Asian Studies Commons^™

Five Good Short Books On China: A Guide For Readers With Limited Attention Spans

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This list is for an imaginary couple who are about to take their first trip to China and have made it clear to me that they only have a limited amount of time to spend reading up on the country in advance. Or, perhaps better yet, they’ve been honest enough to tell me that they won’t start to read up on China until their plane actually takes off, and they want some ideas of what to cram into the limited space of their carry-on bags. Though busy, these imaginary friends (I do have real ones, but none that have asked …

Access To Energy Resources In The Caspian/Central Asian Region Has Become One Of The Biggest Struggles In The Contemporary Geopolitical Context, Senada Kanlic Chelminski

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

On The China Beat

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China has been looming ever larger in the global economy and the global imagination in recent years, and the international chatter about the country hit a crescendo last year with reports about things like lead paint, moon shots, an architectural face-lift in the capital in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, high growth rates, a rising middle class, and ever sharper divides between haves and have-nots. As China draws more attention from the Western media and its readership, the need for storytellers and interpreters of China has also grown. As China scholars and writers who are concerned about the way …

After The Avalanche

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Most Taiwan observers expected a convincing KMT victory in last Saturday’s Legislative Yuan elections, perhaps even a landslide. What we got was an avalanche, with the KMT garnering 81 of 113 seats (71.68%), as opposed to a paltry 27 for the DPP. The scale of the rout was unprecedented, especially since the KMT ended up with just over 51% of the popular vote, as opposed to approximately 37% for the DPP, numbers that do not differ that dramatically from those of past elections.

A wide range of factors contributed to the DPP debacle, including profound concerns with the slow pace …

Anniversaries: The Rise And Fall Of Wang Mang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

We subscribe to an online encyclopedia to help one of my sons with homework, and because I placed the order, their “This Day in History” feature comes to my inbox. China rarely figures, which isn’t that surprising. After all, they need brief, punchy items that will catch readers’ attention, and that means items familiar enough to a general audience that a five word title is understandable, and that only three sentences are needed to remind us of what happened and why we should care. So I’m not crusading for “1644: Manchus enter Beijing with the help of Wu Sangui” to …

Japan And The World: Japan’S Contemporary Geopolitical Challenges – A Volume In Honor Of The Memory And Intellectual Legacy Of Asakawa Kan’Ichi, Frances Rosenbluth, Masaru Kohno

CEAS Occasional Publication Series

Yale CEAS Occasional Publication Series - Volume 2

Korean Dispute Over The Northern Limit Line: Security, Economics, Or International Law?, Terence Roehrig

Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies

No abstract provided.

Under The Iron Thumb: Forced Labor In Myanmar, Anil Raj

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The fight for human rights in Myanmar goes back to its independence in 1948. The Myanmar military (tatmadaw) has engaged in shocking violations of almost every right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The issue of forced labor, however, is of particular concern. Forced labor is employed primarily in development projects, agricultural enterprises, and the military. It is used to impose collective punishment on civilians, to build highly profitable development that strengthens military rule, and to allow the military access and logistical support in the most remote regions of insurgent-occupied territories. Forced labor is a central means …

The Dark Side Of Labor In China, Karine Lepillez

Human Rights & Human Welfare

With a population of 1.3 billion and a gross domestic product growing at an impressive rate of 10 percent per year, China has quickly become one of the largest contributors to the global market. Deng Xiaoping’s reforms of the late 1970s and early 1980s vastly improved the country’s standard of living and made economic development possible; unfortunately, China’s remarkable growth has a dark side: the forced labor of men, women and children. The country’s unique combination of Communist ideology and decentralized economic power has contributed to the use of both state-sanctioned and unsanctioned forced labor, the latter of which is …

Bonded Labor In India, Devin Finn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Bonded labor, which is characterized by a long-term relationship between employer and employee, is usually solidified through a loan, and is embedded intricately in India’s socio-economic culture—a culture that is a product of class relations, a colonial history, and persistent poverty among many citizens. Also known as debt bondage, bonded labor is a specific form of forced labor in which compulsion into servitude is derived from debt. Categorized and examined in the scholarly literature as a type of forced labor, bonded labor entails constraints on the conditions and duration of work by an individual. Not all bonded labor is forced, …

Russia And The Cis In 2007 : Putin's Final Year?, Charles E. Ziegler

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Russia in 2007 moved further away from a constitutional order governed by the rule of law as President Vladimir Putin's second term drew to a close and the country prepared for parliamentary and presidential elections. High oil and gas prices buoyed the economy, but little progress was made in addressing Russia's serious social problems. In foreign policy, confrontation with the West was balanced by excellent relations with most of Asia.

