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Insofar as the production of space is intimately bound up with the bodily senses, it would be reasonable to posit that the politics of space is also at the same time a politics of the senses. In this context, the theoretical remit of this paper is to extend our analysis of the role of the senses in theorising a visceral politics of urban exclusion. Using the case study of a middle-class neighbourhood or xiaoqu in Shanghai, the paper interrogates how class-based sensory 'othering' is deployed to preserve and regulate the socio-metabolic environment of the neighbourhood sensorium and justify urban exclusion. Such revanchist (sensory) urbanism, however, is irreducible to the cultural politics of neoliberalism, but also deeply implicated in actually existing metabolic inequalities in contemporary urban China. In particular, those whose metabolic needs are devalued are often stigmatised and cast as 'sensorial others' with repulsive sensory and metabolic bodily practices that are at odds with the urban middle-class. By bringing together critical literature on sensory urbanism and urban metabolism, a key contribution of this paper is to advance the theorisation of visceral micro-politics of urban exclusion that is experienced and 'sensed' through everyday metabolic inequalities in urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, scholars in China and beyond have vigorously demonstrated that the just war discourse is integral to classical Confucianism and that the classical Confucian idea of "punitive expedition" can be best understood in terms of humanitarian intervention. The sceptics, however, claim that in describing the ancient sage‐king's bloodless punitive expeditions, what classical Confucians really had in mind was not so much to endorse morally justified forms of aggressive war but to highlight the paramount importance of the ruler's moral self‐cultivation and benevolent government. This paper examines closely the disagreement between the two positions and offers a more historically grounded justification for the just war interpretation of classical Confucianism. It pays special attention to the importance of ritual order in classical Confucian political theory and discusses how the Warring States political circumstances led thinkers such as Mencius and Xunzi to shift their attention from ritual order to the well‐being of the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guest Editorial: Crossing the river by feeling the stones - Alternative imaginaries of China and Southeast Asia in contemporary contexts The second aspect is to uncover alternative imaginaries and responses of the Chinese government's official development discourses such as the BRI in Southeast Asia with historically informed perspectives in examining current and future China-Southeast Asia relations as China repositions itself. On 27 February 2021, I The Economist i published a briefing titled "Tea and Tributaries", stating 'in no region is China's influence felt more strongly than in Southeast Asia', noting that historically Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam were important tributaries to imperial China ( I The Economist i , 2021). Indeed, the balancing act of engaging China and United States fruitfully is ASEAN's bread and butter business, which highlights situating China relationally with other major powers in the alternative imaginaries of China in Southeast Asia. [Extracted from the article]

This paper uses activity theoretic analyses to investigate the role of governments in developing rural e‐commerce ecosystems and the effects of such ecosystems on poverty alleviation. On the basis of a case study of Longnan, one of the poorest regions in China, this paper reports and analyses the various actions taken by local governments in nurturing, supporting, and regulating the development of a local rural e‐commerce ecosystem and using this ecosystem to transform poverty alleviation. Our study articulates a model of poverty alleviation through e‐commerce. By documenting and theorizing the mechanisms underlying rural e‐commerce development and poverty alleviation through e‐commerce as well as governments' role in developing and sustaining them, this paper contributes to establishing a "theory of the solution" to the grand challenge of poverty alleviation both in China and globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 15 years, a set of ideas now referred to as "thinking and working politically" (TWP) has coalesced into a "second orthodoxy" about how to take context into account when implementing development interventions. This approach stresses the importance of obtaining a better understanding of the local context ("thinking politically") in order to support local actors to bring about sustainable developmental change ("working politically"). However, the evidence base to justify this new approach remains thin, despite a growing number of programmes which purport to be implementing it. Officials in development agencies struggle with putting it into practice and it is unclear how TWP differs—or not—from similar approaches, such as Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) and Doing Development Differently (DDD). This Special Issue sheds light on what TWP means in practice by examining a set of initiatives undertaken by both development partners and government departments in Nigeria, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, China and India. This overview article outlines, in brief, each of the Special Issue's four papers and then draws out five lessons—for funders and for practitioners—from across all the papers. Our five lessons are: (1) the fundamental importance of undertaking political economy analysis (PEA) to adapt programmes to their contexts; (2) the importance of having a realistic level of ambition for interventions; (3) the need to support local ownership—not just "agreement ownership" (between a donor agency and government) or local "management ownership" of the programme, but critically "driver ownership" by generating trust with the key local actors driving change; (4) the need for a more effective set of tools for measuring results in complex programmes that attempt to achieve improvements in long‐run governance; and, (5) that although the political economy of donors is often seen as a barrier to applying TWP, the articles show how much can be done with a TWP approach if the analysis takes into account the political economy of donors as well as that of the local context. We