The nomadic other: Ontological security and the Inner Asian steppe in historical East Asian international politics

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph MacKay
Keyword(s):  
Ming Dynasty ◽  
International Politics ◽  
World Order ◽  
Regional Politics ◽  
Ontological Security ◽  
Eurasian Steppe ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Deliberate Strategy

AbstractA growing literature in IR addresses the historical international politics of East Asia prior to Western influence. However, this literature has taken little note of the role of Eurasian steppe societies and empires in these dynamics. This article offers a corrective, showing that relations between China and the steppe played an important role in regional politics. I argue that Chinese elite conceptions of the steppe as other played an important role in maintaining China’s ontological security. Imperial Chinese elites pursued a deliberate strategy of ‘othering’ steppe societies, presenting them as China’s political-cultural opposite. Doing so both provided a source of stable identity to China and justified their exclusion from the Chinese ‘world order’. Empirically, I proceed in three sections. First, I consider Chinese identity building, framed in terms of ontological security, both under the founding Qin and Han dynasties, and under the later Ming dynasty. Second, I address recent historiography of the steppe, showing Chinese conceptions of it were inaccurate. Third, I address the long history of hybridity between the two regions.

Indian Labour and the Geographies of the Great War

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-42
Author(s):  
Radhika Singha
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
World Order ◽  
International Order ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
Global War ◽  
The Great War

This chapter assesses the key role of the non-combatant or follower ranks in the history of sub-imperial drives exerted across the land and sea frontiers of India. The reliance of the War Office upon combatant and non-combatant detachments from the Indian Army, used in combination with units of the British Army, left an imprint upon the first consolidated Indian Army Act of 1911. From 1914 the inter-regional contests of the Government of India for territory and influence, such as those running along the Arabian frontiers of the Ottoman empire, folded into global war. Nevertheless the despatch of an Indian Expeditionary Force to Europe in August 1914 disrupted raced imaginaries of the world order. The second less publicized exercise was the sending of Indian Labor Corps and of humble horse and mule drivers to France in 1917-18. The colour bar imposed by the Dominions on Indian settlers had begun to complicate the utilisation of Indian labor and Indian troops on behalf of empire. Over 1919-21, as global conflict segued back into imperial militarism, a strong critique emerged in India against the unilateral deployment of Indian troops and military labor, on fiscal grounds, in protest against their use to suppress political life in India and to condemn the international order which their use sustained.

The Role of Chinese Art in Influencing Thai Traditional Cupboard Furniture Designs

2014 ◽  
Vol 556-562 ◽  
pp. 6631-6637
Author(s):  
Somchai Seviset
Keyword(s):  
Ming Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Art ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
National Museum ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

China has had her relations with Thailand for many centuries since the Sukhothai Period (A.D. 1250-1438) including trade contact, diplomatic relations set forth as per an abundance of documentary evidences, architectural works, and artistic object with significant artistic evidences of a long history of Thai-China relations. In Ayutthaya Period (A.D.1350-1767) which was corresponding to China’s Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) there were Xi Yuan’s supporting written literature (A.D. 1565-1628). He was a Chinese historian who noted that China sent a large junk ship for trade to Ayutthaya fetching goods of silk, and chinaware from China for sale to Siam Court. Thai Traditional Cupboard Furniture in the past also had an interesting mix of Chinese art. Chinese artwork which appeared in the Thai Traditional Cupboard Furniture made from hardwood with surrounding decoration around it were created during the period of A.D. 18-19. From a number of Thai ancient cupboard furniture exhibited in the Phra Nakhon National Museum (the Largest National Museum in Bangkok Metropolis). This case study will explain the inspiration of Chinese art which the Thai craftsmen applied on the design to decorate the cupboard.

Russia’s China Policy: Growing Asymmetries and Hedging Options

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-550
Author(s):  
Igor Denisov ◽  
Alexander Lukin
Keyword(s):  
World Order ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
China Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Economic Partnership

Abstract This article examines the state and prospects of Russia’s policy toward China. We look at recent trends in the evolution of the world order, the history of Moscow-Beijing relations, and the changes in the balance of power between Russia and China to offer a forecast of Russia’s China policy in the near term. Special attention is paid to the role of the 2001 Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation. The authors conclude that, despite the Treaty’s significance, the international situation – and indeed the relative strengths of the two countries – have significantly changed over the past 20 years. The new conditions will inevitably compel Russia to adjust its policy toward China. Moscow, as always, will seek to develop its political and economic partnership with Beijing. However, it will likely move toward hedging against risks that excessive dependence on China could bring about.

Collective Victimhood as a Form of Adaptation

2020 ◽  
pp. 120-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Bilewicz ◽  
James Liu
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Response ◽  
World Order ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Government ◽  
Collective Victimhood ◽  
Global World ◽  
Representative Samples

This chapter posits that responses to collective victimization that are maladaptive at the intergroup level may be adaptive at the intragroup level. Specifically, the endorsement of conspiracy theories could be seen as an adaptive response in societies that were historically frequently victimized and at the receiving end of actual conspiracies. In such contexts, hypervigilance and mistrust may prevent future victimization. To test this role of history and macro influences more generally on collective victimhood and endorsement of conspiracy theories, the authors use data from nationally representative samples in countries that are at the center or periphery of the global world order (United Kingdom and Spain, Ukraine and Poland, respectively). In peripheral countries with a history of collective victimization, perceived collective victimhood was associated with endorsement of conspiracy theories and mistrust of the government. These relationships were not significant in central countries with a history of imperialism and domination.

The Global Bourgeoisie

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Motadel ◽  
Christof Dejung ◽  
Jürgen Osterhammel
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social History ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
World Order ◽  
Class Formation ◽  
Class Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bourgeois Culture ◽  
The Impact

While the nineteenth century has been described as the golden age of the European bourgeoisie, the emergence of the middle class and bourgeois culture was by no means exclusive to Europe. This book explores the rise of the middle classes around the world during the age of empire. The book compares middle-class formation in various regions, highlighting differences and similarities, and assesses the extent to which bourgeois growth was tied to the increasing exchange of ideas and goods. It indicates that the middle class was from its very beginning, even in Europe, the result of international connections and entanglements. Chapters are grouped into six thematic sections: the political history of middle-class formation, the impact of imperial rule on the colonial middle class, the role of capitalism, the influence of religion, the obstacles to the middle class beyond the Western and colonial world, and, lastly, reflections on the creation of bourgeois cultures and global social history. Placing the establishment of middle-class society into historical context, the book shows how the triumph or destabilization of bourgeois values can shape the liberal world order. The book changes the understanding of how an important social class came to be.

Nationalism, nations and the crisis of world order

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Cox
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New World ◽  
International Politics ◽  
World Order ◽  
New World Order ◽  
University College ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University

One hundred years ago, the first Department of International Politics was established at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, with the express purpose of seeking in Arnold Toynbee’s prophetic words (uttered many years later) – of breaking decisively with the ‘habit of nationalism’. As David Davies in the founding statement put it, by moving beyond ‘insular and vested prejudices … the shattered family of nations’ could be brought back together again and a new world order established. Yet as the history of the twentieth century showed – and the new century looks to be no nearer to realizing that original dream – nationalism has throughout continued to retain its power of mobilizing peoples and setting nation against nation. How and why this happened and with what consequences is the subject of this article.

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