The Grand Strategy of China Towards Central Asia: An Assessment of Chinese New Regionalism Strategy and its Geopolitical Implications for US in the Post-9/11 Era

The main objective of this study is to investigate ‘why does China adopted the strategy of new regionalism, and is it looking for an era of US decline in the region in the post 9/11 era’? Both US and China have made noticeable diplomatic, foreign policy, and cultural advances in their appeal and influence in the region since the 9/11 era. In addition, the Chinese regional integration approach (SCO) with the Central Asian states and Russia and its implication for US geopolitical interest are closely analyzed in this paper. It is markedly considered that Beijing has adopted a couple of measures to undermine the US attention in the region, either in the form of a new regionalism policy (SCO), soft power, to the advanced multipolar system, to promote mutual and multifaceted dealings with its bordering countries. The results of this descriptive study indicate that the dynamic role of China has ultimately weakened the emerging role of the US in the region where Washington has already triggered and enhanced its bilateral relations with the Central Asian states. Moreover, this inclusive study examined China’s regionalism approach from distinguishing perspectives such as Economic assistance, oil diplomacy, and economic and political strategies in its rapid ascendance in world politics.

Rule of Law Today

Witnessing the actual Trump presidency, one searches for conceptual tools to document US decline. The World Justice Project (WJP) comes to mind, attempting to measure Rule of Law (RL) comparatively. The WJP presents interesting findings for 2017-2020. Canada ranks higher than USA. Venezuela is bottom 128 country. Rationale of rule of law?

Inevitable War, US Decline or Business as Usual? Narratives on China’s Ascension to Power Among American Academia

This article aims to analyse prevalent narratives on China’s rise among American academia. The attribution of a scholar to a given narrative depends on how their ideas and arguments resonate with three pivotal questions: 1) what is the current balance of power between the US and China?; 2) which variables and determinants have the greatest impact on the trajectory of Sino-American relations?; 3) what are the prospects of China’s rise?. The author identifies three core narratives: 1) pessimistic which acknowledges deteriorating position of the West and an­ticipation of a conflictual character of future relations between China and the US; 2) a balanced view that recognizes a relative decline of the US, but also assumes that China’s re-emergence has apparent limitations. Potential hegemonic war is both probable and avoidable either through deeper engagement or different forms of balancing; 3) an optimistic narrative which stresses internal and external barriers to China’s development that preclude its potential rise to global leadership or the preponderance of American power which is likely to endure in coming dec­ades. The Author adopts constructivist approach and employs methods of critical discourse analysis and categorization.

Biomarkers of outcomes in a randomized phase II trial of first-line paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and cisplatin (TIP) versus bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin (BEP) for intermediate- and poor-risk germ cell tumors (GCT).

4563 Background: We previously reported no difference in favorable response rate (FRR) or PFS for TIP vs BEP. Here we present results of a pre-planned analysis of biomarkers of outcome. Methods: HCG and AFP were drawn on days 1 and 15 of each cycle and rates of decline classified as satisfactory [S] or unsatisfactory [US] by MSK (Motzer JCO 2007) and GETUG (Fizazi Lancet Oncol 2014) methods. IHC for ERCC1, RAD51, PARP1, HER-2, and p-AKT was performed on pre-treatment tumor samples. An H-score (0 – 300) was calculated for each stain (H = stain intensity [0 – 3] x % positive cells [0-100]). H-score and marker decline category were correlated with FRR (PR + CR) and PFS. Patients (pts) who received disease-stabilizing chemotherapy were excluded from marker analyses. Results: Of 91 pts, 80 did not receive disease-stabilizing treatment with 79 having sufficient marker values for analysis by the MSK method and 75 by GETUG. By MSK, 49 had S decline vs 30 US; by GETUG, 34 S vs 41 US. FRR and PFS were improved for pts with S vs US decline by both methods and remained significant by the MSK method when stratified by IGCCCG group (Table). IHC (n=77) quality was adequate in 71 to 73 pts (varied by stain) and was positive (H >0) for PARP in 68/73, ERCC1 in 54/71, RAD51 in 54/73, p-AKT in 5/72, and HER2 in 4/72. Only PARP1 was associated with outcome with worse PFS for the lowest expression tertile (H < 180; p=0.013). Conclusions: PARP1 expression and tumor marker decline rates, particularly by MSK method, were significantly associated with outcome to initial chemotherapy in int/poor risk GCT. Future trials incorporating marker decline into treatment allocation and validating the prognostic effect of PARP1 expression are warranted. Clinical trial information: NCT01873326. [Table: see text]

25. US decline or primacy? A debate

This chapter presents two opposing views on the question of whether US power is in decline, and if so, what would be the best grand strategy that the United States need to pursue. According to Christopher Layne, the United States is now in inexorable decline and that this process of decline has been hastened by the pursuit of global primacy in the post-Cold War era. He also contends that primacy engenders balancing by other great powers as well as eroding America’s ‘soft power’ global consensual leadership. On the other hand, William Wohlforth and Steven Brooks insist that the United States remains the sole superpower in the world and that it faces comparatively weak systemic constraints on the global exercise of its power. The chapter considers issues of unipolarity and multipolarity, along with the implications of China’s rise as a great power status for US foreign policy and hegemony.

The Determinants of Cost/Profit Efficiency of Islamic Banks Before, During and After the Subprime Crisis Using SFA Approach

In this paper we estimate the determinants of cost and profit efficiency of Islamic banks using the stochastic frontier approach SFA. We use 62 Islamic banks in sixteen countries of the MENA and South-East Asia regions during the period 2004-2010. We compare the efficiency between Islamic banks during the subprime crisis phases. Moreover, we examine the variables specific to the banks which can explain the sources of inefficiency and those let us decline the scores of cost and profit efficiency on a specific number of variables (total assets, capital adequacy, profitability, credit risk, operational costs). Results reveal that, Islamic banks in our study are more efficient in the generation of the profits rather than in the control of the costs. Thus, only the total assets and the operational costs represent the determinants of cost efficiency of the Islamic banks. Finally, for the profit efficiency our results indicate that the Islamic banks with high equities and high ratio of profitability are efficient in terms of profit.