conclude with a set of operational recommendations for donors and implementors, as well as suggestions of avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rail links between China and Europe are typically analysed in the context of China's Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on China's economic rise and the implications for international relations. This paper argues that establishment of the China–Europe Landbridge predated the BRI and has been market‐driven, as service providers identified and responded to demand for efficient freight services along pre‐existing railway lines. Governments' role was trade facilitating, that is reducing delays and costs at border‐crossing points, rather than investing in hard infrastructure. Service providers responded by linking European and Asian value chains (e.g., in automobiles and electronic goods) and reducing costs for traders shipping between China and Europe. The Eurasian Landbridge provides a case study of servicification as a component of increased trade in the twenty‐first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing us, and it requires urgent policy action. Although climate change policies are mainly being discussed at international level by means of the United Nations Conventions and the Kyoto Protocol, the bulk of the impact will be felt at regional and local level. Regional and local governments are thus important actors. Moreover, regional governments in many parts of the world hold a wide range of the competences to implement policy actions for both adaptation and mitigation. This paper illustrates the important role of regions in climate policies and considers many of the policy instruments being designed and implemented. The paper describes 23 leading regions in climate policy. Finally, the case of Basque climate policy is described as an example of an industrial region in Europe where the degree of decentralization is significant. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to present an analysis of China's decentralization and local governance practices, the dilemmas rooted in the current institution. We argue that the misbehavior of local government officials is endogenous to China's central-local structure and that competition among localities has become distorted and constrained by various policy burdens and development mandates imposed from above. The information asymmetry for the enforcement cost of mandates that exists between central and local governments not only leads to difficulties and distortions in local performance evaluations, but also creates opportunities for local bureaucracy expansion and rent-seeking. Enhancing fiscal transfers, or strengthening political restraint, although necessary, would be far from enough to solve the local governance problems. The ultimate solution entails an in-depth deregulation reform on factor mobility and a furthest eradication of policy mandates for the local government. Edited by Xinyu Fan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the characteristics of poverty in rural China, focussing on regional absolute poverty in particular. It comments on the different types of explanation put forward by researchers to account for the incidence and persistence of this type of poverty and argues that governmental anti-poverty programmes must take more than economic factors into account if they are to be fully effective. There is discussion of existing governmental anti-poverty practices and of the latest proposals for reform. The paper concludes by offering further suggestions for the future in respect of both anti-poverty action and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the key decisions lobbies make are which political players to lobby, at what stage or stages to intervene in the policy process and which strategies and tactics to use. This paper addresses the lack of sources of knowledge beyond the United States for understanding these key decisions. It argues that the manner in which the design of legislative institutions establishes the balance of power between political parties and individual politicians has a significant influence on all three choices of the target of lobbying, the stage of the policymaking process in which to lobby and the strategies and tactics used by lobbies. Data to support the arguments are presented from a survey of groups in India and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of law, economics, and political science argue that collegiality matters. Considerable panel effects exist across jurisdictions, and judges compose panels strategically. In China, millions of cases are decided by collegial panels every year; however, little attention has been paid to the issue of collegiality. We offer one of the first empirical inquiries into collegial panels in China. Specifically, when and why do judges engage in collegiality? How does the presiding judge compose a judicial panel? What is the panel effect? Based on 23,564 cases decided by a local court in Beijing, China, from 2015 to 2017, we build a network of judges' collegial behaviors and examine the judges' strategy for panel composition and its potential impact. We argue for an external mechanism of panel effects and provide a strategic account of coalition‐building in a vulnerable environment. For mundane cases, Chinese judges tend to compose panels with junior judges. To some extent, such panels are their comfort zone. When facing complex cases, they tend to step out of their comfort zone and form panels with more capable judges. When doing so, they are also more inclined to make tough decisions, such as ruling against the government in administrative litigation cases and repeated players in civil cases, among others. The study sheds light on judicial politics in China and has the potential to expand our understanding of collective judicial decision‐making in transitional societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic interdependence between China and Pakistan increased in the post‐9/11 period due to various regional and international developments. The strategic partnership between the two states which was evolved in 1960s due to Indian factor has now been transformed especially in the post‐Cold period where new factors have been added in their relationship. Some of the factors identified in this study include enhancement of the strategic value of these states for each other especially closer collaboration in the defense and security, Cooperation in regional connectivity, cooperation in the regional organizations, mutual