Political Science Commons^™

Nichter On Heiss And Papacosma, 'Nato And The Warsaw Pact: Intrabloc Conflicts', Luke A. Nichter

Presidential Studies Faculty Articles and Research

A review of NATO and the Warsaw Pact: Intrabloc Conflicts edited by Mary Ann Heiss and S. Victor Papacosma.

China Behind The Headlines: Xu Zhiyong, Susan Jakes

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Earlier this year, a graduate of his country’s most prestigious law school with an impressive record of public service, a comfortable academic post at a major university, and a political office he’d won in a trailblazing election summarized his life’s mission for a local newspaper. “I strive to be a worthy citizen, a member of a group of people who promote the progress of the nation,” he told the reporter. “I want to make people believe in ideals and in justice and help them see that there is hope for change.”

Like a more well-known community organizer, Xu Zhiyong has …

Filthy Fiction: The Writings Of Zhu Wen, Julia Lovell

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Chinese fiction of the 1990s was not short on shock value. If we think of the decade’s cultural tone being set by Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 command to unleash commercial forces, then the years that followed proved rich in works that would have done the old man proud. Quick off the mark was Jia Pingwa, who triumphantly became one of the earliest, most notorious cases of a serious writer surrendering to lurid populism, with his 1993 novel, The Ruined Capital (Feidu): a best-selling, soft-pornographic tale of a male writer’s travails through the corruption of contemporary China. Things were not looking much …

In Case You Missed It: Cambridge Companion To Modern Chinese Culture, Miri Kim

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

For scholars of China who are interested in modernity, the looming question seems to be, is ‘modernity’ a valid and useful analytical category for describing, explaining, and understanding China? And if so, how should modernity and its attendant conceptual apparatuses be deployed in investigations of China’s various aspects, historical, political, cultural, and so on? In The Cambridge Companion to Modern Chinese Culture, editor Kam Louie and a distinguished list of contributors seek to explore China within its particular modern contexts and clarify the idea of ‘modernity’ by using historical and contemporary cases.

In his introduction Louie writes, “At first glance, …

Readings For August 3

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. An important story emerged this weekend in the blogosphere: Chinese legal scholar Xu Zhiyong was taken from his home by police last Wednesday and has not been seen since. From Evan Osnos at The New Yorker:

Xu might not have reached Marshall status yet, but he is as close as China gets to a public-interest icon. He teaches law at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He has also run the Open Constitution Initiative, a legal aid and research organization that worked on many of China’s path-breaking cases. He and his colleagues had investigated the Sanlu milk scandal, …

Ireland And Frank Mccourt: A Painful Struggle Continues, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of Democratic Policing In The Turkish National Police: Police Officials' Attitudes Toward Recent Police Reforms, Akin Karatay

Dissertations

This study defines democracy, describes democratic policing, analyzes the development of democratic policing principles in the developing country of Turkey and contends that democracy can be enduring only when the police embody democratic values. As Turkey transforms itself in order to become a member of the European Union, the process has fostered national, institutional, cultural and socioeconomic adaptations, all of which lead towards democracy. This process has influenced the Turkish National Police (TNP) as well. In theory, these efforts towards political democratization, legal reform and the adoption of European Union police policy guidelines should have a positive effect on Turkish …

Institutional Resilience Amid Political Change: The Case Of Biodiversity Conservation, Paul F. Steinberg

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

There is a substantial literature documenting the spatial mismatch between the geographic location of biological resources and the spatial jurisdiction of the institutions responsible for their management. But little attention has been paid to the disjuncture in temporal scales between the long-term requirements of biodiversity conservation and the short time horizons governing public and private decisions affecting the survival of species and ecosystems. How can we create socially agreed-upon rules governing the long-term use and conservation of biodiversity when ongoing change is one of the defining characteristics of modern society? This article describes a new approach to biodiversity conservation—conservation systems—that …

The Impact Of Policy Tool Selection On Early Childhood Education And Care (Ecec) In Ireland, Bernie O'Donoghue Hynes, Noirin Hayes

Conference Papers

This paper looks at the range of policy tools selected by the Irish State to fund and develop Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The choice is influenced by cultural norms and ideological predisposition with Ireland demonstrating a pro-market bias and relying on a range of interdependencies and third parties for delivery of services. The tools selected by the Irish State are typically those associated with States that promote a liberal agenda, sometimes referred to as the Anglo/American model (Salamon 2002). However, a closer review of the tools characteristics in Ireland reveal a tendency to adopt a conservative corporatist (Dean …

Courtrooms As Battlefields In The Evolution War: Examining Judicial Behavior And The Outcomes Of Cases Involving Public Education And Religion, Trevor W. Ramsey

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past century, various challenges to the teaching of the theory of evolution have made their way to the courts, with the two most recent dealing with the concept of "intelligent design." The goal of this study is to attempt to find indicators that could help predict how judges will decide these types of cases in the future. Due to the low number of such cases, this study looked at the issue from the broader perspective of conflicts between religion and public schools. Focusing on federal district and appellate courts, sixty-eight cases were selected, with 145 rulings from 121 …

A Comparative Analysis: Cuban And Mexican Immigrant Policy, Barret Runyon

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the debate over U.S. immigration policy has become one of the most volatile and emotional issues of our time. Great concern has developed over the growing number of illegal immigrants and the lack of security along the nation's borders, especially its southern border. During this time period, many policymakers were specifically concerned with U.S. policy towards Mexican and Cuban immigrants. In order to find out if significant changes have occurred, this study examines U.S. policy towards undocumented immigrants entering the country since 9-11. To answer this question a number of primary sources were …

August Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

The Two Faces of Twitter: Revolution in a Digital Age. By Darrell West. The Huffington Post. July 30, 2009.

