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Articles 1891 - 1920 of 3696

Full-Text Articles in International and Area Studies

Introduction: Understanding Central-Local Relations In China, John A. Donaldson Jan 2017

Introduction: Understanding Central-Local Relations In China, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

How do we understand the evolution of central-local relations in China during the reform period? This book addresses this question by focusing on eight separate issues in which the central-local relationship has been especially salient – government finance, investment control, regional development, administrative zoning, implementation, culture, social welfare and international relations. Each chapter introduces a sector and the way the center and various local governments have shared or divided power over the different periods of China’s reform era. The balance of power is gauged dynamically over time to measure the extent to which one level of government dominates, influences or …

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Contesting Urban Citizenship: The Urban Poor’S Strategies Of State Engagement In Chennai, India, Subadevan Mahadevan, Ijlal Naqvi Jan 2017

Contesting Urban Citizenship: The Urban Poor’S Strategies Of State Engagement In Chennai, India, Subadevan Mahadevan, Ijlal Naqvi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Existing accounts of how the urban poor in the global south engage with the state fall short on two fronts. Firstly, the literature lacks an overarching framework articulating the urban poor’s strategies for engaging the state. Secondly, these accounts typically capture singular instances of state engagement pursued by the urban poor and theorise on that basis. Using Partha Chatterjee’s distinction between civil and political society as our theoretical point of departure, we draw on ethnographic evidence from Chennai’s informal settlements to demonstrate how and when the urban poor deploy different strategies of state engagement to advance their claims to urban …

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Political Dynamics In Land Commodification: Commodifying Rural Land Development Rights In Chengdu, China, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu Jan 2017

Political Dynamics In Land Commodification: Commodifying Rural Land Development Rights In Chengdu, China, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Commodification of land is at the forefront of the re-casting of rural China by the spread of capitalism. This study examines a market-based program of land development rights trading in Chengdu, China. The program was made possible by a change in the central government’s land-use regulation that shifted the policy goal from ‘no net loss’ of farmland to ‘no net gain’ of construction land. We detail how local governments at multiple levels work together to construct land development rights as a commodity and build market institutions to foster its trading, illustrating land commodification as an inherently political process. A unique …

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No-Place, New Places: Death And Its Rituals In Urban Asia, Lily Kong Jan 2017

No-Place, New Places: Death And Its Rituals In Urban Asia, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In many Asian cities, particularly those that confront increasing land scarcity, the conversion from burial to cremation has been encouraged by state agencies in the last several decades. From Hong Kong to Seoul to Singapore, planning agencies have sought to reduce the use of space for the dead, in order to release land for the use of the living. More secular guiding principles regarding efficient land use in these cities had originally come up against the symbolic values invested in burial spaces, resulting in conflicts between different value systems. In more recent years, however, the shift to cremation and columbaria …

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Betting On The Big: State-Brokered Land Transfers, Large-Scale Agricultural Producers, And Rural Policy Implementation, Weigang Gong, Qian Forrest Zhang Jan 2017

Betting On The Big: State-Brokered Land Transfers, Large-Scale Agricultural Producers, And Rural Policy Implementation, Weigang Gong, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

As rural governments have become hollowed out and detached from rural society, can they still effectively implement policies that lack popular support? This article examines a county in Hunan Province, where local governments had strong incentives to implement a national policy of increasing double cropping in rice farming. Small farmers rejected double cropping as unprofitable. Local governments’ limited capacity prevented them from either reshaping small farmers’ economic calculus or coercing compliance. They strategically selected a policy tool acceptable to most small farmers (paid land transfers) and gave new private large-scale producers incentives to double crop by providing subsidies and access …

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The Sinophone Roots Of Javanese Nini Towong, Margaret Chan Jan 2017

The Sinophone Roots Of Javanese Nini Towong, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article proposes that Nini Towong, a Javanese game involving a possessed doll, is an involution of fifth-century Chinese spirit-basket divination. The investigation is less concerned with originist theories than it is a discussion of the Chinese in Indonesia. The Chinese have been in Southeast Asia from at least as early as the Ming era, yet Chinese contributions to Indonesian culture is an understudied area. The problem begins with the asymmetrical privileging of Indic over Sinic influences in early European scholarship, a situation which in turn reveals the prejudices that the Europeans brought to bear in their dealings with the …

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The Contribution Of Eu Funds To Wellbeing And Sustainable Development In Central European Countries, Mirjana Kranjac, Uros Sikimic, Srdan Tomic, Jelena Vapa-Tankosic Jan 2017

The Contribution Of Eu Funds To Wellbeing And Sustainable Development In Central European Countries, Mirjana Kranjac, Uros Sikimic, Srdan Tomic, Jelena Vapa-Tankosic

