Global Economic Power Research Articles

Evolutionary investment network and the emerging energy power in Central Asia: From the perspective of cross-border mergers and acquisitions

Central Asia is emerging as an important pole of global economic and political power, thanks to its unique location at the heart of Eurasia and its abundance in energy reserves. This study explores the social power change in Central Asia from the perspective of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by using the social network method. The main results are as follows: (1) The complexity of the energy M&A network has significantly decreased after the financial crisis in 2008. In the meantime, energy M&A became an important way to enhance energy power for buyer countries. Betweenness centrality is becoming the most significant factor affecting energy power, yet the effect of out-degree is weakening. (2) The community underwent multifaceted restructuring, which reflected the shift of energy power in Central Asia. Kazakhstan is the most powerful country in the energy sector in Central Asia. In addition, East Asian countries/regions, represented by China, are actively enhancing their energy power. (3) Different M&A modes reflect various M&A motivations of countries in the energy sector. In the future, more efforts should be made to promote the establishment of a pragmatic and efficient multilateral energy cooperation mechanism and strength the cooperation of the economy and energy finance when China participates in the energy market in Central Asia.

REFLECTIONS OF THE BELT AND ROAD INITATIVE TO THE POST-PANDEMIC NEW WORLD ORDER IN THE CONTEXT OF ANDRE GUNDER FRANK’S “REORIENT”

Andre Gunder Frank tarafından ortaya koyulan “Yeniden Doğu” tezi, 1400-1800 yılları arası dönemde Avrupa-merkezci tarih anlayışıyla yazılan ve Batı’nın Doğu’dan üstün olduğunu ifade eden görüşün aksine; söz konusu dönemde Çin merkezli Asya ekonomisinin Batı’dan üstün olduğu üzerine kuruludur. Frank’a göre Batı’nın 18. yüzyıl sonlarında kurduğu üstünlük geçici olup, 20. yüzyılın ortalarından itibaren Çin merkezli Asya ekonomileri, yeniden canlanarak dünya sisteminde etkin olacaklardır. Çin’in 1970 sonrası dışa açılarak küresel ekonomide yer edinmeye yönelik adımları ve bunun bir sonucu olarak küresel yatırımları teşvik edici politikaları, Çin’in kalkınmasına ve özellikle Soğuk Savaş sonrası oluşan düzende küresel bir ekonomik güç olmasına olanak sağlamıştır. Ayrıca 1970 sonrası ABD hegemonyasının krize girmesi, iki bloklu dünya sisteminin dağılması ve ABD’nin dış politikada uyguladığı sert güç, küresel sermayenin Çin özelinde Asya’da yaygınlaşması ve 21. Yüzyılda Çin’in hegemonik güç olmasını olumlu etkilemiştir. Bu çalışma Frank tarafından ileri sürülen Yeniden Doğu adlı tezin, küresel gelişmeler çerçevesinde yeniden değerlendirilmesini amaçlamaktadır. Çalışma kapsamında Çin’in küresel ekonomideki konumu açıklanacak ve dünyada barışı simgelediğini iddia eden önemli yaklaşımlardan biri olan Tek Kuşak Tek Yol Projesi çalışma kapsamında analiz edilecektir. Covid-19 sonrası yeni dünya sisteminde Frank’ın Yeniden Doğu tezi ile Çin’in dünyaya barış olarak iddia ettiği Tek Kuşak ve Tek Yol Projesi çalışma kapsamında değerlendirilecektir.

