scholarly journals Glimpse at EU–China relationships since 2008

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Jelena Staburova ◽  
Una Aleksandra Bērziņa
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
Chinese Policy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Texts ◽  
The Eu

Abstract United Europe-China relations have a long history. For many years they have developed successfully, but not along a simple course. The main thesis of this article is that the year 2008, which is associated primarily with the onset of the financial crisis in Europe, became a watershed in the history of bilateral relations between EU and China. Over the past few years the agenda and the role of the actors, and also the content and format of discourse have changed dramatically. This article is devoted primarily to some aspects of the EU’s position in relation to China and, to a lesser extent, to the position of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Therefore the history of contacts between the two sides will be considered especially in the light of some EU publications, while China will be outside our primary area of focus. Unlike many studies on economic cooperation between EU and China, our paper will accentuate the political component of the relationship. We shall try to demonstrate that, beginning with 2008, Europe has been partly losing its status as the driving force in the EU-China dialogue. We will conclude by addressing the problem of adequate understanding of Chinese political texts, without which no political communication of Europe with China can be successful. A critical analysis of a recent document prepared by the EU eliminates some problematical points within the united Europe, which affect the effectiveness of its Chinese policy. Our method can be described as eclectic in the sense that it borrows arguments from a variety of political research techniques and terminologies (discourse analysis, historical institutionalism, engagement and stakeholder theories), as well as from sinological (by which we understand the analysis of Chinese texts in the cultural perspective) and historical approaches.

The Toolkit of Nationalist Populism in Contemporary Hungary: Symbols, Objects, and Modalities of Circulation

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542095081
Author(s):  
Virág Molnár
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Everyday Objects ◽  
The People ◽  
Consumer Markets ◽  
History Of ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Material Circulation

This article belongs to the special cluster, “National, European, Transnational: Far-right activism in the 20th and 21st centuries”, guest edited by Agnieszka Pasieka. Research on populism attributes great significance to mapping the distinctive discursive logic of populist reasoning (e.g., the trope of pitting corrupt elites against the people). This article aims to move beyond the primary focus on discursive structures to stress the role of symbols, objects, and different modalities of circulation in the political communication of populist ideas, using the case of Hungary. By tracing the history of one of the key symbols of nationalist populism—the image of “Greater Hungary”—from its emergence in the interwar period to its present-day use, the article shows how the meanings and material forms this symbol assumed in political communication that evolved under different political regimes. The analysis builds on extensive archival, ethnographic, and online data to highlight how the diversity of material forms and the conduits through which this image circulated have contributed to its endurance as a key political symbol. Symbols, like the Greater Hungary image, condense complex historical narratives into a powerful sign that can be easily objectified, reproduced, and diffused. Today’s differentiated consumer markets provide convenient conduits for this kind of material circulation. These symbols carry meaning in and of themselves as signs, and once they are turned into everyday objects, they facilitate the normalization of radical politics by increasing their salience and broad visibility.

SOVIET-CHINESE COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF SPORTS AFTER THE NORMALIZATION OF BILATERAL RELATIONS ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE IRKUTSK REGION

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-149
Author(s):  
A.V. Surzhko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Irkutsk Region ◽  
Ping Pong ◽  
Bilateral Cooperation ◽  
Sports Officials

The article examines the main aspects of Soviet-Chinese cooperation in the field of sports after the normalization of bilateral relations in the late 1980s — early 1990s. Sport was one of the factors that contributed to overcoming the consequences of the thirty-year split between the USSR and the PRC at the state, regional and informal levels. During this period, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China actively exchanged numerous sports delegations, adopting each other's successful experience in organizing and conducting competitions, as well as training athletes. In the USSR, Chinese national sports were popularized, primarily wushu and ping-pong. More traditional for the Soviet side was football, matches in which Soviet and Chinese athletes repeatedly played. Also, the article reveals some economic aspects of sports bilateral cooperation. A common thing for this period was the conclusion of various kinds of agreements and contracts at the interregional level, including those related to the sports component. The personal role of regional party functionaries, sports officials and athletes in the development of Soviet-Chinese relations is shown. There is a certain continuity between the perestroika period and the "golden age" of Soviet-Chinese cooperation in the 1950s. The experience of cooperation in sports gained at the end of perestroika had a beneficial effect on the development of Russian-Chinese relations in the 1990s. The study is carried out on the example of the Irkutsk region, which, due to objective reasons, has developed long-term and strong relations with a number of Chinese cities. The main source of the research was the Irkutsk regional periodicals.

scholarly journals The Theory of the Hun Origin in Contemporary Bulgaria

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1245-1258
Author(s):  
Evgenii A. Koloskov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Usable Past ◽  
The Eu

The article is devoted to the history of the formation and transformation of the theory of the Huns in contemporary Bulgaria through the prism of the political history of the country from the beginning of the debate about the origin of Bulgarians up to present day. The article examines how political reality impacted the processes of shaping scholarly and educational images, i.e. constructing a “convenient” usable past by the Bulgarian academic and non-academic circles. The main aspect in the study is related to the question of various interpretations of the ethnic origin of the Bulgars, the Huns and the role of the Slavic factor in the ethnogenesis of the contemporary Bulgarians. The milestones of the difficult history of Bulgaria and changes in political regimes have become the reasons for rejecting “Slavic” origin or, in some case, returning to it depending on external and internal circumstances. Today the Hun theory in all its variations and interpretations lies outside the professional scope of academic circles but is becoming the domain for various marginals. However, increasing activity of the right and the far-right in the politics of Europe capitalizing on the 2015 refugee crisis might return to the mainstream of official academic discourse the theory of the Hun The upcoming challenges of foreign policy (Euro-skepticism, ambitious projects outside the EU framework) and internal political issues (the question of national minorities) may also have a significant impact on this issue.

scholarly journals The role of museums in Russia’s and China’s cultural diplomacies

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 865-882
Author(s):  
Vladimir I. Fokin ◽  
Elena E. Elts
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
One Belt One Road ◽  
Cultural Exchanges ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The One ◽  
Revolutionary History

Russia and China have both shown increasing interest in the promotion their cultural achievements and have utilized culture as essential soft-power resource. Moreover, the concept of ‘soft power’ has gained popularity in Russia’s and China’s academic and political discourse. Russian-Chinese cultural cooperation is gaining momentum due to this exchange, and the scale and the depth of the cultural projects have expanded. At the moment, museums are involved in development of diplomatic relations, including within the framework of friendship societies, and through the development of the Russian-Chinese tourism. ‘Red tourism’ (it means visiting the monuments of the revolutionary history of Russia) in particular has expanded through the implementation of cultural seasons, Cross-Years of Culture, and the promotion of cultural exchanges of contemporary art. As shown in the case of Hermitage, Moscow Kremlin Museums, National Museum of China, Palace Museum ‘Gugong’ in Beijing, famous world museums have been carrying out the ambitious development programmes, scaling up their resource capacities, and since the beginning of the 21st century have begun to promote their brand. The article considers the potential for museums to participate in the development of bilateral relations, and in improving the foreign-policy image of both countries. The authors’ research reveals the features of museum diplomacy, areas of museums’ international activities that enhanced the efficiency of Russia’s and China’s soft power and identifies the common avenues for disseminating the neoliberal messages in museum sphere. Moreover, particular attention is paid by the authors’ to ‘soft power’ rankings and to lists of the most visited museums. Furthermore, new modalities of international museum cooperation are discussed by the authors, with a focus on areas of joint collaboration within the framework of SCO, BRICS, and the “One belt, one road” initiative. The authors conclude that there is a need to improve the legal framework for Russian-Chinese museum cooperation in response to the deepening interaction and transformation of the role of museums in both international and bilateral relations.

scholarly journals History of China's policy development in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the second half of the XX - the beginning of the XXI century

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (Extra-A) ◽  
pp. 39-45
Author(s):  
Ilina Radikovna Usmanova ◽  
Vitaly Anatolievich Epshteyn ◽  
Rustem Ravilevich Muhametzyanov ◽  
Aygul Irekovna Akhmetova
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Autonomous Region ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region ◽  
History Of Development ◽  
National Question ◽  
Chinese Policy ◽  
History Of

The article discusses the national policy of the People's Republic of China in relation to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Recently, the national question in the PRC has been raised again. Its relevance is due not only to the tragic events that took place in the XUAR, but also to the grandiose plans that were set by the PRC leadership on the eve of the upcoming anniversary of the country. Relations with many peoples that are part of the PRC have a long history of development. This article will discuss the history of the development of Chinese policy towards the Uighurs, who are the predominant ethnic group in the territory of the XUAR. Not only the prestige of the PRC in the international arena, but also the implementation of several economic projects depends on how this issue is resolved soon.    

scholarly journals The Role of Peace Process in Mitigating the Trust-Deficit in Pak-Afghan Bilateral Relations

2018 ◽  
Vol III (II) ◽  
pp. 421-438
Author(s):  
Huma Qayum ◽  
Nargis Zaman ◽  
Syed Ali Shah
Keyword(s):  
Peace Process ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Entire Region ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Dialogue Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
Table Talk ◽  
Diplomatic Relationship ◽  
The Way

The history of Pak-Afghan relations is dominated more by conflicts then by cooperation since emergence of Pakistan. In the ongoing pattern of peace process, it is proposed that Pakistan should pave the way to bring the Taliban on negotiation table for peace and stability in Afghanistan. The recent steps taken in the form of different Confidence Building Measures show flurry of diplomatic relationship in the emerging cordiality between the two countries. Diverse civil society groups of Pakistan are of the view that the drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan will ultimately create a power vacuum and plunge the country again into yet another civil war. Pakistan’s efforts to use its influence to bring the Taliban on table talk will smooth the way for peace, stability and prosperity of Afghanistan as well as security of the entire region. Keeping in view the geographical proximity of the two countries, Pakistan’s own vital interests are attached to peace and stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan took cognizance of this very fact and played highly constructive role in facilitating dialogue process in Afghanistan and improving bilateral ties of the two countries.

Diplomatic Salvation: Buddhist Exchanges and Sino-Japanese Rapprochement

2020 ◽  
pp. 187-203
Author(s):  
Lauren Richardson ◽  
Gregory Adam Scott
Keyword(s):  
Diplomatic History ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Sacred Sites ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Soka Gakkai ◽  
History Of ◽  
War Dead ◽  
Jodo Shinshu

Beginning in the ruins of Buddhist sacred sites in China, Richardson and Scott unearths the reconstruction of post-imperial Sino-Japanese relations through the history of Buddhist exchanges. Building on important new trends in the diplomatic history of early Cold War East Asia, Richardson and Scott move well beyond the focus on Japan-PRC economic relations to minkan religious networks which tied Japan and China throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In so doing this chapter sheds light on the central role of temple priests and religious groups such as Jōdō shinshū and Sōka gakkai, illustrating how Buddhism and religion were pragmatically deployed to bypass official obstacles to bilateral relations. Ultimately, this chapter deepens our understanding of how Buddhist religious and cultural heritages were mobilized to build trust and cooperation beyond the violence of imperial wars. In memorializing war dead, and in returning the remains of forced laborers, religious leaders played an important role in normalizing relations between Japan and the PRC.

China's Modern Economic History in Communist Chinese Historiography

1965 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 31-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Feuerwerker
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Classical Model ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Chinese Nationalism ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Chinese Historiography

It will be evident to a reader of historical works produced in the People's Republic of China that this article, in the choice of subject-matter and in its treatment, is decidedly influenced by the current domestic and foreign political “line” of the Communist Party and Government. This is a relative matter, not absolute, but I would suggest that the dominant “class viewpoint” of the first decade of the Peking régime which produced an anonymous history of dynasties without “feudal” emperors or bureaucrats, literature minus the landlord-scholar-official literatus and nameless peasant rebellions as the central matter of China's history, was to a degree correlated with the process of the internal consolidation of power which may more or less be said to have been accomplished with the completion of the collectivisation of agriculture. The more recent “historicist” trend, which while not rejecting entirely its predecessor concentrates on what may be “positively inherited” from the “feudal” past, represents a quickening of Chinese nationalism fanned to a red-hot intensity, one cannot resist the temptation to conjecture, by the increasingly severe quarrel with the Soviet Union. Soviet Russian commentary on recent Chinese historiography, for example, accuses the Chinese of the “introduction of dogmatic, anti-Marxist and openly nationalistic and racist views.” The Chinese, for their now relatively favourable view of the thirteenth-century Mongol conquests (which are seen as calamitous by the Russians and other Europeans), for their claim that Chinese “feudalism” is the classical model of this historical phenomenon, and because they exaggerate the role of Confucian ideas and their influence on Western philosophy, are roundly condemned by the Russians for “bourgeois nationalism.”

Debating the EU Constitution in France

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeliki Koukoutsaki-Monnier
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mediation Process ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Eu

This paper focuses on the argumentative approaches and the rhetorical strategies employed by political actors in France in favour of or against the EU Constitutional Treaty (TCE), as they appeared in four French daily newspapers, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération and Aujourd’hui en France (national edition of Le Parisien), before the 29th of May 2005 referendum. In a qualitative discourse analysis and with the aid of argumentation theories and political communication approaches, the study investigates how the European Union’s Constitution, identity and future were represented and discussed by French political actors through the media in their effort to obtain public adherence before the referendum. Inevitably, the role of the media and the mediation process in the construction and transcription of the political discourse is also discussed.

scholarly journals Boundary disputes: New approaches to the interaction between sport and politics in the postwar years

2021 ◽  
pp. 161189442110144
Author(s):  
Harm Kaal
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
Boundary Disputes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relevant Field ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Welfare State

Although often framed as politics ultimate ‘other’, it is hard to ignore that sport and the political are intimately connected. Historians, however, have up until now hardly reflected on the nature of this connection in the postwar years, on how the politicisation of sport has actually taken shape, and how actors and institutions have delineated, navigated, and crossed the boundaries between the two. This article tackles these questions through an analysis of three vectors of politicisation: political communication, struggles over the use of space, and governance and policy making. Based on a discussion of recent work at the intersection of political history, sport history, political science, geography, and communication studies, the article unearths the relationship between sport and personalised modes of political representation, explores the role of sport spaces as sites of community building and conflict, and the instrumentalisation of sport in policy schemes of the welfare state. It shows how policy schemes and governance arrangements drew sport into the orbit of the state; maps the various actors and institutions at the intersection of sport and politics, ranging from local residents’ groups to international non-governmental organisations; and highlights the gendered, exclusionary nature of new, popular forms of political communication through sport. All in all, the article makes the case for sport as a highly relevant field to engage with for those who are interested in the postwar history of political power, representation, communication, and governance.

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