consensus on core political issues of Kashmir and Taiwan and China's support to Pakistan stance on the India's membership of Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). China‐Pakistan strategic cooperation has raised concerns in India which on its part is devising counter‐strategies. Although, the study is qualitative and based on content analysis, but at the same time it is empirical as it also explains the correlations between independent and dependent variable i.e China‐Pakistan strategic cooperation versus India's counter‐strategies. In this backdrop, the main argument of the study is that the strategic partnership between China and Pakistan is not just India centric but in the post‐Cold War period several other factors have been added and one of the prominent factor is the construction of CPEC. The study moreover finds out that these new developments in China‐Pakistan strategic partnership have implications for India due to India's unresolved border issues with both Pakistan and China. The study is significant in terms of its relevance to policy makers, politicians, academia, and think tanks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been a major power for far longer than is typically acknowledged in the West. This paper seeks to redress established discourse of China as a ‘rising’ power which now enjoys common usage within Western policy-making, academic and popular circles, particularly within the United States; China can more accurately be conceived of as a ‘recovering power’. A tendency by successive Washington administrations to view the world in realist terms has forced the label of ‘rising’ power onto China along with the negative connotations that inevitably follow. We should acknowledge the folly in utilising a theoretical approach largely devoid of any appreciation for the social and human dimensions of international relations as well as the importance of social discourse in the field. Finally, policy-makers in Washington must reconsider their realist stance and, with a fuller appreciation of world history, recognise that American hegemony was always destined to be short-lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the opportunities and challenges of Jie Gui, a Chinese term which means connecting the tracks, in the context of international gender politics. Examination of how Sinologists presented Chinese women in history; Implications of developments in Sinology on global and local feminist activism; Relationship of Chinese women with the Chinese Community Party (CCP); Discussion on the rhetoric of the CCP state and Western feminist/activist groups.

Prior to 1976, legislatures did not play a significant role in Chinese politics. In the last decade, however, efforts have been made to revamp the Chinese legislative system and strengthen its centerpiece, the National People's Congress (NPC). This paper assesses the evolving role of the NPC by analyzing the legislative reform debate of 1979-1982 and by evaluating the pattern of changes accepted and rejected. The analysis shows that four long- standing obstacles to legislative development (manipulated elections, large size, perfunctory plenary sessions, and weak committees) have yet to be fully overcome. However, reforms in personnel selection, procedures, and committee structure are enabling the NPC to play a larger consultative and rationalizing role in the political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intriguing phenomenon documented within political science research is the association between nation‐building programs and increased subnational intergroup conflicts. Based on data collected in Hong Kong, an epicenter of subnational conflicts in China, this article suggests that nation building may intensify the tension between subnational groups because it helps to spread the belief that groups have fixed inherent characteristics. Specifically, in the face of deep intergroup cultural and political differences, people who see their nation as a historically unified entity are more likely to believe that those differences are unchangeable and, in turn, develop negative attitudes toward other subnational groups. We support these arguments with a representative survey of the population and two laboratory experiments. In the first experiment, respondents who are exposed to narratives that emphasize the homogeneity of the Chinese nation report a higher level of fixed group perceptions than those who receive the opposite message. In the second experiment, respondents who are primed to believe that group characteristics are fixed report significantly more negative attitudes toward migrants from other parts of China. Our findings contribute conceptually to the study of nation building and shed new light on the formation of immigration attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is indisputable that China has been a major actor in climate change. This raises the question: of which lens is most appropriate to gain an understanding of the recent changes in China's domestic climate change policy? Although there is insufficient attention paid to political science accounts of central–local relations in climate governance, this article aims to contribute to the theoretical research on Chinese climate change policy by developing and applying a theoretical framework. Using this novel theoretical framework based on systems theory, this article analyses the complex allocation of power and incentives between the central and local governments. Methodologically, this research is based on expert interviews with relevant officials, negotiators, scholars, climate nongovernmental organizations, and emitter companies. Our analysis reveals that this evolution has been a nonlinear process that has been substantially influenced by central–local governmental interactions. Specifically, we find two trial‐and‐error processes in the evolution of China's climate change policy. We conclude with some reflections on the wider implications of this recentralization trend for the long‐term sustainability of China's climate change policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on China's growing engagement in facilitating the reconciliation process of Afghanistan. It is mentioned that the country has devised a conflict-management strategy that conforms to its non-intervention policy. The article also adds that the intervening in the domestic politics of other states to promote its own national economic interests and political influence without contravening its traditional principles.