A Man, Who Never Stopped Dreaming of Humane India: Swami Agnivesh

We share two observations based on what we have seen in India. First, that the hegemonic politics in India ushered in institutional and structural inequalities in their wake and second, that the political leadership continued to be aspirational irrespective of ideologies desiring to scale up in the hierarchy of global economic and political power. These two observations pertain to the contemporary history of five decades of development in India. As a result of the above two observations, we make a further two observations that for the Aām Aādmi (the common man), the political parties that sit in the government and their respective ideologies do not matter. And for the state and the political elites, the negative consequences such as marginalisation, exclusion and desperation of the common folks that emanate from the models chosen for development do not matter. It is in such contexts, social activists argue for a legitimate space for the vying intersects of poverty, caste, class, occupations, habitats amidst such motivated globalisation. They also continue to raise difficult conversations around patriarchy, religious hierarchy, bonded labour, and the girl child. One such social activist that was concerned about all the above issues was Swami Agnivesh. He was not antigovernment, anti-democracy, anti-institutional, anti-hierarchy, anti-religious. He sought to restore a new and deeper meaning of freedom (democracy), a new meaning of hierarchy, social care, and even a new definition of spirituality that is social. He was a man who never stopped dreaming of humanising India. In this article, we reminisce about our association with Swami Agnivesh and attempt to espouse his thought based on our hearing, reading, and reflection. Briefly, we present his life, achievements, and social activism, and more importantly, we attempt to interpret his conception of social spirituality and the ‘power of love’.

Neo-Liberal Business-As-Usual or Post-Surveillance Capitalism With European Characteristics? The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation in a Multi-Polar Internet

Since the Global Financial Crisis from 2008/2009 and the decade which followed it, the tenets of neoclassical economic theory and its application through neo-liberalism have been questioned in western economies including the European Union (EU). The Snowden revelations of US-driven global digital surveillance prompted law and policy changes in various jurisdictions including the EU to counter privacy infringements by both state and corporate actors. This all takes place against a backdrop of an increasingly multi-polar world, including in matters of Internet governance, where the US’s hegemony is weakened and the EU and BRICS emerge as powerful actors, including in the Internet sphere. One highly prominent event in the last ten years thrusting the EU into global prominence is its data protection legislation update, with the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), widely believed to be the international ‘gold standard’ in privacy and data protection standards, holding actors in the digital economy to account for their (ab)use of personal data and empowering users thereby seemingly placing some limitations on unfettered digital capitalism and surveillance. Can the GDPR developments be understood as an attempt by the EU to forge a different political economy of digital technology to neo-liberal capitalism whereby large companies are constrained in their actions and EU citizens’ rights upheld? Or can these developments be seen through another lens, that of varieties of capitalism, whereby the European Union, in the context of growing geopolitical multi-polarity, is leveraging its large and attractive market and the ‘Brussels Effect’ to become a ‘regulatory superpower’ after having lost the tech superpower battle to the US and China? The GDPR exposes the nature of contemporary EU internet regulation as a contested and hybrid site, containing both capitalist impulses and overtures to protect aspects of individuals’ privacy and data protection. This latter aspect of protecting privacy and data protection is diminished to the extent that the GDPR facilitates much data gathering and use, and seems to have the effect in practice of consolidating US tech giant Google’s corporate power. Thus, the GDPR seems more an example of EU regulatory capitalism, ‘constraining and encouraging the spread of neo-liberal norms’, rather than an attempt to move to digital post-capitalism. Nevertheless, the external-reaching aspects of the GDPR make it an example of the ‘Brussels effect’ and contribute to shoring up the EU’s regulatory power in a multi-polar Internet by proactively setting de facto standards. In this way, the EU ‘remains relevant as a global economic power’ through its regulation, rather than through its technological innovation like the US and China. The GDPR’s aspects which promote human rights and social goals may also give rise to more privacy protective innovation, albeit innovation which may come from non-EU Big Tech companies.

