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China under Xi Jinping: an Interdisciplinary Assessment offers an overview of reforms and changes that took place in China under Xi Jinping's administration in years 2012–2022. The book focuses on the impact of Xi's rule on China's political system, with special attention given to the features that distinguish Xi from his predecessors. The authors discuss, among others, the Xi Jinping Thought and the nature of his leadership, factors contributing to China's economic success, the future of the Belt and Road Initiative, China's response to challenges in terms of security, climate policy, energy transition, pandemics, as well as its ambition to become a global superpower in domains such as space exploration and sports. The volume also analyzes the in fluence that Xi Jinping's government has exerted on the Chinese state, society, and culture, concentrating on areas such as healthcare, education, politics regarding religion, the evolution of Chinese nationalism, the developments in Chinese cinema, music, language, and even political humor. To understand what characterizes Xi as a politician and how his time in o ffice is reflected in today's China, experts on China-related matters appear in five parts, or “dimensions” including: political, economic, social, cultural, and foreign policy issues. This publication will spark the readers'interest in and increase their awareness concerning the developments in the People's Republic of China under Xi Jinping.

US-China Rivalry offers a holistic analysis of the unfolding of US-China competition in the Indo-Pacific, using a novel theory called neo-offensive realism. It synthesises quantitative and qualitative data to examine the intensification of US-China competition across the Indo-Pacific in recent years, with a focus on why the competition is intensifying under the interplay of system-level and unit-level forces; where the competition is unfolding across states and quasi-states in the region; how the competition is conducted through economic and military influence mechanisms; and whither the competition is developing in the future.

The United States has never formally recognized Taiwan as a sovereign state, yet it has provided the country with security assistance since the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) government there in 1949. What accounts for this equivocal stance? And how is the US leveraging Taiwan against China? To unpack this complex triangular relationship, Shao-cheng Sun explores the history of US commitments to the ROC since the presidency of Harry S. Truman. His analysis of each successive administration's policymaking reveals the interplay of personal, domestic, and global interests in what has become one of the most precarious situations in world politics today.

The Routledge Handbook of Great Power Competition is a comprehensive, pioneering, and interdisciplinary guide of this re-emerging field.Offering a team of cutting-edge researchers in the field, it advances an analytical framework of great power competition. It surveys the major theories (mainstream and critical), actors (state, quasi-state, and non-state), mechanisms (military, economic, and ideational influence), and domains (territorial and non-territorial) pertaining to contemporary great power competition.This Handbook is an essential text for scholars and students of international relations, security studies, global governance, and comparative politics. It will also appeal to global policy makers and practitioners who need to observe contemporary great power competition.

The Oxford Handbook of International Studies Pedagogy brings together world class scholars to describe and analyze a wide array of pedagogical approaches and developments in International Studies. It reflects the extraordinary creativity visible in the ways instructors in International Studies interact, engage, and struggle with the students in their classrooms. The first section of the volume exposes readers to different worldviews, teaching worlds, and methods that enable a more diverse set of considerations when thinking about the international. Chapters in this section demonstrate a set of pedagogical practices that can allow non-western perspectives to emerge and to be valued. This maintains import beyond simply enabling broader literatures, contexts, and experiences to enrich the study of the international-it also is a critical component of adopting a set of humanizing pedagogies where care, inclusion, and compassion are modelled. At the heart of some of the contributions is a recognition that being more thoughtful and engaging of our students in constructing the learning environment is fundamental to enabling a broader set of worldviews and teaching worlds to emerge. The second section of the volume focuses on teaching and learning inside and outside the classroom. The chapters in this section fundamentally talk about strategies, and particular experiences that people have had, and how they relate those experiences either to their own positions or how they have understood them to be effective. While the chapters tend to focus on practice, it is also apparent how contributors embed their work in a set of values around equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation. Ultimately, accepting the way we teach matters, and this volume seeks to empower those teaching international studies to engage their students and prepare them to understand and work within a complicated and challenging international system.