Relationship between tourism and political socialisation has not been sufficiently studied as a topic of academic inquiry. Linking tourism to the process of political socialisation, this study analyses the influences and mechanisms of red tourism in China as an agent of political socialisation that serves the ruling party's intention to sustain its regime. Based on field studies in the Jinggangshan Scenic Area, we find that red tourism functions adequately as an authorised form of political socialisation. However, the effects of tourism as an agent of political socialisation are dependent on the discursive interactions among consumers, industry operators and the state. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has argued for the importance of state's administrative capacity for development. Disregard for the rule of law and failure to get corruption under control are seen as detrimental to economic and social development. The China paradox refers to the fact that in all commonly used measures of levels of corruption and the quality of government, China is a country that scores quite low. China also lacks the Weberian model of bureaucracy that is seen as central for development. It is argued that this paradox is the result of disregarding the existence of a different public administration model in China-the cadre organization. Instead of rule following, this organization is marked by high commitment to a specific policy doctrine. The argument is that while very different from Weberian bureaucracy, this organization is well suited for effectively implementing policies for economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observing the evolution of China's interaction with its international environment, Zhang Baijia argued that the advent of the Xinhai Revolution marked the beginning of China's participation in the modern interstate system. Becoming a more 'normal' player after seven decades of foreign aggressions and encroachments, China could hardly have been more aware of the realist rule that, in an anarchic international environment, security can never be taken for granted. The lesson regarding the price of weakness had lasting consequences for China, and, by the end of the century, China had become, in Thomas Christensen's words, 'the high church of realpolitik in the post- Cold War world.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of globalization on China's environmental activism by analyzing the development of Chinese environmental activism and assessing its links with the transnational environmental movement. It uses the case of Beijing to examine the characteristics, evolution, organizational development, and environmental identity of a green community. Two influential campaigns are presented and compared to illustrate the different movement repertoires employed, which are related to the extent that Chinese environmentalists are involved in the transnational environmental movement. The article concludes that Chinese environmental activists have been actively interacting with the transnational environmental movement, and this has influenced the identification of their issues of concern and the development of their strategies. However, Chinese involvement in the transnational environmental movement is still limited, owing to China's political conditions as well as the movement's early stage of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) of China. Although some of these SOEs have had considerable success integrating into world markets, their structural soundness and fundamental performance underpinnings are said to be questionable. Under Communist rule, essential sectors of China's economy are run by the government. It is noted that the SOEs do not represent free-market forces, but serve as proxies for direct public administration. Centralized control of the Chinese markets is said to be the primary function of SOEs.

