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2. Nov 2012
Slaget om Kinas framtida ledarskap av Johan Lagerkvist
China, Elections, government, InFocus, politics
Med början den 8 november ska det kinesiska kommunistpartiet hålla sin 18:e nationella partikongress. En hel värld som har blivit samberoende med Kinas ekonomi kommer att påverkas av det förestående maktskiftet. Omgivningen svävar dock i ovisshet om den nya politbyråns sammansättning och framtida politik, i en atmosfär där datum för kongressen offentliggjordes först den 28 […]
Read more29. Oct 2012
Xi Jinping: My road into politics
China, government, InFocus, politics
An interview from 2000 with China’s Vice President Xi Jinping Translated into Western language for the first time At the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China to be held in November 2012, China’s Vice President Xi Jinping is expected to be elected as the new Secretary General of the party. In August 2000, […]
Read more15. Oct 2012
Mo Yan på tryggt avstånd från politiken av Johan Lagerkvist
China, culture, democracy, government, Human rights, InFocus, International relations, literature, politics
Svenska Akademiens beslut att 2012 års Nobelpris i litteratur går till den kinesiske författaren Mo Yan är ett val som får enorm uppmärksamhet i Kina. Det är svårt att överskatta Nobelprisernas betydelse i ett land och en kultur där dessa utmärkelser – i synnerhet de naturvetenskapliga – varit stora nyheter alltsedan reformpolitiken inleddes 1978. I en […]
Read more3. Oct 2012
What happened to political reform in the second term of China’s Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao administration?
China, democracy, government, InFocus, politics
In a recent blog-article by Deng Yuwen the outgoing leadership of Hu-Wen was given its score-card, titled “Ten grave problems”. Number ten was the problem of lack of political reform, after the original promising start. While we are waiting for the change of leadership to come in the 18.Party Congress in November, let us look […]
Read more2. Jul 2012
Tracing the local effects of the South China Sea Dispute by Edyta Roszko
China, InFocus, South China sea, Vietnam
The nineteenth century notion of the ‘sovereign state’ brought by Europeans found fertile ground in Asia as it sought a way to liberate itself from the yoke of colonialism. While nowadays Europe is inclined towards more inclusive and porous notions of sovereignty, many Asian countries (China, India and ASEAN) resist this trend by advancing procedures […]
Read more10. May 2012
What does the Bo Xilai scandal tell us about China’s political system?
China, democracy, government, InFocus, politics
A little more than a year ago, I offered an analysis on this blog of the likelihood that the color revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa would trigger a similar movement in China (http://infocus.asiaportal.info/2011/03/02/blogsin-focus2011marchare-flower-revolutions-middle-east-and-north-africa-endangering-stability/). One year later, the Chinese one-party regime is once more facing challenges, and once again it is a matter […]
Read more18. Jan 2012
China in Global Climate Change Politics
China, environment, InFocus, International relations, politics, renewable energy
One of the paradoxes that COP17 left us with to solve is that of how to really understand China as a global climate change player. China has become more and more sure of herself both politically and economically in any global setting. But when it comes to global climate change politics, we see a very […]
Read more12. Aug 2011
Political blogs in China: the case of Han Han by Jesper Schlæger, PhD Fellow Copenhagen University
China, InFocus
Introduction Blogs1 have become a way for people to express personal opinions online, and in China the “blogosphere” is turning into an arena for political debate. This stands in sharp contrast to the Chinese state media which, not surprisingly, usually present the officially acceptable version of social events. Self-censorship among journalists and editors is well-known, […]
Read more23. May 2011
Elections but no “flower revolution” in Laos
China, democracy, development, environment, government, green energy, InFocus, Laos, politics, renewable energy
By Kristina Jönsson Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Lund University. Elections tend to receive a lot of media attention these days—Laos being an obvious exception. Still, in recent months two elections have taken place in Laos, one to the National Assembly (NA) and one to the Party Congress. Even if they by nature do […]
Read more2. Mar 2011
Are the “flower revolutions” in the Middle East and North Africa endangering stability in China? by Christian Göbel
China, democracy, InFocus
These are fascinating
times, as the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East might well be the
beginning of a “Fourth Wave” of Democracy. The late political scientist Samuel
Huntington once likened clustered incidences of democratizations to “waves”. After
the apparent ebbing out of the “Third Wave”, which between 1974 and the early
1990s swept over Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe, the
time might have come for another democratic push. As a political scientist
studying stability and instability of authoritarian regimes, I am extremely