This book examines the changing role of nationalism in China in the light of the immense political and economic changes there during the 1990s. It analyses recent debates between the nationalists (New Left) and liberals in China and examines the roles played by state-sponsored and populist nationalism in China's foreign relations with the West in general and the USA in particular. The issues of Taiwanese nationalism and Tibet and Xinjiang separatism are discussed, with a focus on the questions of the impact of globalisation on national integration or fragmentation and the relationship between democracy and national integration - should democracy precede national integration or could democracy be realised only after national integration, or are democracy and national integration mutually exclusive objectives? The book also examines the roles played by the People's Liberation Army and fiscal system in China in promoting Chinese nationalism and national integration.

Chinese nationalism is powered by a narrative of China's century of shame and humiliation in the hands of imperialist powers and calls for the Chinese government to redeem the past humiliations and take back all "lost territories." The continuing surge of Chinese nationalism in the early 21st century therefore has fed a roiling sense of anxiety in many political capitals about whether a virulent nationalism has emerged to make China’s rise anything but peaceful. This book addresses this anxiety by examining the domestic sources and foreign policy implications of Chinese nationalism in the early 21st century. It is divided into three parts. Part I is an overview of the scholarly debate about if the rise of Chinese nationalism has driven China’s foreign policy in a more irrational and inflexible direction in the first one and half decades of the 21st century. Part II analyzes the construction of Chinese nationalism by a variety of domestic forces, including the communist state, the angry youth (fen qing), liberal intellectuals, and ethnic groups. Part III explores whether Chinese nationalism is affirmative, assertive, or aggressive through the case studies of China’s maritime territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea, the border controversy over the ancient Koguryo with Korea, and the cross-Taiwan Strait relations. This book was based on articles published in the Journal of Contemporary China.

An exploration of the transformations of contemporary China, firmly grounded in both disciplinary and China-specific contexts.

This volume re-examines the notion of the East Asian peace, arguing that it requires updating for the current and near-future context of US-Chinese rivalry. The “East Asian peace” refers to the remarkable change in conflict levels in eastern Eurasia over the past 80 years or even the past 130 years or so. Prior to the late 1970s, East Asia was regarded as the most conflictual region on the planet. Although insurgencies have continued in places such as Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines, after the 1980s East and Southeast Asia became one of the world’s least conflictual regions. Geopolitics and economic development worked hand in hand to reduce conflict in the region and, in this respect, the East Asian peace has been a confluential peace. The general problem with a confluential peace is that the factors that shape it evolve over time, and the specific circumstances in question seem to be evolving in a different direction, with East Asia shaping up to be the most central locale of the contest between US and Chinese hegemony, both regionally and perhaps globally. This book argues that the idea of the East Asian peace now requires adjustment to the current and near-future context. The more general arguments presented here focus on alternative interpretations of how regional peace and order should be interpreted, while the more specific arguments involve interpretations of Chinese and other countries’ behavior in the context of the heightened rivalry between China and the United States. This book will be of much interest to students of East Asian politics, peace studies, foreign policy, and international relations.

With a particular focus on Chinese thought, this volume explores how, and under what conditions, so-called "non-Western" traditions of thought can structure generally applicable social and political theory. Reversing the usual comparison between "local" Chinese application and "universal" theory, the work demonstrates how Chinese experiences and ideas offer systematic insight into shared social and political dilemmas. Contributors discuss how medieval Chinese understandings of causal heterogeneity can relieve impasses within contemporary historiography, how current economic and social conditions in China respond proactively to the future configuration of world markets, and how hybrid modes of cross-cultural engagement offer new foundations for the enterprise of learning from cultural others. Each chapter works from Chinese perspectives to theorize the location of knowledge, its conditions of production, and the modes through which its content or adequacy is legitimated, challenged, and sustained. Rather than reproducing Eurocentric knowledge production in Chinese form, the mobilization of Chinese thought as a generally applicable body of theory actually breaks down clear boundaries between Chinese and non-Chinese thought.

This book introduces an innovative theoretical construct of geopsychology to navigate the complex dynamics of international politics in the 21st century. It explains how geopsychology is different from mainstream international relations theories in terms of primary actors, human behavior, spatial application, instruments, and key issues. It argues that peace and stability in the troubled parts of the world warrants an imperative need for understanding psychological dispositions of non-state actors and authoritarian regimes. In The Geopsychology Theory of International Relations in the 21st Century: Escaping the Ignorance Trap, B.M.Jain unfolds that neither a global hegemon nor a cohort of powers could weaken their resolve and break their morale, as proven in the cases of Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Korea. Importantly, the regional case studies —India and Pakistan in South Asia; North Korea and China in Northeast Asia; and the U.S. involvement in the Middle East — reveal howthe psyche and thought processes of national and regional actors have been the driving force in triggering interstate conflicts and civil wars. The book brilliantly illuminates how America became a conscious victim of the ignorance trap in Asia’s volatile regions. This must book offers easy solutions to complex conflicts to induce a peaceful change in world politics.

Populist Authoritarianism focuses on the Chinese Communist Party, which governs the world's largest population in a single-party authoritarian state. Wenfang Tang attempts to explain the seemingly contradictory trends of the increasing number of protests on the one hand, and the results of public opinion surveys that consistently show strong government support on the other hand. The book points to the continuity from the CCP's revolutionary experiences to its current governing style, even though China has changed in many ways on the surface in the post-Mao era. The book proposes a theoretical framework of Populist Authoritarianism with six key elements, including the Mass Line ideology, accumulation of social capital, public political activism and contentious politics, a hyper-responsive government, weak political and civil institutions, and a high level of regime trust. These traits of Populist Authoritarianism are supported by empirical evidence drawn from multiple public opinion surveys conducted from 1987 to 2015. Although the CCP currently enjoys strong public support, such a system is inherently vulnerable due to its institutional deficiency. Public opinion can swing violently due to policy failure and the up and down of a leader or an elite faction. The drastic change of public opinion cannot be filtered through political institutions such as elections and the rule of law, creating system-wide political earthquakes.

Presents contested perspectives on globalisation illustrated by the diverse experiences of selected economies of the Asia-Pacific as case studies. Country experiences, ranging from broad political economy perspectives to industry case studies, are discussed. Australian Islam from Griffith university.

"This book explains the fundamental contradiction in China's foreign policy: contrary to its claims, China does not consistently uphold the principle of state control in its international affairs. This inconsistency is shaping China's impact on the international order. This anthropological study of the foreign policymaking of the opaque Chinese party-state examines three case comparisons: the Responsibility to Protect, Hong Kong and the World Trade Organization. Based on in-depth interviews with party-state officials and an analysis of official documents, the book reveals the internal discussions, diverse set of interests, and dynamics and processes of a party-state in a state of constant transformation. The book demonstrates how competing sources of the Chinese Communist Party's domestic legitimacy combine with the complex and dynamic structure of the Chinese party-state, resulting in contradictory foreign policies. It demonstrates how both legitimization and the party-state structure constitute vulnerabilities of the party-state. Even though China struggles with these domestic vulnerabilities, this does not prevent it from projecting its power internationally or shaping the global order. The book argues that two sets of domestic vulnerabilities explain China's contradictory foreign policy and undermine its ability to project and promote a "China Model" as an alternative to the existing international order. China's contradictory foreign policy is likely to lead to a more particularistic, plural and fragmented international order"--

The Soviet dissolution had significant repercussions on Chinese politics, foreign policy, and other aspects. The book examines what Chinese scholars learned from the lessons of the Soviet demise and how they used that knowledge to legitimize communist one-party rule in China after the end of the Cold War.