Justice And Adaptation To Climate Change In The Asia Pacific Region : Designing International Institutions, Paul G. Harris, Jonathan Symons

CAPS Working Paper Series

Many developing states argue that they should be compensated for the costs of adapting to climate change. They point out that industrialised states are responsible for the bulk of historical greenhouse gas emissions and per capita first world emissions continue to dwarf developing world emissions. Yet, given the substantial internal inequality and rapidly rising emissions within developing states such as China and India, the same arguments that justify international adaptation compensation might equally justify internal redistributive measures. This paper addresses the question of how international institutions that fund adaptation to anthropogenic climate change should be designed. After reviewing both communitarian …

An Empirical Study Of What Governmental Processes Ordinary People Really Want In South Korea, Gang-Hoon Kim

Department of Political Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Many scholars have suggested that South Korea is one of the most successful democracies in Asia. Because of the successful development of democracy, it can be inferred that citizens should be happy with their political system and the government’s policy outputs. However, evidence indicates that ordinary Koreans are dissatisfied with government and politicians as well as their democratic system. If this evidence is true, why are ordinary people distrustful of and dissatisfied with the government, politicians, and their democracy? Regarding this concern, two dominant perspectives - policy matters and process matters - have increasingly been put into question. Conventional wisdom …

Twitter And Youtube: Positive Developments For Human Rights Protection?, Nicola Colbran

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A number of statements have been made regarding the benefit to human rights protection of advances in technology. However, can these advances also have a negative impact?

Focusing on instant messaging and social network services such as Twitter and YouTube, the positives are quickly apparent. They can draw immediate attention to human rights violations that may otherwise go unnoticed, allow interested parties to stay abreast of developments in the protection of human rights, and create strength and courage in numbers for action that may not be anticipated by the perpetrator. These services also enable human rights activists to tweet their …

Talking Us Into War: Problem Definition By Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson And George W. Bush, Barbara Ellen May Warner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How presidents talk us into war merges the study of problem definition in public policy with the study of rhetoric in communications. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research analyzes the key words used by two presidents, Lyndon B. Johnson and George W. Bush, to persuade us into escalating a war in Vietnam and engaging in a pre-emptive war in Iraq, respectively. The findings indicate that presidents repeat words that are patriotic, emotive, metaphorical, symbolic and religious, tapping into American themes of Manifest Destiny and even predicting dire outcomes if we do not accept their definitions of the dangers …

The Responsibility To Protect: Three Pillars And Four Crimes, Heraldo Muñoz

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The adoption of the concept of “Responsibility to Protect” (RtoP) by the Heads of State and Government in the September 2005 United Nations World Summit was a historic landmark which has generated great attention as a potentially powerful instrument to impede humanitarian tragedies. Yet much has been missing, or misinterpreted, in the public discussion of this emerging norm. Some fear that RtoP could be abused by powerful countries to intervene in developing nations alleging altruistic motives, while others believe that RtoP is already a rule of customary international law that should be applied unconditionally and without delay in the face …

Stop The Revolution, Michael Jackson Is Dead!, William Paul Simmons

Human Rights & Human Welfare

We won’t soon forget the rapid fire pace of “tweets” and Facebook posts direct from the streets of Tehran. The haunting images of Neda Agha Soltan shocked the consciences of hundreds of thousands around the globe as it went “viral.”

Protest, Iranian Style: A Two-Way Conversation?, Shareen Hertel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Darrell West gets it right when he argues that despite their promise, digital technologies alone “cannot produce revolutions. To generate fundamental change, it still takes strong leadership, powerful ideas, and people willing to risk detention and imprisonment.” West is writing about Iran—and the critical role that social networking has played in fostering social protest in the wake of a disputed election in that country. He also warns that oppressive regimes may turn the very same tool of protest against those fighting for freedom, by using digital technology to track protesters. Yet West underplays the importance of social networking for cracking …

Iran: Who Is Quicker - The Hacker Or The Twitter?, Anja Mihr

Human Rights & Human Welfare

For a moment we believed that we had entered into a new era of democratic movement. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google—chat have given proof that regardless where people live, what background they have, what system they adhere to or what religion they practice: they want to share the injustice and violence that happens to them with the world. They seek awareness, help and support and moreover they look for an end to the unfair and violent treatment. So have thousands of people in Iran—and still they do. They use what is the most widely available, quickest and the cheapest way …