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The European strategic goals are good standard of living, social and economic wellbeing and sustainability of the Planet Earth. Some of these requirements are contradictory. Often times, a successful economy exhausts nature well beyond its limits. Europe is achieving its goals by giving funds to many programs, thus enabling the elaboration of projects. The programs' and projects' goals and results must justify the global vision of European Union (EU) future, precisely defined in the document Europa 2020: to achieve a sustainable future. This paper is dealing with effects of the use of EU funds in Central European (CEE) countries. The …

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How Crisis Managers Define Ethical Crisis Communication In Singapore: Identifying Organizational Factors That Influence Adoption Of Ethical Stances, Augustine Pang, Yan Jin, Benjamin Meng-Keng Ho Jan 2017

How Crisis Managers Define Ethical Crisis Communication In Singapore: Identifying Organizational Factors That Influence Adoption Of Ethical Stances, Augustine Pang, Yan Jin, Benjamin Meng-Keng Ho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study explores the veracity of the six ethical variables proposed in the contingency theory of strategic conflict management – the role of PR practitioner, the role of top management, nature of the crisis, the activism of stakeholders; government regulation/intervention; diversity to different cultures and exposure external business environments. In-depth interviews with 10 communication professionals in Singapore were conducted. In line with the patriarchal management structure, the top management plays a critical role in determining ethical stances, with practitioners playing important consultative positions. Also, the role of the relevant government almost predisposes the organization toward certain ethical stances. The study …

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Curial Deference In Singapore Public Law: Autochthonous Evolution To Buttress Good Governance And The Rule Of Law, Tan K. B. Eugene Jan 2017

Curial Deference In Singapore Public Law: Autochthonous Evolution To Buttress Good Governance And The Rule Of Law, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Central to the separation of powers and the rule of law, judicial review empowers the courts to examine the exercise of discretionary power. While there is no general doctrine of deference, judical review in Singapore emphasises the green-light approach in facilitating good governance, and is sensitive to the political, socio-cultural and economic context. However, the jurisprudence also indicates a nuanced and robust approach to better regulate the decision-makers' latitude. A categorical approach towards justiciability is eschewed, and judicial scrutiny adopts varying intensities of review, taking into account the rights of the individual vis-a-vis the fair and just protection of governmental …

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The Evolution Of Ownership Structure In Japanese Firms (1962-2012), Jungwook Shim, Toru Yoshikawa Jan 2017

The Evolution Of Ownership Structure In Japanese Firms (1962-2012), Jungwook Shim, Toru Yoshikawa

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this chapter, we investigate the evolution of ownership structure and corporate governance in Japanese firms based on the entire population of listed firms from 1962 to 2012.

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Speaking Out & Speaking Up: Xinjiao Perspectives, Eng Fong Pang, Arnoud De Meyer Jan 2017

Speaking Out & Speaking Up: Xinjiao Perspectives, Eng Fong Pang, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Contents: A Singaporean in Xinjiang by Wong Ee Vin; Sex for Sale and Second Wives by Xue Jiarong; Singapore Families: Mixed Salad or New Rojak? by Darren Lim; Singaporean-Burmese, Burmese-Singaporean or Both? by In Jin Zaw; Foreign Workers: Seen but not Heard by Mohammad Muzhaffar & Rohith Misir; Wheel You Ride? by Khew Pei Xuan; Gaelic Kallang Roar by Kate Whyte; Gaming Virtual Reality, Seriously by Lin Junkang & Low Kai Loon; Cyber Vigilantes: Mobs or Cops? by Timothy Lim & Hermanth Kumar; Online Dating: Waiting for the Stars to Align by Alex Cherucheril & Muhammed Ismail; Tying the Knot, …

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Making Sense Of Life @ / & Smu: A Partial Guide For The Clueless, Eng Fong Pang Jan 2017

Making Sense Of Life @ / & Smu: A Partial Guide For The Clueless, Eng Fong Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This volume provides unexpectedly heartwarming and heartbreaking insights into the interior lives and thoughts of SMU business graduates. It is both a paean to and an indictment of Singapore’s education system and its excessively powerful formative impact on individual lives, family relationships, and Singapore society as a whole. The youthful contributors overwhelmingly accept life aspirations imposed by the expectations of family, society and self, which they themselves recognise are uniform and limiting. Their intensely personal reflections, unleavened by humour, lay bare the contradictory liberating and homogenising effects of an undergraduate business education (not peculiar to SMU or Singapore only), while …

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Retirement Adequacy Of Mature Workers In Singapore, Rhema Vaithianathan, Stephen Hoskins Jan 2017

Retirement Adequacy Of Mature Workers In Singapore, Rhema Vaithianathan, Stephen Hoskins