Constitutionality in Draft of Omnibus Law in Pancasila Perspective

President Jokowi, in his second leadership, has two major programs. The first is to maintain Pancasila state and to accelerate national development. His second program concerns simplification of domestic regulation that relates with economy through Omnibus Law as a reaction to global economic power shift.The problem is whether the implementation of the Indonesia state legal system can accept Omnibus Law model or not when it is viewed from constitutional perspective or from legislation hierarchy in Indonesia (taking into account constitutional requirements, meaning that it is not contradictive with the 1945 constitution). In the preamble of Omnibus Law draft, article 5 and article 20 the 1945 constitution are mentioned. As formal requirements, both articles provide enough space. It is mentioned in article 5 paragraph 1 that President has the right to propose a law. Furthermore, in article 20 paragraph 2 and 3, it is stated that all bill drafts have to be discussed with House of Representatives, including Omnibus Law. Without mutual consent bill draft cannot be proposed again in the council court in that period. In Indonesia, the technique of legislation drafting is employs the act number 15 year 2019, as the legal basis, that concerns the change over the act number 12 year 2011. Besides that, there is Presidential decree number 87 year 2014 as direct derivative of article 5 paragraph 1, article 20, and article 22 of 1945 constitution. The government does not mention the act number 15 year 2019, act number 12 year 2011 or Presidential decree number 7 year 2014 in the preamble of Omnibus Law proposed. Article 5 and article 20 do not clearly explain the limitation of the kind of act that can be proposed by President. If it is seen through historical aspect of drafting of amendments to the 1945 Constitution, during its session, the People's Consultative Assembly never once discussed the Omnibus Law. Therefore, the spirit of post amendments of article 5 and article 20 the 1945 constitution does not come from the possibility that someday Omnibus Law will be adopted into our acts. The point is drafting bills that is not contradictive with economic and social development goals has to be a priority.

Structural Power, Hegemony, and State Capitalism: Limits to China’s Global Economic Power

A comparative historical perspective shows how globalization and the specificities of China’s rapid growth era limit its hegemonic potential in the twenty-first century global economy. Although state capitalism and openness to foreign capital facilitated China’s economic transformation, interactions among three forms of capital—state, private, and foreign—have produced developmental dynamics that constrain China’s capacity to assume the position of the world’s economic hegemon. These include (1) the compromised competitiveness of China’s corporate sector due to the domination of state-owned enterprises, (2) limits on the ability of Chinese firms to develop leading transnational corporations, and (3) early openness to and continued dependence on foreign capital. Moreover, the party-state’s efforts to ameliorate these constraints arouse external suspicion rather than support a Chinese-led hegemonic order based on consent and shared interests. These historically conditioned realities should temper expectations that China is converging teleologically toward a familiar hegemonic role in the international economy.

Normative collusion in the industry ecosystem: Explaining women’s career pathways and outcomes in investment management

Women are chronically under-represented in investment management, an industry that wields substantial global economic power. This article examines the sources of women’s under-representation, marginalization, and lack of progression within this crucial industry. We demonstrate that norms and practices generated within the industry ecosystem – comprised of industry-specific structures, actors, and interactions – collude to restrict women’s ability to engage with and progress through investment management careers, a process we label normative collusion. Where existing theories have focused on the institutional, organizational, and individual factors that influence women’s career choices and trajectories, our findings demonstrate how industry-level norms and practices can bind organizations to particular modes of operating. To fully understand women’s career pathways and outcomes, particularly at key stages of the life course, we assert that industry-level influences should be incorporated into theoretical models. Foregrounding how normative collusion occurs in the industry ecosystem is an important step, we argue, in understanding women’s career disadvantage, and in designing strategies for change.