This edited volume examines the competitive dynamics of two order-building projects in the Indo-Pacific, namely China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the US-led Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).Foci are on how far the two major powers are able to use institutional projects to (re)order the region of the Indo-Pacific to suit their policy preferences, and on how regional powers perceive and navigate between the two ordering projects. This book discusses a wide array of actors in the Indo-Pacific, covering the two major powers of China and the United States, middle powers of Australia and New Zealand, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and institutional actors of ASEAN, AUKUS, the Quad and the Pacific Islands Forum. Drawing on the concept of international order, the chapters examine the actor-specific foreign policies in relation to the rivalry between the FOIP and the BRI.This accessible book will be a go-to resource for anyone looking for how the two great powers garner legitimacy and followership for their own version of ordering project, and how regional powers respond to the dynamic competition and navigate between China and the United States, and between the forces of liberal democracy and autocracy.

In diesem Buch wird untersucht, wie die Kommunistische Partei Chinas (KPCh) versucht hat, ihre Strategie zur Terrorismusbekämpfung in den Augen ihrer nationalen und internationalen Öffentlichkeit zu legitimieren. Ein wichtiges Element der KPCh-Politik in Xinjiang war der Einsatz gewöhnlicher chinesischer Bürger oder die'Massenlinie', um neue Realitäten vor Ort zu schaffen. Dieses Buch untersucht, wie die Geschichte des ideologischen Kampfes in der Volksrepublik China neue Züge angenommen hat, und bietet Einblicke in die Art und Weise, wie die KPCh ihre Legitimität in den Augen der Bevölkerung aufrechterhalten hat, selbst wenn sie eine international umstrittene Politik verfolgt, und wirft ein Licht auf die Vergangenheit und die Zukunft des Verhaltens des chinesischen Staates, ein Thema, das für China-Wissenschaftler, Wissenschaftler des Gürtels und der Straße sowie Experten für Terrorismusbekämpfung von Interesse ist.

Poland and Taiwan: two parts of the world distant from each other, differing culturally and socially, and yet facing kind of similar challenges in the late 1980s and early 1990s – characterised by the transition from an authoritarian political system to liberal democracy. This book seeks to present the process of democratisation of Poland and Taiwan from the point of view of shared perspectives. Invoking the classical literature of transitology, it is possible to explore similarities and differences between the democratisation of Poland and Taiwan among socioeconomic factors, fragmentation in society, political culture, meso- structures (e.g. political groups, social movements), political institutions, historical and national- identity aspects, and international influences.

This book examines how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has sought to legitimise its counter-terrorism strategy in the eyes of its domestic and international audiences. An important element of CCP policy in Xinjiang has been the deployment of ordinary Chinese citizens, or the'mass line,'to create new realities on the ground. This book explores how the history of ideological struggle in the PRC has taken on new characteristics, as well as offering insight into how the CCP has maintained legitimacy in the eyes of its population, even as it pursues policies which are internationally controversial, shedding light on the past and future of the behaviour of the Chinese state, a subject of interest to China scholars, scholars of the Belt and Road, and counter-terrorism experts.

This book analyses the responses of middle powers in the Asia-Pacific toward the contemporary great powers'rivalry of the United States and China, through specific cases studies of South Korea, Australia, Japan, India, Taiwan, and Vietnam.Presenting local perspectives from multiple middle powers as they face the task of maintaining the international order in light of the recent competition between China and the United States, it further develops theories of foreign policy analyses, forming a systematic framework through initiating crucial concepts, including reluctant hedging, economic statecraft, and strategic position-taking. The contributions also provide an in-depth examination of the contemporary geo-politics of the region, including the impact of both the Trump and Biden administrations, Beijing's “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy, cross-strait relations with Taiwan, and the influences of Japan, Vietnam, Australia and South Korea, revealing that regional middle powers do indeed exert influence on the direction of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.Providing comprehensive studies of many regional powers in the Asia-Pacific, this will be a valuable resource for scholars and students of International Politics, Asian Politics, Asian Studies as well as policy makers on Asia-Pacific relations.