Research Collection School Of Economics

In the last decade, the Singapore resident population has grown older with more elderly and fewer younger people. As Singapore Department of Statistics noted, the proportion of residents aged 65 years and over has increased from 9% to 13% over the past ten years. There are now fewer working-age adults to support each resident aged 65 years and over as indicated by the falling resident old-age support ratio from 7.7 in 2007 to 5.1 in 2017. The support ratio is expected to halve to 2.5 by 2030. As Singaporeans are both living and working longer, it is vital for the …

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Ajit Singh [Malyasia, Asean Secretary-General, Diplomat], Ajit Singh Dec 2016

Ajit Singh [Malyasia, Asean Secretary-General, Diplomat], Ajit Singh

Digital Narratives of Asia

After thirty years as a career diplomat, Malaysia's first ASEAN Secretary-General Ajit Singh, sees his five-year term as the most productive, golden years of his life. He speaks to DNA about the challenges he faced with admitting Myanmar to ASEAN, and the visionary ASEAN leadership. He also expounds on the differences in impacts of work between an ambassador and a bureaucrat.

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The History Problem: The Politics Of War Commemoration In East Asia, Hiro Saito Dec 2016

The History Problem: The Politics Of War Commemoration In East Asia, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Seventy years have passed since the end of the Asia-Pacific War, yet Japan remains embroiled in controversy with its neighbors over the war’s commemoration. Among the many points of contention between Japan, China, and South Korea are interpretations of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, apologies and compensation for foreign victims of Japanese aggression, prime ministerial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and the war’s portrayal in textbooks. Collectively, these controversies have come to be called the “history problem.” But why has the problem become so intractable? Can it ever be resolved, and if so, how? To answer these questions, the author …

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The Cultural Pragmatics Of Political Apology, Hiro Saito Dec 2016

The Cultural Pragmatics Of Political Apology, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent decades, research on ‘political apology’, wherein the state apologizes to victims of its past wrongs, has multiplied, as redress movements based on human rights have proliferated around the world. Since most of this research has been conducted by political philosophers, however, analyses of political apologies tend to adopt formal and normative perspectives. To propose an alternative, empirically-grounded approach, in this paper, I develop the ‘cultural pragmatics’ of political apology. To this end, I first conceptualize political apology as a social performance aimed to ‘re-fuse’ an impaired relationship between the perpetrator state and the victim individual. This conceptual move …

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2016: A Year Of Looking To The Future, David Chan Dec 2016

2016: A Year Of Looking To The Future, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Six major events caused Singaporeans to ponder over the future and what it will bring. As 2016 comes to a close, it is timely to reflect on the past 12 months, which I would summarise as "a future-focused year" - one filled with events and issues that made people ponder about their own future and that of the country. It is useful to revisit the way we approached the key events and issues. After all, when it comes to thinking about the future, how we think is as important as what we think.

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Providing Rural Public Services Through Land Commodification: Policy Innovations And Rural-Urban Integration In Chengdu, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu Dec 2016

Providing Rural Public Services Through Land Commodification: Policy Innovations And Rural-Urban Integration In Chengdu, Qian Forrest Zhang, Jianling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Zhang and Wu offer a detailed account of the innovative local policies in Chengdu, China, where a national land-use policy that has created widespread problems in other trial areas has been turned into a positive, transformative force in rural reconstruction. There are three key innovations in this so-called ‘Chengdu model’: First, leveraging on the most important resource in rural area, land, and through the commodification of land development rights, creating a financial source that can fund rural public services provision; second, transforming traditional rural residential patterns and concentrating the rural population in newly built residential communities; and, finally, using both …

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A Tale Of Three Bishops: Ideologies Of Chineseness And Global Cities In Vancouver's Anglican Realignment, Justin Kh Tse Dec 2016

A Tale Of Three Bishops: Ideologies Of Chineseness And Global Cities In Vancouver's Anglican Realignment, Justin Kh Tse

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Most accounts of the 2002 departure of some conservative Anglican parishes from Vancouver’s Diocese of New Westminster (DoNW) over same-sex blessings seemed to fit the narrative of a battle over sexuality in the global realignment of the Anglican Communion. However, attention to the consecration of two new Chinese Anglican bishops—Silas Ng Tak-yin and Stephen Leung Wing-hong, both from Hong Kong—reveals that their split from the DoNW’s Bishop Michael Ingham had more to do with an ideology of cultural pluralization deploying “Asian values.” I, therefore, argue that the schism in Vancouver was a division over the three bishops’ imaginations of global …

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The Potential Collapse Of The Tpp: Implications For Asean, Henry S. Gao Dec 2016

The Potential Collapse Of The Tpp: Implications For Asean, Henry S. Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Asia has the most to lose in the event of a collapse of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) given the importance of trade to growth performance for the region’s economies, and that a third of the TPP members are also part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

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2016 – A Tumultuous Year Of The Revolt Against The Elites, Tan K. B. Eugene Dec 2016

2016 – A Tumultuous Year Of The Revolt Against The Elites, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan noted that 2016 will probably be remembered as the year of the populist revolt against the elites, against the backdrop of bewildering disruptions and an abiding sense of displacement and control accentuated by technological advancements. He highlighted that the critical challenge is to bring trust back into the core of the relationship between those in power and the masses, adding that governments need to purposively deal with people's resentments, fury and fears.