Indo-Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges for India

Emergence of Indo-Pacific is a strategic reality of this century as global economic power is shifting from West to the East. Chinese extremist policy across the Indian and Pacific Oceans breaks the security arrangement established after end of cold war. India’s role is considered crucial by countries like United States, Japan, Australia and ASEAN. Indian engagement in this area represents a shift in strategy—realizing expanding threats from its continental border to its maritime space. In recent years, diplomatic relation between India and China have centered on power play, there is a competition for resources and regional influence. China has exercised strategic and diplomatic tools to oppose India on many issues including APEC, NSG and India’s claims for permanent seat in UN Security Council. India is trying to develop an extraordinary naval capability for operating in the Indo-Pacific and, similarly, China is also doing the same and it is likely that the Indo-Pacific environment will be the test of the capability for co-existence or clash between the two. United States has shown interest for India to balance China’s rise and the stagnation for Japan to establish a stable regional balance of power. China is more dominant other than United States in this area and will try to take control over Taiwan and South China Sea. China will also continue to disturb the political systems of countries in the Indo-Pacific specifically. United States is having more human potential as compared with others having in the world and having world’s best technological advancement, but the best asset in the Indo-Pacific region is its democratic allies with Japan, South Korea and Australia are having a structural development in diplomatic relations since last 15 years, which will help India to rise in this area. Both are having a commitment towards the democratic features and rule of law. India is having a vision and inclusive approach towards Indo-Pacific, but it can only be taken seriously only if it is ready to provide security for the Indian Ocean in actual. India must deal with these challenges, building collective capacity, promoting cooperation within region through small and big associations like Indian Ocean Rim, Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC). This paper will raise the question of peace and stability in Indo-Pacific and try to find out what is the comprehensive security picture from Indian perspective and what strategies India should adopt to create a balance in Indo-Pacific. First part of the paper ‘Introduction’ will discuss desirability of India’s involvement in Indo- Pacific in changed political environment since post-cold war. In the second part of the paper, rise of QUAD, ASEAN Centrality and India’s bilateral and trilateral engagements in Indo-Pacific will be discussed. India aims at using this area as strategic interests, third part of the paper will discuss geo-political challenges for India under heading ‘China and India: Competing Friends or Rivals’. Conclusion is an effort to sum up how India can take Indo-Pacific region as an opportunity for completion of their National interest.

Retrospect and Prospect of Korea-Japan Economic Relations

The export restriction measures taken by the Japanese government in July 2019 cannot be interpreted as simply derived from the historical issues of Korea and Japan. Looking back on the Japan-China Senkaku Islands dispute that began in 2009, although there have always been historical and territorial disputes between Japan and China, this expanded to trade friction between the two when China emerged as a global economic power. Similarly, Japan’s Abe Cabinet launched a trade dispute against Korea when the U.S. Trump administration initiated a trade dispute against China as a pretext for “America First” policies.In response to Japan’s export restriction measures, the Korean government announced measures to strengthen the nation’s competitiveness in the materials, components, and equipment industries in August 2019, and expanded its scope of support to include the semi-conductor and bio industries in July 2020, under the goal of becoming a global factory for high-tech industries. The Korean government’s response suggests that it will be very difficult to resolve the current trade friction between Korea and Japan through diplomatic negotiations. After Japan’s export restriction measures, the Korean government made various diplomatic responses, such as suggesting alternative compensation for forced laborers in the Japanese colonial era, filing a lawsuit at the WTO, and withdrawal from the GSOMIA agreement, but in the mid- to long-term, it appears that lowering reliance on Japanese advanced technologies would be the “second-best” way out of these history issues.Nevertheless, in the coming August, the Korean and Japanese governments are facing diplomatic challenges to reach a smooth agreement on the issue of compulsory enforcement against Nippon Steel, the WTO lawsuit filed by Korea, and extension of the GSOMIA. The Japanese government has warned that further retaliation measures will be carried out if any compensation order for a Japanese company is actually executed. Looking back at the achievements of economic cooperation between Korea and Japan, and given that the COVID-19 pandemic is not looking to subside anytime soon, we must gather wisdom in a way that diplomatic conflicts between the two countries no longer disrupt interdependent economic relations.

How women have fared in the labour market with China's rise as a global economic power

AbstractUnder a centrally planned system, China made significant achievements in gender equality. Half a century later, China has joined the ranks of upper‐middle‐income countries, and decades of rapid growth have accompanied major structural changes in the economy. We assess the evolution of women's economic opportunities during the period, focusing on labour force participation, occupational segregation, leadership in business, and the gender wage gap, as well as informal sector employment and migration. We undertake a review of existing research and conduct new empirical analysis using a combination of data sources, including four waves of Chinese population census data through 2010, and province‐level migration data. We focus especially on migrant women, a group typically excluded from similar studies. Although investments in human capital have advanced prospects for better‐paid jobs for women, we find that rapid economic growth has not alleviated discrimination against women rooted in cultural and social norms and that the implementation of existing laws designed to protect and support women needs to improve.