Pcf: Voice Of The People, Raisa Vilensky

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The French Communist Party (PCF) played an instrumental role in giving a voice to a segment of the population that was otherwise poorly represented in democracy. This paper attempts to illustrate the origins of communism in France by drawing on French history to connect a unique and separate branch of thought, beginning with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. From Rousseau's ideals on the evil of private property and his disdain for the rule of law being merely a tool to support the existing ruling class, through the Jacobins of the French Revolution, and continued by the French Socialists of the Nineteenth Century, it …

A Few Reading Recommendations

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

1. The new Journal of Current Chinese Affairs is out—and all its articles are available for free in PDF at its website. Those of possible interest to CB readers include:

“Beijing Bubble, Beijing Bust: Inequality, Trade, and Capital Inflow into China” (by James K. Galbraith, Sara Hsu, Wenjie Zhang); “Realpolitik Dynamics and Image Construction in the Russia-China Relationship: Forging a Strategic Partnership?” (by Maria Raquel Freire, Carmen Amado Mendes); “The Regulation of Religious Affairs in Taiwan: From State Control to Laisser-faire?” (by André Laliberté); “Nationalism to Go – Coke Commercials between Lifestyle and Political Myth” (available only in German, by …

The Urumchi Unrest Revisited, James Millward

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The violence in Xinjiang took place almost a month ago, but it continues to generate interesting commentary (see, for example, this thoughtful essay by Pallavi Aiyar). The early July events have also recently had two reverberations in Australia, as Jia Zhangke and two other Chinese filmmakers pulled out of a Melbourne film festival where a documentary expected to present a sympathetic view of one of the people Beijing blames for the unrest was to be shown, and then hackers attacked the festival’s website to protest that film’s inclusion in the line-up. In light of this, we asked James Millward, a …

Race And Espionage, Sam Goffman

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The fact that China and the US spy on each other should come as no surprise to anybody. Each country is nervous about the other, and espionage, though it is surely not conducted with the same vigor as during the Cold War, is still an important part of interactions between states.

What’s interesting about Chinese espionage operations in the US, however, is that they appear to involve strong racial and nationalist overtones. The Soviet Union tended to appeal to ideology, or simply offer money or other types of benefits to its agents; China, it seems, is mainly going after overseas …

Brought To You By The People’S Republic Of The Onion, Haiyan Lee

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

America’s finest news source The Onion has a new owner! Since last week, readers have been bombarded with the good tiding, from the modified masthead, logo, and tagline, to news headlines, editorials, audio and video clips, and ads, lots of ads. The new owner goes by the appetizing name of Yu Wan Mei 鱼完美 Amalgamated Salvage Fisheries and Polymer Injection Group, supposedly a Chinese conglomerate from the inland province of Sichuan. The corporation specializes in fish by-products salvaged from the “ocean’s bounty.” Some of its finer samples are “Broiled Shark Gums,” “Multi-Flavor Variety Pack Of Pickled Fish Cloaca,” “Lightning Power …

Biden Travels, Talks And Ticks Off The Russians, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

A Reader: The 2010 Asian Games

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The PR folks for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou have added China Beat to their mailing list, so we got their note this week about organizers’ plans to seed clouds to prevent rain during the Games. Our interest was piqued–we hadn’t heard much yet about the 2010 Asian Games. Here are a few of the things we found when we went looking…

1. As with the Olympic preparations in Beijing, there is massive construction, investment, and environmental management (not just cloud-seeding) underway in Guangzhou, according to Xinhua:

Authorities are pumping in more than 58 billion yuan (8.5 billion U.S. …

A Cultural Symbol Passes From The Scene: Ji Xianlin, Not Michael Jackson, Timothy B. Weston

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

It’s been moving to watch the response in China to the July 11 death of renowned scholar, Ji Xianlin (1911-2009). While Ji’s unsurprising departure at the ripe old age of 98 has not brought quite the same flood tide of emotion and cultural stock taking in China as Michael Jackson’s completely unexpected death a few weeks earlier at age 50 has in the United States and around the world, the way the venerable scholar is being remembered in Beijing is nevertheless remarkable. Long lines of people wishing to pay their last respects waited for hours to gain entrance to a …

Confucianism In Chinese Academia, Daniel A. Bell

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Over the last decade or so, there has been a revival of Confucianism. Popular books on Confucianism are best sellers, and official discourse from the government often expresses traditional Confucian values like harmony. What is less well known, however, is the resurgence in interest among academics in China.

Rigorous experiments by psychologists such as Peng Kaiping and Wu Shali show that there are striking cognitive differences between Chinese and Americans, with Chinese more likely to use contextual and dialectical approaches to solving problems. Psychologists Huang Guangguo and Yang Zhongfang from Taiwan and Hongkong advocate the use of traditional Chinese ideas …

China Beatniks Around The Web

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

After a few weeks of vacation, China Beat is back to posting (though we considered making an 8 percent reduction in our future posts in honor of the UC furlough, we’ll just be back to business as usual). Even so, it is still summer and a few contributors have been using the time to publish in other venues.

Last Saturday, Ken Pomeranz mentioned a few of his recent publications, includingthis one at the New Left Review.

Jeff Wasserstrom recently reviewed Lisa See’s new book, Shanghai Girls for Time Asia. (We ran an interview with See this spring, which you can …