Review Of "Rethinking Asia’S Economic Miracle: The Political Economy Of War, Prosperity And Crisis", Su-Mei Ooi

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The article reviews the book Rethinking Asia’s Economic Miracle: The Political Economy of War, Prosperity and Crisis by Richard Stubbs.

Review Of "Is Taiwan Chinese? The Impact Of Culture, Power, And Migration On Changing Identities", Su-Mei Ooi

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The article reviews the book Is Taiwan Chinese? The Impact of Culture, Power, and Migration on Changing Identities by Melissa J. Brown.

Wars Against Civilians Are Unjust Wars, Richard A. Falk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

For those of us old enough to recall the anti-war testimony of Vietnam vets during the early 1970s, reading the chilling report by Hedges and Al-Arian on the attitudes of Iraq war vets is shocking, and yet not surprising. It is shocking because of the eyewitness confirmation of cruelty and lethal brutality on a regular basis in the interactions between the coalition army of occupation and Iraqi civilian society. Sadly, it is not shocking because of the nature of the violent resistance to occupation being encountered by American forces in Iraq, giving rise to a Vietnam-style mentality of counterinsurgency in …

The Nature Of Japan's Official Development Assistance: Japan's Bilateral Oda And Its National Interests, 1981-2001, Seiki Muratani

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of national interests has always been a key for studies of foreign policy. Japan's foreign aid, known as Official Development Assistance (ODA), is the single most significant political and diplomatic tool in the arena of Japanese foreign policy due to Japan's war-renouncing Article 9. However, the argument of the relationship between Japan's ODA policy and national interests is unclear. Although there are various qualitative arguments about the study of Japan's ODA, a systematic quantitative aid allocation study is rarely done. The central question of this thesis is what interests is Japan pursuing when it allocates its bilateral ODA, …

China's Africa Strategy: The Puzzle Of Trade And Reform, Mahmood Monshipouri

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s growing presence is certainly one of the most important developments in Africa since the end of the Cold War. The strategy of “trade and non-interference” is how the Chinese government describes its relations with Africa. Oil and metals, such as cobalt, iron ore, and manganese are what China’s manufacturing industry needs; while foreign direct investment and an increase in oil production are what some African governments—especially those in Angola, Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, and Zimbabwe—seek.

Integrating China Into An International Human Rights Regime: The Case Of Darfur, Harry Kreisler

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Chinese leaders find themselves in unknown territory as they guide the Chinese state. Their unusual experiment combines Communist party rule with unbridled capitalism. Under these unique circumstances, a major challenge they face is to define their country’s global role as an emerging power. From what compass will they navigate their direction? If their guidance system is built for a world of international anarchy, national interest and power politics, then the direction of their course is clear. Because of U.S. neglect and indifference, Africa, rich in natural resources, is up for grabs. Flexing its muscles on the world stage with its …

The International Politics Of Domestic Change: Myanmar, Asean And The American Led World Order, Shyam Sudhir Kulkarni

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, have had a longstanding policy of not interfering in each other's domestic affairs. This norm of"noninterference" is considered both a hallmark of intraregional diplomacy in Southeast Asia and ASEAN's most venerated nonn. However, recent developments regarding the relationship between Myanmar and the rest of the regional grouping suggest that this principle may not currently be as sacrosanct as it has been in the past. This thesis explains the replacement of ASEAN's traditional nom1 of non-interference with a modified version of it through a framework developed from constructivist theories of ideational …

Can Developing Women Create Primitive Art? And Other Questions Of Value, Meaning And Identity In The Circulation Of Janakpur Art, Coralynn V. Davis

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, I examine the values and meanings that adhere to objects made by Maithil women at a development project in Janakpur, Nepal – objects collectors have called ‘Janakpur Art’. I seek to explain how and why changes in pictorial content in Janakpur Art – shifts that took place over a period of five or six years in the 1990s – occurred, and what such a change might indicate about the link between Maithil women’s lives, development, and tourism. As I will demonstrate, part of the appeal for consumers of Janakpur Art has been that it is produced at …

August Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“How China's Support of Sudan Shields a Regime Called 'Genocidal'" by Danna Harman. Christian Science Monitor. June 26, 2006.

Ending The Cold War Is A Good Place To Start, Judith Blau

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Recently, I told my daughter that the U.S. media had hyped the Chinese toy recall. “Just more rehashing of Cold War rhetoric,” I said. My two-year old daughter rebuked me: “Come on, Mom! You read politics into everything!” Then, after a moment or two of silence, she said, “Oh yes, I see what you mean. The Chinese toys with toxic paints could have been made in sweatshops owned by U.S. multinationals” (proud mom—politically aware daughter).