Critical Race Theory and the Multicultural French Enlightenment

Critical Race Theory and the Multicultural French Enlightenment Christy Pichichero (bio) For specialists of the eighteenth century, teaching the history of race is a necessary dimension of our practice. We are experts of the age when the modern conception of race coalesced through (and in service of) enterprises of global economic and military power that were fueled by enslavement, colonization, exploitation, and genocide of peoples designated as other. Antiracist protests of 2020 have brought urgency to examining this history in our classrooms. Yet as I have written elsewhere, there remains extraordinary resistance to and controversy surrounding the concept of race and its study, especially in the French context.1 For scholar-pedagogues who take up the challenge of teaching race in the eighteenth century, it is essential to work together to share resources for building curricula, methods, courage, and creativity that will foster deep inquiry and learning for students and professors alike. It is in this spirit that I will discuss—though not prescribe—some of my own experiments in teaching race in the eighteenth-century French empire through the lenses of diversity, decolonization, multiculturalism, and Critical Race Theory (CRT). While certain scholars object to the use of CRT, deeming it an inapplicable or unwelcome American import into the study of French texts and cultural phenomena, I strongly disagree with this rigid appraisal. CRT not only attends to the historical period in question, but can illuminate structural forms of discrimination that are evident in artistic, social, economic, and political life in the first French empire. It is [End Page 137] my hope that sharing these approaches will serve as a point of departure that encourages others to tap into these resources as well as their own innovative minds to open up novel and productive avenues for teaching race in the eighteenth-century in the twenty-first century classroom. The notions and praxes of diversity and decolonization have become central frameworks for teaching race. The former embraces compositional and epistemic multiplicity by incorporating works from authors of different identities, geographies, and genres. In this regard, there is a wealth of sources in French and in translation with which to engage. Scholarship abounds on women authors, and collections of documents and articles regarding gender, homosexuality, Jewish history, and race in early modern France offer excellent sources for undergraduate and introductory graduate study.2 While we have not yet discovered an individual like Olaudah Equiano in the French imperial setting, a vast array of documents from Saint-Domingue—for example, political pamphlets written by free colored planter Julien Raymond in favor of free-colored rights and, of course, Toussaint Louverture's writings—lead to many productive discussions about race, politics, gender, and sexuality, in addition to colony-metropole dynamics in terms of laws, information, power, and economics. Assembling interdisciplinary reading lists that include and interrogate the power structures behind archival sources, many of which are available online, is critical for bringing minoritized voices and experiences into courses on the French Enlightenment. As these and related sources convey, the era of the first French empire and, specifically, the eighteenth century was not solely a period of nascent white supremacy and specious universalism based upon blind, tacit, or purposeful white (Christian, heterosexual, socially elite) male privilege. It was also a period in which issues of social difference and justice began to take shape and profound questions about society started to emerge. Can we all live together? Should we all live together? If so, how? In order to explore the implications of this diversity and burgeoning social awareness, I have turned to the idea of multiculturalism and developed a course on the multicultural French Enlightenment. Unsurprisingly, one must eschew a commodifying, superficial, or passive view of multiculturalism. Instead, I deploy the term as indicating an active process of seeking to understand and respond to perceived differences.3 Writers of the French Enlightenment and Atlantic Revolutions grappled with a number of geographies and social categories, including gender, social class, religion, race, and, to some extent, sexuality (as a set of practices, as opposed to an identity). If institutions of the Bourbon monarchy had little room or motivation regarding social change, the French and Haitian Revolutions offered opportunities...

Illiberal Governance and the Rise of China's Public Firms: An Oxymoron or China's Greatest Triumph?

The early 21st century will be remembered for its shift in global economic power dynamics. In the past two decades, the Chinese government has fostered the growth of many of the world’s most valuable firms, advanced complete integration of Chinese companies in global supply chains, and positioned its firms as key players in cross-border infrastructure and investment transactions. Perhaps even more striking is the speed of China’s capital market growth. It took merely three decades for China’s capital market to advance as the world’s second most meaningful market. Chinese firms—many of which are subject to an illiberal, political governance—are increasingly integrated with global financial markets, attracting domestic and foreign public investors. Neither state ownership and control, political influence, or weakly functioning legal institutions stand in the way of these firms’ access to capital. Such reality challenges law and development theories and notions of corporate governance best practices. This Article discusses the puzzling allure of Chinese public firms to external suppliers of capital while illuminating the functions of illiberal governance through the Chinese state’s and Communist Party capacities within firms. It argues that Chinese public firms were able to grow and expand, attracting external finance, not despite the function of “bad” corporate governance institutions but because of them. The Article shows how alongside its many obstructions, China’s illiberal governance system plays an important role in promoting market regularity, providing investors with the assurances necessary to secure the flow of external finance. Against the backdrop of the U.S.-China trade war and calls for economic decoupling, policymakers are trying to comprehend the various implications of China’s rising powers while considering appropriate regulatory and policy responses. Yet while aspects of trade, national security, and labor carry the headlines, corporate governance is largely missing from the discussion. Only now, as a result of escalating geopolitical wariness, Congress and the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) have extended efforts to grapple with corporate governance aspects as well. This Article supports such recent intentions. It examines the implications of China’s illiberal corporate governance for global investors and assesses recent policy developments while pointing to the potential fallacies of adhering to conventional notions of corporate ownership and control. * Please refer to the published Article for the final version.

The role of geomedia in building intercultural competence : A qualitative case study within the context of a student exchange program between Austria, Germany and China

Structured student exchange programs are known to foster intercultural competence (IC). We conceptualize IC as a construct that ranges from the individual level to the interactive cultural level, and we complement existing models of intercultural sensitivity and processes of introspection. Several factors may influence IC, such as mediatization, the ubiquity of geomedia, and global economic power shifts – in our case the rising global influence of China. In our long-term, qualitative case study on Austrian/German and Chinese exchange students, we consider geomediatization as a new socio-technological regime that influences processes of social, cultural and physical orientation. The results indicate that, at the level of student exchanges, IC is a process of self-reflection and self-development. Geomedia play a major role in this process: they promise to provide a certain authenticity of experience, and sense of independence and safety, promises that are thwarted by exchange students’ strong platform dependence and reliance on “the bubble”.

DINAMIKA KEBIJAKAN KETERLIBATAN INDONESIA DALAM KERJASAMA SELATAN-SELATAN (KSS) PERIODE 2004-2018

Indonesia is a middle-income country that is no longer only a foreign aid recipient but also a provider in South-South Cooperation (SSC). The shift in global economic power encourage Indonesia to continue enhancing relations with developing countries in SSC, but this cannot necessarily be done because of the factors that affect Indonesia's foreign policy, both from external and internal Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to describe the dynamics of Indonesian policy involving in the SSC in the period of 2004-2018. This study uses qualitative approach with data collection techniques through official government sites and literature studies from other sources. The results indicate that there are factors affecting the differences of foreign policy of each leader. External factors make the policy of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) emphasizes more on good relations with anyone, especially developed countries because SSC is not a top priority. Internal factors influencing President SBY's policy emphasize on increasing Indonesia's status in every field. While President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) policy regarding external factors emphasizes more on relations with developing countries because it’s one of the main priorities of his government. Internal factors make President Jokowi's policies focus more on resources utilization possessed by Indonesia.

Security for Enhancing Peace and Stability in Changing Context of Nepal

The world is facing new security challenges in 21st century that has forced global and national security actors to think differently. Unconventional security issues such as resource scarcity, climate change effects, livelihood insecurity, environmental insecurity, food and water insecurity, health insecurity, natural calamities and disasters, pandemic diseases, etc. are now integral part of security going beyond conventional security issue of protecting sovereignty and territory of the state. Further, Nepal has also specific geopolitical and geo-strategic issues and challenges emerged from the Sino-Indian dynamics. Global economic and strategic power is shifting from US to China and therefore China will be most influential in the world order in coming few decades. Similarly, India is also rapidly expanding its influence in global and regional sphere. Hence, small countries like Nepal will have both negative and potentially positive efforts (economically, politically, strategically) to deal in the changing global order (protecting national interests in a situation of aggressive approaches of old and emerging powers) in the context of China-India revelry. As Nepal is having rapid change in political and strategic sphere advancement of security sector is eminent. However, dealing with new security challenges requires enabling environment (favourable legal-regulatory provisions, supportive institutional arrangement, required resources, investing in capacity development especially in education and research, developing sound intelligence and integrating security policy with international relations, economic development and social services). Hence, it is essential to expand security discourse and engage citizen to develop ownership, strengthen the National Security Council, create enabling environment (developing relevant policy and strategies, promulgation of laws and development of rules and procedures, creating responsive institutional mechanisms, developing capabilities, making required resources available, parliamentary oversight and monitoring provisions, invest in security research and education) to address emerging new security challenges of the 21st century.

Cultivating Cosmopolitans: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in an Age of Instrumentalism

Families today are using culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP)—a social justice pedagogy that incorporates marginalized cultural practices into the classroom—to cultivate their children into future cosmopolitan professionals. Asian American, black, and Latinx families rationalize that CRP helps their children learn “a little bit of everything” and be “open minded.” Students find value in learning about cultures they consider different from their own and in learning Mandarin because of China’s emergence as a global economic power.

India-Iran Relations: Challenges and Opportunities

Besides geographic proximity, India and Iran share a historic relationship that has its mark even today. However, despite these historic ties, both India and Iran have not been able to take this relationship to the desired level. Although several factors account for this failure, the biggest being the prevailing hostility between the US and Iran. Throughout the Cold War era, both Tehran and Washington were close allies. However, this situation completely changed following the Iranian revolution and the 1979 hostage crisis. This sudden change between the US and Iran had an impact on Iran’s relationship with the rest of the world. Since India is aspiring to become a global economic power, it is imperative for India to ensure a continuous supply of energy resources. This necessity for energy resources has compelled India to maintain some level of cooperation with Iran despite the US pressure. Thus, New Delhi finds itself walking a tight rope balancing its relationship with energy-rich Iran and the world’s dominant power, the US. 

Emissions of halocarbons from India inferred through atmospheric measurements

Abstract. As the second most populous country and third fastest growing economy, India has emerged as a global economic power. As such, its emissions of greenhouse and ozone-depleting gases are of global significance. However, unlike neighbouring China, the Indian sub-continent is very poorly monitored by atmospheric measurement networks. India's halocarbon emissions, here defined as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and chlorocarbons, are not well-known. Previous measurements from the region have been obtained at observatories many hundreds of kilometres from source regions, or at high altitudes, limiting their value for the estimation of regional emission rates. Given the projected rapid growth in demand for refrigerants and solvents in India, emission estimates of these halocarbons are urgently needed to provide a benchmark against which future changes can be evaluated. In this study, we report atmospheric-measurement-derived halocarbon emissions from India. With the exception of dichloromethane, these top-down estimates are the first for India's halocarbons. Air samples were collected at low altitude during an aircraft campaign in June and July 2016, and emissions were derived from measurements of these samples using an inverse modelling framework. These results were evaluated to assess India's progress in phasing out ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol. India's combined CFC emissions are estimated to be 54 (27–86) Tg CO2 eq. yr−1 (5th and 95th confidence intervals are shown in parentheses). HCFC-22 emissions of 7.8 (6.0–9.9) Gg yr−1 are of similar magnitude to emissions of HFC-134a (8.2 (6.1–10.7) Gg yr−1). We estimate India's HFC-23 emissions to be 1.2 (0.9–1.5) Gg yr−1, and our results are consistent with resumed venting of HFC-23 by HCFC-22 manufacturers following the discontinuation of funding for abatement under the Clean Development Mechanism. We report small emissions of HFC-32 and HFC-143a and provide evidence to suggest that HFC-32 emissions were primarily due to fugitive emissions during manufacturing processes. A lack of significant correlation among HFC species and the small emissions derived for HFC-32 and HFC-143a indicate that in 2016, India's use of refrigerant blends R-410A, R-404A and R-507A was limited, despite extensive consumption elsewhere in the world. We also estimate emissions of the regulated chlorocarbons carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform from northern and central India to be 2.3 (1.5–3.4) and 0.07 (0.04–0.10) Gg yr−1 respectively. While the Montreal Protocol has been successful in reducing emissions of many ozone-depleting substances, growth in the global emission rates of the unregulated very short-lived substances poses an ongoing threat to the recovery of the ozone layer. Emissions of dichloromethane are found to be 96.5 (77.8–115.6) Gg yr−1, and our estimate suggests a 5-fold increase in emissions since the last estimate derived from atmospheric data in 2008. We estimate perchloroethene emissions from India and chloroform emissions from northern–central India to be 2.9 (2.5–3.3) and 32.2 (28.3–37.1) Gg yr−1 respectively. Given the rapid growth of India's economy and the likely increase in demand for halocarbons such as HFCs, the implementation of long-term atmospheric monitoring in the region is urgently required. Our results provide a benchmark against which future changes to India's halocarbon emissions may be evaluated.

Social work in the Pacific: The humble and unrefined views of a non-social worker

I once worked in a university where sociology and social work were part of the same department, which I headed. I observed how social work, more than most “disciplines,” was readily responsive, quickly adaptive and empowering with the potential to be readapted and aligned to suit different socio-cultural contexts. From the vantage point of a non-social worker, this makes it resilient and relevant in a fast-changing world where conflict, wealth accumulation and the creation of expanding subaltern classes take place simultaneously. As peripheral “participants” in the process of corporate, technological and cultural globalisation, Pacific Island countries (PICs), often see themselves increasingly subaltern in the global economic and political power game as manifested in increasing poverty, social dislocation, debt, crime and other social problems.A growing capacity for responsiveness, adaptation and empowerment requires a critical approach to understanding the complexities of social dynamics and impact on human wellbeing. Social work crosses the arbitrary boundaries between sociology, anthropology, psychology, development studies, conflict/peace studies, education and health and this trans-disciplinary approach makes it well positioned to address issues such as inequality, poverty, alienation and marginalisation which are common amongst subaltern groups, including those in the Pacific (Sherif & Sherif, 2017). Social work also has the potential to bridge the gap between theory and practice in what Marxian scholars refer to as “praxis” (Freenberg, 2014). Its strength is also in keeping human wellbeing as the central focus in its analysis.

The Legal Challenges and Legal Safeguards for the Belt and Road Initiative

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road, better known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is a development strategy proposed by China’s President Xi Jinping in 2013 that focuses on connectivity and cooperation between Eurasian countries. The reasons for initiating the Belt and Road include the trends of antiglobalization and global economic decline, the rise of China as a global economic power, and the rise of China as a global investor. In particular, the BRI can provide international public goods. The process of building the Belt and Road will face legal challenges, sovereignty and territorial integrity/maritime disputes, international trade and investment risks, the Sino-European market’s economic status, and overlapping and conflicting bilateral and multilateral treaties. The BRI needs a dispute settlement mechanism to solve the disputes among the Belt and Road countries. Facing legal challenges, we need to insist on the rule-based spirit and basic principles of international law; provide bilateral, multilateral, and treaty safeguard systems; support legal communication and cooperation; and strengthen the BRI’s legal capability.