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35131. Modern Taiwan Lecture Series: Taiwan's Feminist Movement

Author:
Ya-chen Chen, Myron L. Cohen, and Murray Rubinstein
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
Modern Taiwan Lecture Series: "Taiwan's Feminist Movement and the Changing Role of Women: A Literary Perspective." Featuring Professor Ya-chen Chen of Clark University. Introduced by Myron L. Cohen (Columbia University) and Murray Rubinstein (Baruch College) Recorded March 24, 2015. Presented by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University. Graciously supported by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York.
Topic:
Gender Issues, History, Social Movement, Domestic Politics, Feminism, and Anthropology
Political Geography:
Taiwan and Asia

35132. Modern Taiwan Lecture Series: Native Peoples of Taiwan in Present-day Society

Author:
Scott Simon, Myron L. Cohen, and Murray Rubinstein
Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
Modern Taiwan Lecture Series: "Native Peoples of Taiwan in Present-day Society." Featuring Professor Scott Simon of the University of Ottawa. Introduced by Myron L. Cohen (Columbia University) and Murray Rubinstein (Baruch College) Recorded April 14, 2015. Presented by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University. Graciously supported by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York.
Topic:
Demographics, Anthropology, and Indigenous
Political Geography:
Taiwan and Asia

35133. Growth Dynamics in South Africa: Key Macroeconomic Drivers and Policy Challenges

Author:
Themba Chirwa and Nicholas M. Odhiambo
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
In this paper we examine which key factors at the macroeconomic level are associated with the economic growth performance of the South African economy. These drivers have been identified by assessing the economic events that occurred during the period 1960-2013. During this period, the South African economy went through two economic and political systems: an apartheid system that covered the period 1948-1993; and a democratic system from 1994 to date. Regardless of the economic system implemented, we find the accumulation of physical capital, human capital development, international trade, real exchange rate growth, and inflation as the most significant macroeconomic drivers of economic growth in South Africa. We also find that the weak performance of the South African economy in recent years has been grossly affected by declining trends in the accumulation of capital stock, low quantities and quality of human capital, worsening balance of payments position, and real exchange rate instability.
Topic:
Development, Economic Growth, Macroeconomics, and Capital
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

35134. Changing Dynamics of Turkish Regional Policy: Resistance for Multilevel Governance?

Author:
Ali Onur Ozcelik
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
This article is concerned with the relationship between Europeanization and regionalization processes in Turkey in the post-Helsinki Era of 1999. By considering European regional policy and its related pre-accession financial incentives as the most useful and appropriate empirical lenses, it offers an analysis of the causes and mechanisms encouraging regionalization process in Turkey during the EU accession process. Through the analysis of official documents and of in-depth interviews with relevant actors in the EU and Turkey, findings suggest that while some of the changes are considered as direct effects of Europeanization, such as the creation of territorial system according to NUTS classification, other developments are invoked by indirect mechanisms of Europeanization, such as the creation of regional development agencies (RDAs) and their role in regional planning and allocation of national funds. More importantly, the findings illustrate that although the EU’s credibility has declined after 2005 and its regional policy, in the sense of the implementation of regional policies and management of structural funds, have shifted towards the more centralized model in the post-Lisbon era (for the 2007-2013 structural fund programme), developments in these areas in Turkey have gone to opposite directions, more accurately, through the more regionalized model. These changes not only reflect the pre-Lisbon practices of EU regional policy and structural funds underlining a spill-over effect resulting from the dissemination of EU practices and policies, but also contain the spices of Turkish administrative tradition.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Governance, European Union, Europeanization, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Asia

35135. Testing the Rentier State Theory: The Case of Azerbaijan

Author:
Alper Almaz
Publication Date:
07-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
This article shall focus on the political aspects of the resource curse theory, in particular the rentier state theory as a sub-theory of the resource curse. The rentier state is a political economy theory that seeks to account for state society relations in states that get most of their revenues, in the form of rents, from resource sector. Besides, the theory asserts that these rents have an effect on democracy, economic growth and security matters of the resource rich countries. Applying this theory to Azerbaijan shall contribute to Azerbaijan's political economy literature. In this paper, I argue that revenues generated from energy exports hinder democracy in Azerbaijan since they are used for fulfilling pockets of political elites and hampering emergence of any opposition to the dominant groups. In the very first part of the paper, the rentier state theory will be elaborated. More specifically, the concept of rentier state and how a rentier state behaves will be explained in detail so as to provide a framework for the case study of this paper. In the second part after giving a short brief about Azerbaijan's energy reserves and societal problems the rentier state theory will be applied to Azerbaijan in order to find out whether it suffers from the rentier state deficiencies. Indeed, the rentier effect and the repression effect of the theory will be analysed. In the final part, concluding remarks will be delivered with a laconic summary of the paper.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Democracy, Elites, and Rentier State Theory
Political Geography:
Europe, Asia, and Azerbaijan