This is the first comprehensive study of sport in Taiwan to be published in English. It appears at a time when Taiwan has the attention of the global community to the greatest extent since the years following the creation of the People's Republic of China and the formation by the Chinese Nationalist Party of an alternative seat of government for the Republic of China in Taiwan's capital, Taipei. The story of sport in Taiwan is one of athletic achievements and political machinations with this island's athletes allowed to compete in international sport only in the name of Chinese Taipei. The book offers insights into the development, political uses, and current situation of sport in Taiwan, the contribution made by the island's indigenous peoples, the significance of physical activity initiatives, relations between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China, sports fandom, the role of the sports media, and gender, exercise, and health. As is so often the case with other parts of the world, sport in Taiwan provides a lens through which the authors examine a range of political and social issues and thereby help readers to gain a better understanding of this interesting, vibrant, and politically sensitive island.'This book is a comprehensive, critical, and timely piece of scholarship that makes a valuable and unique contribution to both the field and our understanding of the distinct and precarious status of Taiwan as a culture and society. Drawing on a range of academic disciplines, theories and methods, the fascinating assembly of essays cover topics spanning indigenous sport, racialised sporting bodies, sport policy, and sport and international relations. The editors, Bairner, Chen, and Chiang, have skilfully blended a collection that uses sport as a strategic lens to provide insights into the complex cultural, economic, political, and diplomatic spheres within which Taiwan carefully negotiates its sovereignty and identity amidst an international community that largely spectates from the geo-political side-lines. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the significance of sport in Taiwan but also the significance of Taiwan in the world.'—Steve Jackson, Otago University, New Zealand

This book explores U.S.-Taiwan-China relations during both the Trump and Biden administrations, revealing how policy changes under both presidents have impacted Washington's decades-long strategic policy framework for Cross-Strait Relations.By tracing the continuities and changes of U.S. Strategic ambiguity and One-China Policy framework between the Trump and Biden administrations, the book assesses how the foreign policy prism, through which U.S. leaders view China and Taiwan, has experienced a distinct alteration and subsequently led to a policy adjustment. Utilising a wide range of documents and primary material, such as White House documents (ranging from the Clinton to the Biden administrations) in conjunction with interviews with Taiwan officials, this volume brings a detailed portrait of past, present, and potential future U.S.-Taiwan-China relations. Moreover, it provides a succinct examination of U.S. foreign policy traditions such as internationalism, nationalism, and multilateral nationalism (providing a study of U.S.-China relations and policies from Nixon to Biden) and the resulting influence of such traditions on recent U.S. Cross-Strait policy.Presenting a comprehensive study of both the Trump and Biden administrations approach to Taiwan, this will be a valuable resource for any scholar or student of U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S.-Taiwan-China Relations and Cross-Strait Relations.

This edited volume rethinks the relationship between power and law in the age of China's rise by examining recent developments in the South China Sea (SCS). The contributors explore different interpretations of international law on the legal status of the contested islands and rocks and provide detailed analyses of the contested concepts and provisions, the 2016 ruling by the SCS arbitration tribunal, as well as the environmental, economic, and political impacts of the ruling. This book facilitates a more meaningful and productive dialogue over the intersection, interaction, and interdependence between power and law in the context of the SCS. Assessing the interactions between political, legal, and normative forces, it provides insights into the specific dynamics of the dispute and the shifting security landscape in the region, but also offers a basis for thinking more deeply about the broader rise of China. This book will appeal to both students and scholars of IR, International Law, and Asian Studies and those engaged in research on the SCS disputes, the rise of China, and with a theoretical interest in law and power in international affairs.

