Asia/Pacific

Has the Chinese Communist Party transformed itself since 1978?

Steven Hawkes • Aug 28 2011 • Essays

The CCP remains committed to maintaining stability and improving its governing capacity to facilitate economic development, and it has done this by means of both ideological and institutional change. Whilst this has proven sufficient in maintaining its dominance, it remains to be seen whether it can adapt to the ensuing socio-economic consequences of its own reforms.

The 1989 Tiananmen Challenge

Miriam Dornan • Aug 25 2011 • Essays

The 1989 Tiananmen event presented the strongest challenge to the CCP’s monopoly of power. Although the CCP still hold dominance in Chinese politics, the influence of the media and the high number of participants and methods used by the protesters were all factors contributing the high level of reaction from CCP leaders.

The Labour Export Policy: A Case Study of the Philippines

Feina Cai • Aug 24 2011 • Essays

Migration has become a global phenomenon. It is growing rapidly both in scale and pace in accordance with the globalization process. The unprecedented growth of overseas contract workers is one of the most distinct new trends in international migration, among which, the Philippines constitutes a major force in the global labour market.

Who wanted to go to war over Korea in 1950?

Anna Costa • Aug 18 2011 • Essays

‘To want’ is a strong word. This essay argues that an unqualified desire for war can hardly be attributed to Stalin, Truman or Mao, albeit with differences in the way and degree to which this is true for them individually. A concise historiography of the Korean War is followed by a tripartite analysis of the motivations the characterized the three leaders’ decision-making in the crucial years and months leading to the Korean War.

Living in the shadows: lesbians in India

Sweta Madhuri Kannan • Aug 18 2011 • Essays

Lesbians in India are conspicuous by their lack of visibility in mainstream society. If one were to accept the Indian government’s stance concerning sexual minorities, lesbians would simply not exist. This report proposes explore the issue of ’lesbianism’ in contemporary India.

Enduring Rivalry? A Case Study of the Conflict in Kashmir

Anders Knut Brudevoll • Aug 17 2011 • Essays

This case study will start by presenting the origins and causes of the conflict in Kashmir. After presenting an assessment of the relative failure of attempted conflict resolution process, the study will look at the main obstacles of conflict resolution, emphasizing mutual nuclear capability and domestic constraints. In conclusion, it will draw on relevant theory to examine why conflict resolution is still on-going.

The Journey of Cultural Globalization in Korean Pop Music

Tom Dixon • Aug 17 2011 • Essays

Changes in the production and consumption of pop music have shown the Globalization of Culture in its most effective form. Changes in the Korean pop industry illustrate a process whereby ‘foreign’ pop music is internalized, adapted and then pushed back into the wider world as a new style of pop which has been culturally filtered.

India’s Nuclear Restraint and the Peaceful Nuclear Explosion

Tom Thornley • Aug 11 2011 • Essays

India’s nuclear trajectory does not match the realist logic that characterised many of the original nuclear powers. India has followed a uniquely Indian path towards nuclear development. By accepting the constructed-ness of foreign policy, it is possible to find explanations for India’s nuclear policy in the dominant understandings of Indian identity, science and modernity constructed primarily by Nehru.

Assessing the Success of Self-Reliance: North Korea’s Juche Ideology

Tom Dixon • Aug 7 2011 • Essays

The continued survival of the Kim regime at the head of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has been somewhat of a mystery to international scholars. The Juche ideology employed by the regime is at the heart of North Korea’s longevity and its success in providing continued internal legitimacy for the regime.

Social Policy in Post-Reform China

Luuk Molthof • Aug 4 2011 • Essays

This essay analyses the extent to which social policy reform in China contributed to the overall human well-being of the Chinese citizen. The analyses will focus on the social policy reforms in the two sectors of healthcare and housing. The analytical categories used for assessing human wellbeing are borrowed from the analytical framework used by Chak Kwan Chan and Graham Bowpitt.

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