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341. Cross-Strait Integration – A New Research Focus in the Taiwan Studies Field

Author:
Gunter Schubert
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Over the last couple of years, Taiwan studies has seen a remarkable institutionalization in Europe, most notably through the foundation of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS) in 2004, with its head- quarters at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS); and the establishment of the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan (ERCCT) in 2008, based at Tübingen's Eberhard Karls University. Whereas EATS has gradually gained momentum through its annual conferences, which assemble an increasing number of scholars from Europe and Taiwan, the ERCCT's initial efforts to promote graduate and postgraduate social science research on Taiwan and to offer a platform for European-Taiwanese academic cooperation and dialogue are most promising. This special issue of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs (JCCA) has been produced to tie in with these recent developments in the field of Taiwan studies and aims to become institutionalized as well. The publishers and the ERCCT intend to jointly produce a Taiwan edition of the JCCA at regular intervals to further strengthen European and international Taiwan studies. This will give scholars of Taiwan worldwide a useful and respected channel for presenting the results of their research which does not exist elsewhere. With EATS, the ERCCT, regular Taiwan special issues of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, and a new book series on contemporary Taiwan published by Routledge and edited by SOAS-based scholar Dafydd Fell, Europe has indeed taken a leading position in developing the Taiwan studies field.
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and Taiwan

342. A Modest Proposal for a Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development

Author:
Ya-chung Chang
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
In order to promote peaceful development in cross-Strait relations, this article proposes that both sides of the Taiwan Strait sign a “Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development” – a temporary agreement ( modus vivendi ) to determine political relations and future development across the Strait. Three major points should be included in this agreement: first, both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one “Whole China” and both sides have no intention to separate from this “Whole China”; furthermore, both sides pledge not to split the “Whole China”, but to work in unison to maintain the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the “Whole China”; second, both sides of the Taiwan Strait share constitutionally guaranteed equal relations, and normal relations across the Strait will develop on the basis of this constitutional equality; and third, both sides decide to establish communities in areas of common agreement in order to promote mutually cooperative relations.
Political Geography:
China and Taiwan

343. Commentary on "A Modest Proposal for a Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development"

Author:
Christopher R. Hughes
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This critique assesses Prof. Chang Ya-chung's draft basic agreement for cross-Strait relations by arguing that it overstates changes in Beijing's Taiwan policy, which is based on a strategy that has not seen substantial change since it was devised in the early 1990s to prevent the island's democratization leading to the exercise of self-determination. By over-estimating Taiwan's political, diplomatic, military, and economic vulnerability the proposal unnecessarily narrows down Taibei's options to the point where it has to accept Beijing's one-China principle. This merely closes off other options that Taiwan can just as readily pursue, such as continuing to develop cross-Strait relations through ad hoc solutions to practical problems or seeking more imaginative ways to create a durable modus vivendi with international support. Even more problematic is that a political framework for stability based on the principles of Chinese nationalism is unlikely to be acceptable for Taiwan's liberal- democratic politics and could thus amount to an unnecessary risk that would lead to a less durable cross-Strait status quo than that which has been maintained over the last two decades.
Political Geography:
China, Taiwan, and Beijing

344. Commentary on "A Modest Proposal for a Basic Agreement on Peaceful Cross-Strait Development"

Author:
Jean-Pierre Cabestan
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The main question that Chang Ya-chung's Modest Proposal triggers is whether a political and security agreement can realistically be reached today. The twelve agreements signed by Beijing and Taibei since 2008 should be saluted as conducive to constructing détente, non- military confidence-building measures and de facto government-to- government relations across the Strait. However, in the foreseeable future, is it realistic to ask for more? Actually, a temporary or long-term political agreement between Taibei and Beijing will not be reached if the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) refuse to formally recognize each other's separate existence and sovereignty in one way or another, at least tacitly, and if they do not agree to address security issues squarely with the assistance of the USA. Finally, no meaningful agreement can be re ached either if the PRC Chinese and certain segments of the Kuomin tang (KMT) (Guomindang) fail to recognize Taiwan's specific history or realize that the Taiwanese have been developing a distinct identity since 1949 and even more so since the island's democratization took place in the late 1980s.
Political Geography:
United States, China, Taiwan, and Beijing