Countering Chinese Influence In Sudan, Ali Wyne

Human Rights & Human Welfare

It is difficult to imagine a more poisonous symbiosis than that between China and Sudan. The former requires a continuous flow of low-cost oil imports to satisfy its soaring oil demand, and the latter requires sufficient economic support to immunize itself against international interventions and preempt potential internal uprisings. Sudan supplies 64 percent of its oil to China (meeting seven percent of the economic power’s demand in 2006), and China, for its part, has invested heavily in Paloich, one of the country’s central oil-producing areas.

Becoming A Good Neighbor In Southeast Asia: The Case Of China's Territorial Disputes In The South China Sea, 1989–2006, Dirk Richard Morton

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Since the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between China and the ASEAN states following the end of the Cold War, Sino-ASEAN relations have widened and deepened considerably. This is surprising, considering that most ASEAN states viewed China as a revisionist power and threat to regional security during the Cold War and Vietnam and the Philippines have a history of armed conflict with China over as-of-yet unresolved territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Given the withdrawal of American military forces from the Philippines in 1992 and the steady growth of Chinese economic and military power, one might expect ASEAN's traditionally-held …

U.S.-Hong Kong Relations: Prospects For A Unique Partnership, Bates Gill, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Hong Kong has survived turbulent economic, social and political changes in the past ten years since the former crown colony’s reversion to Chinese sovereignty. Following setbacks in the wake of the Asian financial crisis and the avian flu outbreak in 1997, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, and several massive political demonstrations in recent years, Hong Kong’s economy has had a robust and steady rebound. Hong Kong has maintained its position as a leading business and financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region and for the world. It has continued to play a pivotal role in China’s …

Tianxia, Empire And The World: Soft Power And China’S Foreign Policy Discourse In The 21st Century, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

China’s recent ‘charm offensive’ is captivating the world stage. Although there has been a thorough cataloguing of China’s soft power assets in terms of the effectiveness and limitations of the PRC’s public diplomacy, much less attention has been paid to how the normative aspect of China’s growing soft power will set the world agenda. This essay will examine the concept of ‘Tianxia’ to understand Chinese visions of world order. Tianxia is interesting both because it was key to the governance and self-understanding of three millennia of Chinese empire, and also because discussion of Tianxia is becoming popular again in the …

Myra Pong On Spatial Disparities In Human Development: Perspectives From Asia Edited By Kanbur, Ravi, Anthony J. Venables, And Guanghua Wan. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2006., Myra Pong

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Spatial Disparities in Human Development: Perspectives from Asia edited by Kanbur, Ravi, Anthony J. Venables, and Guanghua Wan. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2006.

The Middle Class And Political Change In China: Chinese Middle Class's Attitudinal And Behavioral Orientations Toward Democracy, Chunlong Lu

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Does the middle class in China think and act democratically and hence serve as the harbinger of democratic development in that country? Little empirical work has been done to systematically address this crucial question. The primary goals of this dissertation are to explore the level of attitudinal support for democracy among Chinese middle class individuals, examine their behavioral orientations toward politics, and provide a comprehensive assessment of the role of the Chinese middle class in the evolution of the Chinese political system. This dissertation argues that the middle class in China consists of the following four occupational groups: self-employed laborers, …

Chinese Visions Of World Order: Tianxia, Empire And The World, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Lately there has been increasing interest among IR scholars in Chinese thought both as an alternative to Eurocentric IR and because the PRC as an emerging power will soon have the institutional power to promote its view of the world. Rather than look for suitable Chinese parallels to ‘international’, ‘security’ or other mainstream concepts, this paper will examine the concept of ‘Tianxia’ to understand Chinese visions of world order. Tianxia is interesting both because it was key to the governance and self-understanding of three millennia of Chinese empire, and also because discussion of Tianxia is becoming popular again in the …

Uzbekistan At The Crossroads, Latife Bulur

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Uzbekistan is at the crossroads of the Central Asian region. Because of its strategic location and natural resources, Uzbekistan is becoming an interest to many different states, including the United States. However, many states that are interested in Uzbekistan are cautious about developing relations due to civil and governmental unrest.

Human Rights And The War On Terror: Complete 2005 - 2007 Topical Research Digest, Jack Donnelly, Simon Amajuru, Susannah Compton, Robin Davey, Syd Dillard, Amanda Donahoe, Charles Hess, Sydney Fisher, Kelley Laird, Victoria Lowdon, Chris Maggard, Alexandra Nichols, Travis Ning, Toni Panetta, Greg Sanders, James Smithwick, Angela Woolliams, Chris Saeger, Sarah Bania-Dobyns, Eric Dibbern, David Gillespie, Latife Bulur, Katie Friesen, Arika Long, Arianna Nowakowski, Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“9/11 changed everything.” Not really. In fact, there has been far more continuity than change over the past six years in both international and domestic politics. Nonetheless, human rights often have been harmed—although not by terrorism but by “the war on terror.”