The reform of agriculture in China is cited by scholars advocating economic growth through market reform. Such scholars argue that this aspect of reform has been characterized by the liberalization of markets for agricultural commodities, which spurred production, increased rural incomes, and reduced poverty. This view exaggerates the roles played by open markets and economic growth in that reform. This article argues that the role of the state in redistributing public assets, establishing institutions that supported markets, and designing and implementing poverty reduction policies also reduced poverty in China. I conclude that scholars, not just in China's case but also more generally, should examine the economic and political effects of various possible relationships between state and market. I offer this as one way forward in deepening our understanding of the role of politics and policy in promoting development and reducing poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese economic reforms have profoundly changed the scale at which things get done. Much of the existing literature on scale has concentrated on the politics of rescaling from above. Less has been written about rescaling initiatives from below, the focus of this study. It distinguishes three important localisms. Local capitalisms treats capitalism as subordinate to local social and political processes that provide crucial conditions of existence. Local citizenship sees processes of entitlement and exclusion as accomplished locally rather than through national frameworks. Translocality describes the ways in which claims are made on the loyalties of those possessing capital but residing elsewhere and the promotion of the place through image-building and physical/social infrastructural enhancements. These three distinct localisms overlap and interact in a variety of ways to shape a new social and spatial order in post-reform China. A detailed study of the practices of localism in the Dongguan city-region reveals the ways in which the emergence of capitalism has been dependent on pre-existing social connections and based on villages and townships. The entitlements of citizenship are polarized between the local hukou population and the migrant workers irrespective of the national definition of social safety net and regardless of the physical presence of the individuals. Résumé En Chine, les réformes économiques ont profondément modifié l'échelon auquel les choses se font. Les publications traitant de cet aspect se consacrent en général aux politiques de redimensionnement venues des instances supérieures, et abordent plus rarement les initiatives venues d'en bas, objets de cette étude. Cette dernière distingue trois localismes importants: les capitalismes locaux, le capitalisme apparaissant subordonné aux processus sociaux et politiques locaux qui déterminent les conditions d'existence; la citoyenneté locale pour qui les processus d'habilitation et d'exclusion s'effectuent au plan local et non en fonction de cadres nationaux; la translocalité qui décrit comment est sollicitée la loyauté de ceux qui possèdent le capital mais résident ailleurs, et comment des projets de création d'image et d'infrastructure matérielle ou sociale dynamisent la promotion du lieu. Ces trois localismes se chevauchent et interagissent diversement, façonnant un nouvel ordre social et spatial dans la Chine de l'après-réforme. Une étude détaillée du localisme pratiqué dans la ville de Dongguan fait apparaître les modalités d'un capitalisme émergent, dépendant des liens sociaux existants et basé sur des villages ou municipalités. L'accès à la citoyenneté définit un clivage entre la population locale ayant son hukou et les travailleurs migrants, indépendamment de la notion nationale de filet de protection sociale ou de la présence physique des individus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is intended to liberate the companies from bureaucratic control that hinders their management. Discussions of SOE reform, however, downplay the policy consequences. Can SOEs be “free” to succeed economically while some political control is maintained? Surprisingly, American experience with hybrid organizations—government-created companies that straddle the line between public and private—offers some precedent for managing the balance between political control and enterprise independence. Three strategies are derived for China. First, welfare functions must be stripped from SOEs and replaced by policy objectives compatible with commercial purposes. Second, reducing financial dependence on SOEs will remove a barrier to rational control. Third, and most importantly, a robust regulatory framework for control must be developed as a substitute for the weakened administrative linkages. The emerging control infrastructure rooted in state asset commissions is likely to prove ineffective for its blurring of ownership, administration, and regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a premise that life cultivation arts is a political practice in Beijing, China. Continuation of the transformation of sovereignty; Outline of a popular form of life which draws on biopolitical techniques; Application of the Aristotelian tradition of political thought.

This article investigates the role of political influence, as well as accounting tradition and the equity market, in China's recent changes in accounting regulation. We find that the Chinese government, in part self-motivated and in part under external pressure, has been active in developing accounting standards in harmony with international accounting standards. However, it has retained a uniform accounting system in the Enterprise Accounting System issued in 2000 to accommodate the special circumstances of a transforming government, strong state-ownership, a weak accounting profession, a weak and imperfect equity market, and the inertial effect of accounting tradition and cultural factors. This article also contributes to existing models of accounting system classification by illustrating the need for considering political influence as a factor that affects the rate of transition towards full implementation of international accounting standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the Mao era when educational development was entirely directed by the central government, there has been a strong trend to diversification and decentralization of education in the post-Mao period. This article, being set in this context, examines how the policy of decentralization has affected the governance modes of higher education in Mainland China. More specifically, the article focuses on three major aspects of education governance, namely, financing, provision and regulation in education, with special attention given to examining the changing relations between the state, local governments and other agents in education delivery. One very significant consequence of the change is that the public-good functions of education, of which the state has taken the primary role of a reliable guarantor, have diminished. Nonetheless, the state's role as a regulator and overall service coordinator has been strengthened rather than weakened under the policy of decentralization. These recent developments in China's higher education also reflect the global trend of decentralization in educational governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explains the phenomenon of political apathy in post-war Hong Kong and how the 1997 question affects the political landscape of the colony. Roots of political apathy in Hong Kong; S.K. Lau's model of a Minimally Integrated Social-Political System (MISPS) as an explanation of political apathy in Hong Kong; Response to elections as an indicator of apathy; Absence of a political party of the center.