345. Signs of Change? An Analysis of Taiwan's December 2009 Local Elections

Author:
Stefan Braig
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Under special circumstances created by a government decision to partly merge and upgrade six counties and county-level cities to special municipality status, local elections took place on December 5, 2009 in areas covering less than half of Taiwan's population. The results are generally seen as an important, though small, victory for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) (Guomindang), however, has remained in a stable position, while the DPP still has a long way to go towards a comeback.
Political Geography:
Taiwan

346. Politics of the Periphery: An Introduction to Subnational Authoritarianism and Democratization in Latin America

Author:
Edward L. Gibson
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Why feature the topic “subnational authoritarianism and democratization” in the Journal of Politics in Latin America ? Because despite widespread agreement that subnational jurisdictions in Latin America vary considerably in the democratic character of their politics, political scientists are still largely in the dark about how to conceptualize and measure this situation, and have scant knowledge about mechanisms that sustain and undermine it. This collection of articles makes major headway toward clearing our methodological and theoretical ignorance of these topics.
Political Geography:
Latin America

347. Too Many Resources or Too Few? What Drives International Conflicts?

Author:
Georg Strüver
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
International conflicts over natural resources are frequently cited as the most prominent threat to global peace in the decades ahead. However, this subject has not yet been adequately tackled in the academic literature. This paper contributes to filling the gap by, first, proposing a four-class typology of resource conflicts and by, second, testing these conflict types against data on fossil fuels and interstate conflicts derived from two major conflict datasets: the Militarized Interstate Dispute Dataset (1960–2001) and the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflicts Dataset (1960–2008). The findings, although preliminary, suggest that resource scarcity may play a less prominent role in the aggression of belligerent countries than is often assumed and that the existence of large oil deposits and high resource-rent incomes are better predictors of conflict involvement.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Oil, Armed Struggle, and Natural Resources

348. Representaciones de la violencia en la literatura centroamericana

Author:
Nadine Haas
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the representations of violence in Guatemalan and El Salvadoran lite-rature against the backdrop of persistently high levels of violence and crime following the civil wars in both countries. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach settled within cultural studies and uses two examples-De fronteras (2007) by Claudia Hernández and Días amarillos (2009) by Javier Payeras-to analyze the narrative strategies applied in the process of recounting violence. The results of the literary analysis enable the author to draw conclusions concerning the way in which both societies deal with urban post-war violence. The texts refer to the ubiquity of violence and the hopelessness of the situation, as well as to the responsibility of the mass media for reproducing violence and a general turning away from the public domain towards the private life.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, and War
Political Geography:
Latin America

349. Lessons to Be Learned: Political Party Research and Political Party Assistance

Author:
Gero Erdmann
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Generally speaking, the effects of international political party assistance are viewed negatively, or at least controversially. This study attributes some of the shortcomings of political party aid to the poor relationship between assistance providers and political science party research. They simply operate in different worlds. Party assistance lacks clear-cut concepts and strategies in practice, which makes it difficult to adequately evaluate it. At issue is its “standard method,” with its “transformative” intention to change the party organization of the assistance receivers. At the same time, the scholarship on political parties can provide only limited help to assistance providers due to its own conceptual and methodological restrictions, such as the Western European bias underlying its major concepts, the predominance of a functionalist approach, and the scant empirical research on political parties out-side of Europe and the US. Taking a cue from recent political party research, we could begin to question the overarching role of political parties in the transition and consolidation process of new democracies. Other research findings emphasize the coexistence of different types of party organizations, and the possibility of different organizational developments, which might all be consistent with consolidating democracy. All this suggests the necessity of abandoning the controversial aim of the “transformative impact” of political party aid.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

350. Assets, Shocks, and Poverty Traps in Rural Mozambique

Author:
Lena Giesbert and Kati Schindler
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Using a micro-level approach to poverty traps, this paper explores welfare dynamics among households in post-war rural Mozambique. Conceptually, the paper builds on an asset-based approach to poverty and tests empirically, with household panel data, for the existence of a poverty trap. Findings indicate that there is little differentiation in productive asset endowments over time and that rural households gravitate towards a single equilibrium, which is at a surprisingly low level. The analysis shows that shocks and household coping behavior help to explain the observed poverty dynamics. The single low-level equilibrium points to an overall development trap in the rural farm-based economy. This is attributed to the long-term impact of the civil war, which has consolidated unfavorable economic conditions in rural areas and limited new economic opportunities outside of the agricultural sector.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa