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Asia Maior Vol. XXX / 2019

Asia in 2019: Escalating international tensions and authoritarian involution

Anno di pubblicazione: 2020
Asia Maior Vol. XXX / 2019

Chapters

Foreward. Asia in 2019: The escalation of the US-China contraposition, and the authoritarian involution of Asian societies

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf   No meaningful analysis of the continuing political and economic evolution of Asia can avoid focusing on the increasingly evident and increasingly dangerous contraposition between a declining superpower – the US – and a rising one – China. Also, the point must be stressed beyond any possible doubt […]

China 2019: Xi Jinping’s new era and the CPC’s agenda

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf In 2019, China’s domestic politics was characterized by Xi Jinping’s striking consolidation of power. This stabilization involved three important trends. First, institutional events organized through the course of the year were all aimed at fortify a political narrative envisioning Xi Jinping as the one and only leader able […]

Japan 2019: Inaugurating a new era?

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf The present chapter is the outcome of a joint research effort. The introduction and conclusion were co-authored, part 2 was written by Sebastian Maslow, and parts 3 and 4 were written by Giulio Pugliese. The authors wish to acknowledge the valuable feedback provided by Masashi Murano, Brad Glosserman, […]

Korean peninsula 2019: The year of missed opportunities

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Despite very high expectations for the Korean peninsula, the disappointing outcome of the summit between Kim Jong Un and Trump in Hanoi led to a progressive deterioration of the relations on the peninsula and also in the region. In South Korea, President Moon Jae-in had to struggle with […]

Taiwan 2019 and the 2020 elections: Tsai Ing-Wen’s Triumph

 Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Relevant terms and expressions are reported in English followed by a transcription in Chinese characters. Traditional characters are used for terms and statements drawn from Taiwanese sources, while simplified characters are used for terms and statements drawn from Chinese sources. Given the lack of a standardised system for […]

The Philippines 2018-2019: Authoritarian consolidation under Duterte

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Philippine democracy has crumbled under President Rodrigo Duterte. This article reviews the main political and economic developments in the country from 2018 to 2019. It argues that a process of authoritarian consolidation occurred during this period. This is not the result of a sudden breakdown or suppression of […]

Malaysia 2019: The politics of fear and umno’s renewed relevance

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf The Barisan Nasional (BN) opposition coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) won four out of five by-election contests in 2019. The relatively short time frame between BN’s by-election wins and its historic electoral defeat in May 2018 convinced UMNO’s leadership that its party recovery strategy […]

Myanmar 2019: «The Lady and the generals» redux?

 Available also in pdf – Download Pdf The author is grateful to the anonymous reviewers of the paper for their valuable comments. He would also like to express his gratitude to the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (Research Networking Grant AH/S00405X/1) for its support to research in Myanmar.   The year 2019 has been […]

India 2019: The general election and the new Modi wave

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf In the first part of 2019 India was shaken by two major political events. In February, a major terrorist strike hit Pulwama, in Jammu and Kashmir, which was followed by airstrikes by the Indian Air Force into Pakistani territory. This episode set the tone for the 2019 general […]

India 2019: Foreign policy dilemmas and their domestic roots

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf If the shifting balance of power and the triangular strategic competition between the US, China and Russia were not troubling enough, in 2019 Indian foreign policy had to also contend with the global ramifications of Narendra Modi’s polarising domestic politics. Dwindling power resources – both material and ideational […]

Nepal 2019: Attempts at mediation in domestic and foreign policies

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf The article outlines the key issues related to international relations, domestic politics and the economic situation of Nepal in 2019. In the first section, particular emphasis is given to Xi Jinping’s visit in October 2019. A separate paragraph is dedicated to the non-signature of the extradition treaty between […]

Pakistan 2019: The challenges of the first PTI government

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf The 2018 electoral success of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was based on its commitment to improve economic conditions in Pakistan and the lives of the less advantaged sections of society, and to combat the endemic corruption and cronyism of Pakistan’s political and institutional establishments. Once in power, […]

Kazakhstan 2018-2019: Change and continuity amid economic stagnation

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Stability has been Kazakhstan’s political mantra since the early years of independence from the Soviet Union. Despite an unexpected transition of power in early 2019, the outgoing president continued to play an important role in the institutional structure of the country. Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled for three decades […]

Reviews

Exploring the «underground» of China’s modernity: Coal, science, imperialism and State-making between the end of the Qing dynasty and the early ­Republic

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Shellen Xiao Wu, Empires of Coal: Fueling China’s Entry into the Modern World Order, 1860-1920, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2015. xii + 266 pp. (paperback) (ISBN: 978-0-8047-9284-4). The history of coal has seldom received the attention it deserves beyond the scholarly circle focused on the economic and industrial […]

«Children Of A Lesser God»: A narration Of Southern Chinese Minority Nationalities

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Guo Wu, Narrating Southern Chinese Minority Nationalities. Politics, Disciplines, and Public History, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, 229 pp. (ISBN 978-981-13-6021-3). The issue of national minorities – their classification, their recognition and the definition of their relationship with the central government – is one of the crucial issues of 20th-century […]

Rethinking Think Tanks in Contemporary China

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Silvia Menegazzi, Rethinking Think Tanks in Contemporary China, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, 207 pages (ISBN 978-3-319-57299-4). If you study the Chinese political system, whichever methodological perspective you adopt, you will inevitably come across two long-term crucial issues: one is the complex relation between the State, the Chinese Communist […]

Contested legacies of Chinese communism: Words, concepts and practices from Mao to Xi

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Christian Sorace, Ivan Franceschini, Nicholas Loubere (eds.), Afterlives of Chinese communism. Political concepts from Mao to Xi, Acton: ANU Press and Verso Books, 404 pages, (ISBN 9781788734769). Well before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the communist leadership was aware of the great importance of propaganda […]

The Italian effort to gain the Chinese market: Reconstructing the history of Italy-China trade relations

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Donatella Strangio, Italy-China Trade Relations: A Historical Perspective, Cham: Springer, 2020, 131 pp. (ISBN: 978-3-030-39083-9). The year 2020 marks an important landmark in relations between Italy and China. It’s the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which aligns with the Italy-China Year […]

Federalism in India: Questions about state capacity and national policy

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Louise Tillin, Indian Federalism, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019, 184 pp. (ISBN 978-0-19-949561-0). This is an indispensable introduction to the phenomenon of Indian federalism. The drafters of the constitution made no mention of federalism; in the tragic circumstances of partition they preferred an explicitly strong Union. But […]

A colonial monument de-constructed: Majeed on Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India

Available also in pdf – Download Pdf Javed Majeed, Nation and Region in Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India, London: Routledge, 2018, 230 pp., (ISBN 9780429439223). Javed Majeed, Colonialism and Knowledge in Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India, London: Routledge, 2018, 266 pp., (ISBN 9780429439230). Dubbed by its contemporaries «monumental», G.A. Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) […]