What does responsibility mean in International Relations (IR)? This handbook brings together cutting-edge research on the critical debates about responsibility that are currently being undertaken in IR theory.This handbook both reflects upon an emerging field based on an engagement in the most crucial theoretical debates and serves as a foundational text by showing how deeply a discussion of responsibility is embedded in broader questions of IR theory and practice. Contributions cover the way in which responsibility is theorized across different approaches in IR and relevant neighboring disciplines and demonstrate how responsibility matters in different policy fields of global governance. Chapters with an empirical focus zoom in on particular actor constellations of (emerging) states, international organizations, political movements, or corporations, or address how responsibility matters in structuring the politics of global commons, such as oceans, resources, or the Internet.Providing a comprehensive overview of IR scholarship on responsibility, this accessible and interdisciplinary text will be a valuable resource for scholars and students in many fields including IR, international law, political theory, global ethics, science and technology, area studies, development studies, business ethics, and environmental and security governance.

En un recorrido apasionante por los principales centros del poder mundial, los autores, reconocidos internacionalistas, ofrecen un panorama profundo y al mismo tiempo accesible del escenario global, en busca de una respuesta a las preguntas que todos nos hacemos: ¿en qué mundo vivimos? ¿en qué mundo viviremos?

This book attempts to identify change and continuity in PRC grand strategy, and the extent to which Chinese imperial history complicates PRC global outreach in the Xi Jinping era. Empires convey the wish to make the world a better place – even in the midst of oppression – and are eschatological in their rhetoric. However, empires that last longer have been more pragmatic in their grand strategy; sometimes appropriating the aura of past golden ages, and at other times learning from the mistakes of their predecessors. To date, Chinese strategic thinkers are preoccupied with learning lessons from the disintegration of the USSR and fascinated by the secrets of American power. Interdisciplinary in its reach, analysing grand strategy through both rhetoric and praxis, this book unpacks the Chinese world view through critical examination of the latest history textbooks currently in use in PRC middle schools. It also brings new evidence to bear on the debate in the West about Chinese strategic culture. Finally, it compares historical Japanese OFDI patterns with China in order to understand what makes the Chinese economy unique. China's Grand Strategy Under Xi Jinping is aimed towards students and scholars of history, international business and wider Chinese studies.

By the early 21st century with the rise of China economies of East Asia and India, the prognosis of a strong Asia showed promise. The Indo - Pacific Region (essentially Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean) deservedly came to be recognised as the new'Centre of Gravity'in the evolving world economic order. Asian states have exhibited leadership in a range of significant areas, such as economics, diplomacy, military power, science & technology, innovation, and soft power thus adding traction to the notion of'Asia Century'of shared prosperity and common destiny. Under this overarching geo-strategic environment, it is imperative that the two most populous and growing economic powers, India and China, move towards achieving consensus, co-operation and strategic trust rather than compete and contest. However, since the tumultuous border war of 1962, there exists a deep distrust of each other's motives across the Himalayan barriers. To achieve this India and China ought to share their perspectives on the key drivers of divergences and work towards mitigating the same to build strategic trust. This book seeks to assess the causes of strategic mistrust in Sino – India relations and recommend measures for building trust and improving bilateral relations. Towards that end, the ten divergences have been taken as individual chapters, with both Indian and Chinese scholars providing respective perspectives.

While global attention has been focused on other regional issues, such as China-US tensions and North Korea's nuclear ambitions, little attention has been paid to Taiwan. Yet the so-called Taiwan issue, namely the continued separation of the island from mainland China, remains a major regional security challenge that could potentially spark direct conflict involving the USA, China and Japan, the three largest economies in the world, two of which are nuclear powers. Although Taiwan has continued to find opportunities to maintain the current status quo despite a deteriorating geo-strategic environment as a result of the rise of China and the uncertainties of the Trump Administration, its room for manoeuvre continues to narrow. This volume examines the challenges and evaluates the prospects for preventing conflict on the Taiwan Strait, by focusing on the political conditions that Taiwan faces internally and externally.

Take a look at the political map of the world and you will see that almost every piece of land belongs to a state. This division – in contrast, for example, to the split created by a valley between two mountains – is man-made, imaginary, and arbitrary, and therefore can be easily questioned. Indeed, in addition to the multiple disputed borders that permeate the world map, some countries are not recognized or partially recognized. Other states decide whether a certain political unit can be recognized as sovereign. Again, even though their decision concerns imaginary divisions created by borders, accepting or rejecting them has far-reaching consequences in real life. The unrecognized country stays outside of a club of sovereign states, which makes cooperation with its members very difficult or even impossible. It has no choice but to invent novel ways to conduct external relations. Moreover, this specific international situation has a major impact on its politics, people's lifestyles, culture, etc.This book is about just such an exceptional entity in the international community of states – Taiwan. It explains how the island's specific international situation influences the developments in its external and internal affairs.Taiwan's Exceptionalism shines the spotlight on two areas that are heavily influenced by Taipei's unique status – its external and internal affairs. Additionally, each chapter of the book addresses the active role of Taiwanese society in shaping their international fate. First, it introduces the reader to Taiwan's international legal status; next, it turns to the consequences of the island's specific situation for international relations in the South China Sea, as well as in the US-China-Taiwan triangle. Having set the historical and political background for the following chapters, the volume draws attention to important phenomena in Taiwan's internal affairs that are closely related to the status of the island. They examine Taiwan's democratic development and challenges, civil society activism, indigenous tourism clusters, eco-tourism and the image of the island in Polish dailies. The authors believe that all of these facets are exceptional in the sense that they all bear the imprint of the island's distinct international situation.

This balanced and deeply informed book provides a comprehensive account of China's Asia policy since the Cold War. Lowell Dittmer traces the PRC's policy toward its Asian neighbors in the context of the country's move from a developing nation to a great power, capable of playing a role in world politics commensurate with its remarkable economic rise. The author considers China's bilateral relations with Russia, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia. Each of these relationships is also viewed in terms of China's rivalry with the United States, which has viewed China's rise with admiration tinged with a certain foreboding. Thus, Dittmer employs a triangular analysis to understand Beijing's attempt to expand in Asia while at the same time deterring Washington's interference. Reframing the international relations of Asia in a thought-provoking and informed manner, this important book presents a panoramic view of the dynamics at work on all sides of China.

This book offers an assessment of China's assertive foreign policy behavior with a special focus on Chinese policies in the South China Sea (SCS). By providing a detailed account of the events in the SCS and by analyzing power dynamics in the region, it identifies the driving forces behind China's assertive foreign policy. Considering China's power on a domestic as well as an international level, it examines a number of different sources of hard and soft power, including military, economics, geopolitics, and domestic legitimacy. The author demonstrates that Chinese assertiveness in the SCS can be explained not only by increases in China's power, but also by effective reactions to other actors'foreign policy changes. The book will appeal to scholars in international relations, especially those interested in a better understanding of South China Sea developments, China's political power and foreign policy, and East Asian international affairs.

This volume critiques contemporary power trends by examining key bilateral dynamics between five putative ‘poles'of the multipolar order in the twenty-first century.Written by emerging scholars and established academics, this work provides a timely and authoritative analysis of one of the most controversial and compelling security debates of the twenty-first century. Adopting a detailed case study approach, the volume examines contemporary great power relations between the US, China, Russia, India and the EU. Each chapter explores the essential nature and characteristics of individual inter-state relationships in order to explicate and appraise the empirical evidence for a putative multipolar order. The volume aims to deepen understanding of power trends and critically assess the individual inter-dynamics at play. In doing so, it critiques the various models offered, such as the hub and spoke model (with the US remaining as the primary actor) and Zakaria's ‘networked'model, as part of a purported ‘post-American world'. The work places each of the individual relationships into a wider strategic and political context, in relation to the continued international turbulence and change that has seemed even more prominent in recent times, taking into account the twin challenges of Brexit and the presidency of Donald Trump. It concludes by returning the focus to the central questions of if, how and when a post-American, multipolar world could develop.This volume will be of much interest to students of global security, foreign policy, and IR in general.

Unabridged

This book explores how technological change is influencing the dynamics of relations between mainland China and Taiwan. Using the latest research, it examines the acceleration of technology-led and how it shapes three key dimensions of the cross-Strait relationship: the overarching security context; the economic context; and the cultural context.