Felling Jiang Zemin would cement Xi's power

Subject Elite politics in China. Significance Indications are emerging that President Xi Jinping may be preparing to eliminate the still-powerful retired President Jiang Zemin by prosecuting him for corruption. Impacts Economic and financial troubles will make demonstrations of success elsewhere all the more important, including anti-corruption efforts. Breaking Jiang's influence in the military could help Xi push through restructuring plans. Jiang is among China's best-known politicians internationally; publicly shaming him could hurt the image of the Party and the country.

Subject Elite politics in China. Significance President Xi Jinping marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of former Communist Party chairman Hu Yaobang last month with exactly the same public display that last year honoured the 110th anniversary of post-Mao China's paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping. Giving the two late leaders equivalent stature is striking because Hu, who was purged by Deng, was the closest the People's Republic of China has ever had to a liberal reformer and his death catalysed the protest movement that was violently crushed in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Impacts Consensus documents such as Plenum communiques give the most authoritative indications of ideological and policy direction. Policy under Xi is not uniformly authoritarian; liberalisation still looks likely in certain areas. Cautious foreign policy and economic liberalisation need not imply support for political openness.


Subject Elite politics in China. Significance The Communist Party's 'Sixth Plenum' meeting in October focused on how President Xi Jinping controls the party bureaucracy and how central government controls local government. Xi's appointment as 'core leader' suggests further shifts away from consensus-based cabinet governance towards a presidential style. Impacts Established party rules of leadership succession, which regulate factional conflict among hundreds of senior officials, will be corroded. Future leadership transitions may be contested by a larger and older group of officials. More intense politics may distract the party from the business of government. There is some evidence of dissonance in the party regarding these changes but this does not threaten Xi's position.


Significance He is Beijing's preferred candidate and appears to have a cordial relationship with President Xi Jinping. He takes the helm at a moment when relations with China are the tensest they have been in more than a decade. Impacts Chu will stick to the '1992 Consensus' that there is only one China. Chu will take a more cautious approach to cross-Strait cooperation than Taiwan's last Kuomintang president, Ma Ying-jeou (2008-16). The task of making the Kuomintang a ruling party again will probably require a more charismatic leader than Chu.


Significance The situation has highlighted several issues of concern around the influence of the Mexican military, the government’s reliance on it and the challenges Mexico and its security agencies face in trying to meet US demands while addressing domestic threats. Impacts Mexican militarisation was facilitated by Trump administration apathy on human rights; this will change under President Joe Biden. Increased US-bound migration, encouraged by Biden’s more humane rhetoric, will heighten the need for bilateral security cooperation. Future Mexican administrations will struggle to reverse the political influence the military has obtained.


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Significance Allegations about ‘terrorist’ and ‘communist’ leanings played a leading part in the polarising elections that brought new President Pedro Castillo to power. Impacts Sporadic armed attacks by SL remnants in the VRAEM area will persist. SL will remain a divisive influence within the left. The military will oppose attempts to bring SL within the compass of formal politics.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Ryan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reflexively reconsider the effects of the author’s pre-understandings, both academic and non-academic, on the subject matter and the research setting. The unforeseen implications of this disjuncture on our research practice and the expected deliverables are discussed.Design/methodology/approachThe paper engages in a critical, self-reflexive dialogue of a journey through a stimulating yet, uncomfortable piece of feminist, organizational ethnographic research drawing on the insights from the author's research diary.FindingsThe account presented in this paper describes the problematic nature of undertaking a collaborative, reciprocal research project in the distinctive and foreign cultural landscape of the military. The author shows the importance of delving into matters of positionality and preparedness for what might emerge, as a form of closure.Practical implicationsThe paper provides insights into the importance of sponsors to access “the field” and our obligation as researchers to produce written deliverables.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the emerging literature on the significance of reflexivity in feminist inspired organizational ethnographies in highly gendered settings such as the military.


Significance The deployment of the UK troops comes at a time when jihadists attacks are intensifying across the Sahel amid an escalating internecine conflict between the al-Qaida-affiliated Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Impacts Mali’s coup is likely to distract the military leadership away from its core mandate to improve national security. The G5 Sahel Joint Force may continue to struggle to curb jihadist cross-border operations. The deployment of UK troops underscores the still strong commitment of Western governments to improving the security situation in the Sahel.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Ruiz Moreno ◽  
María Isabel Roldán Bravo ◽  
Carlos García-Guiu ◽  
Luis M. Lozano ◽  
Natalio Extremera Pacheco ◽  
...  

PurposeThis paper aims to report the findings of a study examining the relationship between different leadership styles and engagement through the mediating role of proactive personality.Design/methodology/approachServant leadership, paradoxical leadership, authentic leadership, employee engagement and proactive personality were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of 348 military personnel in Spain. The questionnaire data were analyzed through SEM using EQS and bootstrapping analysis using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.FindingsThe results reveal that servant leadership style in officers partially impacts their cadets' engagement through proactive personality but that authentic and paradoxical leadership styles do not mediate the relationship. The authors also verify a direct relationship between proactive personality and engagement.Practical implicationsThe study implications advance the literature on leadership in emphasizing new leadership styles to increase proactive personality and engagement in the military context. This study verifies the importance of military leaders fostering servant leadership as an antecedent of proactive personality. Finally, the authors show that servant leadership partially impacts engagement through proactive personality.Originality/valueThis study explores the relationship among servant, paradoxical and authentic leadership styles, proactive personality, and engagement – relationships that have not been explored theoretically and tested empirically in the military context.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viviane de Oliveira Cubas ◽  
Frederico Castelo Branco ◽  
André Rodrigues de Oliveira ◽  
Fernanda Novaes Cruz

PurposeThe authors examine predictors of self-legitimacy for police officers belonging to the Military Police force of São Paulo (Brazil). Considering the variables mobilized by the literature on self-legitimacy, the authors seek to identify what explains the self-legitimacy of militarized police officers.Design/methodology/approachA survey was applied to 298 frontline police officers in the city of São Paulo, analyzing indicators separated into two groups: relationship dimension and organizational dimension. An ordinary least square model is used to test the “relationship” and “organizational” variables on police officers' self-legitimacy.FindingsEffectiveness is the strongest predictor for self-legitimacy. Organizational justice and distributive justice also present important effects, as the perception of citizens' attitudes toward police reinforces the conception of self-legitimacy as a dialogical construct, comprising here the public's expectations of police work as well as the police officers' perceptions that they are respected and considered important by the public.Originality/valueThere are no other studies on self-legitimacy related to Brazilian police officers or exploring these aspects among police officers submitted to a militarized structure. These results contribute to the ongoing debate on the militarization of police activities and their possible effects on police legitimacy.


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