35136. A successful alternative in the reformation of local self-government system in Ukraine

Author:
Galyna Dimlyevych
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Nowa Polityka Wschodnia
Institution:
Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Abstract:
I rrespective of, whether the Ukraine is presidential or parliamentary republic, whether the wide or narrow coalition is formed, whether parties are united or separated the standard of people’s life will not change essentially. The only and real way out of deep crisis is a fundamental reformation of the system of local self-government in Ukraine. Such a way out was offered by me as the deputy of Svyatoshynsky district in the city of Kyiv council (from 1998 to 2006) in the form of the Declaration about local selfgovernment, which was proclaimed on March 30, 2005 in conditions of the opposition against lawlessness and corruption in local authorities. In particular, I as the local MP took extreme measures in the framework of the law: speeches and protests at each Council meeting, organized pickets, for which authorities have repeatedly threatened and harassed me (there are supporting documents). Later I organized and even was the chairman of the local parliamentary group “Justice”. But after the official support of the group by almost a half of the members of the Council (its requests have been already signed by 25 of the 60 deputies) the authorities was seriously frightened and actively undertook by different ways (the infiltration of stooges, threats, intimidation, bribery, slander and provocation) to dissolve the group up to its illegal ban. And as the result of my hard years of struggle a document was: Declaration about local self-government. By the way, at one time, in 2005, many members of the district councils of Kyiv supported me, but they were afraid to sign a declaration drawn up an prepared by me. So I did not hesitate to have signed and declared it on my own behalf on March 30, 2005.
Topic:
Government, Governance, and Coalition
Political Geography:
Ukraine and Eastern Europe

35137. Recognition and propaganda of Kazakh history in press

Author:
Ilesken Albatyr
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Nowa Polityka Wschodnia
Institution:
Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Abstract:
The aim of the work is to investigate the cultural heritage of Turkic-speaking people. The key questions of the article: What are the history and theory of the Old Turkic script? What influence does the old ancient heritage provide on modern spiritual process?
Topic:
History, Ethnicity, Language, Propaganda, The Press, Heritage, and Turkic People
Political Geography:
Central Asia and Kazakhstan

35138. Axes of World Power in the 21st Century: An Analytical Proposal

Author:
Paulo Fagundes Visentini
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
The ranking of the hierarchy and grouping of World Powers is not based exclusively on material indicators such as economics, natural resources, territorial extension, population size and military resources. It is necessary to consider the stage in which the transformational process of the post-Cold War International System is, the position in which a power stands, and general and specific historical trends. The present article proposes a classification that identifies the existence of four axes of world power: 1) the Anglo-Saxon military-rentier; 2) the semi-sovereign industriallydeveloped; 3) the semi-peripheral industrially-emergent; and 4) the agrarian, mineral and demographic peripheral.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Military Strategy, and Hegemony
Political Geography:
Global Focus

35139. BRICS As a Transregional Advocacy Coalition

Author:
Roberta Rodrigues Marques de Silva and Eduardo Rodrigues Gomes
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
In this article, we aim to: (i) review the concepts adopted in the literature to explain the nature and behavior of the BRICS in international relations and (ii) present a new BRICS conceptualization proposal. From the first to the last Summit Conference, the BRICS explicitly advocates a multilateral world order through the inclusion of emerging countries in the base institutions of the Western order. For the elaboration of the article, we review the literature on BRICS, as well as the approach on regionalism proposed by Soderbaum to elaborate our conceptualization of the BRICS as an advocacy coalition.
Topic:
Development, Hegemony, Economic Growth, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and South America

35140. Eurasia Amidst The Spirit of Shanghai and A Community of Shared Future

Author:
Sunamis Fabelo Concepción
Publication Date:
01-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
The article is based on the analysis of the integrationist trends that have evolved in Central Asia between 1991 and 2015. It deals with how the historical reality of the Central Asian republics conditioned them to search for centers of reference to guide the construction of their political and economic systems. This situation caused these countries, since their independence, to begin to interact with important international relations players, with whom they built a series of interdependent relations that were tracing two integrationist conceptions that became trends: Western and Eurasian. The latter one is the one that has most advanced in the period studied, promoted by Russia and China with the implementation of important mechanisms of association, cooperation and consensus, among which the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union and the New Silk Road project. In this sense, the Chinese megaproject One Belt One Road is supported by a series of conceptual bases as a result of the progress and evolution of the Eurasian trend understood in its broader meaning.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Infrastructure, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and Silk Road
Political Geography:
China, Europe, and Asia