In this special issue of the World Politics Review, Face Off: China/India, Rory Medcalf and other experts debate whether China or India will emerge as the leading power. Publication Type: Commentary

The stuffed toy wolf called Lufsig sold by Ikea was simply intended as a children’s toy – but since two protesters threw the toy at Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, it has become a protest symbol. Not only is Leung nicknamed the wolf, because of his perceived cunning, but as the South China Morning Post politely explains, its Chinese translation is a homonym for “an obscene three-word phrase in Cantonese associated with the female genitalia”. …

In the aftermath of the Geneva accords constraining Iran’s nuclear program, some critics of the deal have compared it to the 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea that fell apart in 2002 and ended with the North building and testing nuclear weapons. This criticism ignores major differences between Iran – a large, influential country that relies on exporting oil and pays at least some attention to popular sentiment – and North Korea – a small, hereditary totalitarian dictatorship kept afloat by neighboring China.

Abstract

Political scientists and economists fundamentally disagree in their assessment of ideology in contemporary Chinese reform. Whereas the former emphasize its functional value legitimizing the overall course of reform, the latter warn of indoctrination and negative welfare effects. We argue that ideology is pervasive in China’s political economy of reform—past, present, and future. Moreover, a common assessment is both necessary and feasible. The presented case studies (loyalty signaling, message control, policy learning, and anti-corruption) underline the highly ambiguous role of ideology oscillating between alignment and adaptation. In the end, ideology can unite or divide Chinese society as well as increase or diminish economic efficiency.

Abstract

This study uses frames analysis to investigate online discourses and processes of political deliberation on China’s weibo (microblog) service. It offers a comparative analysis of competing discourses surrounding the case of Wang Yue, a toddler who was ran over by two motor vehicles in Foshan, following which 18 people passed by and ignored her plight. The study aims to understand how weibo facilitate its users to express their differences and deliberate disagreements with each other. The study found that Internet users are rational in the sense that they do not simply lean towards a dichotomised choice of ‘pro-’ or ‘anti-’ official discourse, but they are able to negotiate their moral choices by considering a wide range of social and political factors in such an emotional and morally controversial incident.

The resilience of China’s economy since the 2008 financial crisis has provided a welcome boost to global demand and substantial progress has been made in rebalancing China’s external accounts. However, according to the latest International Monetary Fund annual report on China’s economy, the pattern of economic activity in the world’s second largest economy has become […]

Drawing from my own ethnographic research with wealthy entrepreneurs as well as several recent insider accounts of corrupt officials’ activities in China, this paper examines many of the practices associated with corruption–distributing favors, keeping mistresses, luxury consumption, etc.–as gendered practices. I argue that corruption should be understood primarily not in terms of wayward individuals but […]

Yang’s work reflects the ideals and anxieties of the generation born during and after the Cultural Revolution that is struggling to find its place in the rapidly changing society of the new China. Although he draws much of his subject matter from the consumerist contexts of contemporary urban China, many of his images recall the […]

There was the “millionaire’s tax cut” gambit. Playing off small and big businesses against each other. Declaring the NHS the “the greatest institution of our country” and promising to reverse reforms of it, irrespective of outcomes. Not just opposing the implementation of the so-called bedroom tax, but apparently opposing it in principle. Labelling the Conservatives […]

In Europe, intellectuals and politicians are currently arguing about national indebtedness, structural adjustment programs, and of course, about the crisis. In this discussion however, an important question has been overlooked: how could the crisis be used in positive fashion? Our answer is simple: the social economy sector should be strengthened, especially cooperatives. The term “social […]

The United States has now effectively abandoned its previous policy on Assad: recall that President Obama publicly called for regime change in Syria in August 2011, and the White House and Congress together later toughened sanctions designed to force Assad out. Supporters of the Kerry-Lavrov deal claim that regime change was never a part of […]