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It Is Only In Giving That We Receive, Tan K. B. Eugene Dec 2016

It Is Only In Giving That We Receive, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Giving is quintessential to our common humanity and progress: It recognises that no man is an island and that there are causes greater than ourselves.

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India's Building Project: Recipes For Success, Singapore Management University Nov 2016

India's Building Project: Recipes For Success, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

India’s dream of creating sustainable and smart cities requires partners and governance with inspiration from the Singapore story

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Singapore Update On Open Access, Pin Pin Yeo Nov 2016

Singapore Update On Open Access, Pin Pin Yeo

Research Collection Library

An overview of the landscape in Singapore for open access is provided for the last 12 years. It covers the developments in institutional repositories, open access policies and mandates in the universities and also developments in the research funding side in Singapore. A start has been made to collect research data in Singapore and there is a research data policy from NTU in 2016. Some future developments are also outlined.

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Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2016: Q3 Results, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu Nov 2016

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2016: Q3 Results, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) computes customer satisfaction scores at the national, sector, sub-sector, and company levels. The CSISG serves as a quantitative benchmark of the quality of goods and services produced by the Singapore economy over time and across countries. This is the CSISG’s tenth year of measurement.

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Evaluating The Conditions For China’S 4th Industrial Revolution Plan: A Neo-Schumpeterian Analysis, Hing Lee Henry Chan Nov 2016

Evaluating The Conditions For China’S 4th Industrial Revolution Plan: A Neo-Schumpeterian Analysis, Hing Lee Henry Chan

Dissertations and Theses Collection

After 33 years (1979-2011) of close to double digit average annual economic growth, the Chinese economy decelerated to a mid-high single digit growth of approximately 7% per year since 2012. The country is currently facing the typical economic transition challenge of moving from being a high-middle income to high income economy. In response to this economic transition, the government launched an industrial innovation program that corresponds to the 4th Industrial Revolution in 2015-Made in China 2025, hoping to stabilize and rejuvenate China’s growth momentum through innovation. This thesis examines the pre-conditions for the successful implementation of this plan using the …

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Opening Address By Smu President Professor Arnoud De Meyer At The Official Launch Of The Institute For Societal Leadership And The Societal Leadership Summit 2016, Arnoud De Meyer, Singapore Management University Nov 2016

Opening Address By Smu President Professor Arnoud De Meyer At The Official Launch Of The Institute For Societal Leadership And The Societal Leadership Summit 2016, Arnoud De Meyer, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

No abstract provided.

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Institute For Societal Leadership Officially Launched By Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam At Societal Leadership Summit 2016, Singapore Management University Nov 2016

Institute For Societal Leadership Officially Launched By Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam At Societal Leadership Summit 2016, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

The Institute for Societal Leadership (ISL) under the Singapore Management University (SMU) was today officially launched by distinguished Guest of Honour Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies of Singapore, during the Societal Leadership Summit 2016. DPM Tharman also delivered a keynote address on societal leadership. ISL is the first and only institution in Asia that focuses on societal leadership. The Institute was formed to advance Societal Leadership in Southeast Asia and beyond. It is anchored on SMU’s foundation of academic rigour and aims to achieve a greater applied understanding of societal …

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Smarter Banking: Blockchain Technology In The Indian Banking System, Suparna Dhar, Indranil Bose Nov 2016

Smarter Banking: Blockchain Technology In The Indian Banking System, Suparna Dhar, Indranil Bose

Asian Management Insights

Indian banks are currently experiencing poor performance when it comes to debt risk. Burdened with high non-performing loans (NPL), they are putting at risk the funds of investors as well as India’s industrial and economic growth. In addition, the loan management process itself is riddled with inefficiencies. To overcome them, we propose to use blockchain technology.

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Vietnam's Economic Transformation: Embracing Change, Vu Khoan, Philip Charles Zerrillo Nov 2016

Vietnam's Economic Transformation: Embracing Change, Vu Khoan, Philip Charles Zerrillo

Asian Management Insights

The former Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam from 2002 to 2006, Mr Vu Khoan, talks about the transformation of the country from economic isolationism to its current economic strength, in this interview with Philip Zerrillo.

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