference. Uncertainty usually affects voter decisions. Uncertainty was a factor in the 2004 presidential election. The Bush-Cheney Campaign used uncertainty to corrupt the ethos of the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry. The Bush-Cheney campaign rhetorically manipulated information about Senator Kerry to create a perception of a leader whose actions revealed an unpredictable flip-flopper. A lack of …

"Instant Karma": How Globalization Contests China's Abuses, Alison Brysk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s rise from impoverished backwater to prospective superpower has been accompanied by the repression of tens of millions of its own people, at the hands of a nationalist, developmentalist government. Under contemporary conditions of globalization, suppression of civil liberties, domination of ethnic minorities, and unholy alliances with resource-rich dictatorships are no longer plausible requisites of this model—if they ever were. The broadening and deepening of economic globalization towards a more sustainable complex of political influence involves “soft power,” including international reputation and norms. Thus, China’s Olympian reach for true hegemony provides the best chance for human rights advocates to weave …

Competing Visions: The Cia, The Congress For Cultural Freedom And The Non-Communist European Left, 1950-1967, Scott Kamen

Honors Theses

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that by utilizing cultural influence and adopting Silone's vision, the CCF was able to pursue the support of left-leaning European intellectuals, writers and artists who were often alienated by the policies of both the US and the USSR. The ability of the CCF to reach out to these individuals made it an extremely valuable asset to the CIA and contributed to the CIA's emerging strategy of promoting the NCL as a reliable anti-communist force that would come to be the theoretical foundation of the CIA's political operations against communism over the next …

Sport And Politics, Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I found the reflection interesting, but unsurprising. Protestors use the Olympic spotlight (or should we say torch?) to shine on China’s flaws, and China tries to re-direct or extinguish its beams.

A Student’S Guide To The Unique Iranian Theocracy, Evan Linhardt

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

When listening to the news one day I heard the president of a nation describe wiping another country off the map. Later I heard from the same president that his country would defy United Nation recommendations and continue their nuclear program. The media took a great interest in this mans’ speeches and their potential implications. They portrayedIranas a country on the brink, challenging the world to stop them. The media unfortunately was focusing on the wrong man’s rhetoric because although he is labeled as president ofIran, he will not have a say in declaring war on another nation nor will …

Presidential Signing Statements: Expanding The Assessment Ot Include Policy As Well As Constitutional Implications, Matthew A. Gass

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The greatly expanded use of signing statements by President George W. Bush has been very controversial, as many view this as practice as an inappropriate encroachment by the president on the legislative function of Congress. A majority of the arguments made for or against the application of signing statements have focused on legal principles. The problem is that traditional legal, constitutional analysis does not fully address the concerns raised by signing statements. Not only is it unlikely that presidential signing statements violate the Constitution, but legal analysis fails to recognize or appropriately evaluate the policy implications of signing statements. This …

Rights At Risk: Refugees In The New South Africa, Jaclyn Sheltry

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis seeks to analyze the relationship between public attitudes toward refugees in a refugee receiving state and the realization of the legal rights afforded refugees (de facto rights). I hypothesize that the more negative a host culture is toward refugees, the less refugees are able to realize their rights. Conversely, the more positive a host culture is toward refugees, the more refugees are able to realize their rights.

I test the hypothesis through a case study of refugee populations in Cape Town, South Africa, based on research conducted from May to June 2007. The orientation (positive or negative) of …