Contentious Politics in China: Authoritarian Resilience

Throughout the history, contentious politics have led to regime downfall or democratization of many countries. Today, China is faced with increasing numbers of contentions politics. However, Contentious politics in China does not result in regime change because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) manages protests by keeping it fragmented and small in scale. It achieves this primarily through structural and institutional means, but is willing, to resort to violent repression if a protest movement becomes too widespread. This paper is divided into four parts. First part is a backgrounder, giving stats to show that protests are frequent but small in scale. Second, I will argue that China’s weak institutions – labour union, media, and internet – preclude small-scale protests from becoming large, cohesive movements. Third, I will argue that the government in China is structured in such a way that grievances are pursued at the local level; therefore, regional protests are unlikely to become national movements. Finally, even if protest become large and target the central government, the CCP is capable of suppressing protests using military, and police, as a last resort

The Great Leap Famine and Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen, a Nobel Laureate argues, “in the terrible history of famines in the world, no substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a relatively free press.”[1] According to Sen, severe famine does not happen if a country is autonomous (independent), fair and accountable (democratic), and encourages free exchange of ideas (free press). Autonomous government has the power to allocate resources according to domestic concerns, and democratic government has duty to accommodate societal concerns guided by the rule of law. Relatively free press allows citizens to express their concerns freely and notifies government with challenges in society. The Great Leap Famine in China could also have been prevented if China at the time was independent, democratic, with a relatively free press, as Sen suggested. The Great Leap Famine was led by three key factors: Mao ignoring precautionary alarm suggested by the political elites; Mao silencing intellectuals from suggesting alternative agricultural-scientific theories; and top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was not informed about the villagers dying of famine. These could have been easily prevented under the Sen’s conditions because democratic institutionalization allows political elites to freely discuss policies, freedom of expression encourages intellectuals to freely criticize scientific theories, and democratic election and mass media coverage motivates citizens to freely address their concerns. In addition to Sen’s argument, authoritarian government can also prevent substantial famine if the government is autonomous, fair, accountable, and encourages free exchange of ideas such as China today. [1] Sen 3-17

The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was caused by the consequences of World War I: economic crises, and demotivated soldiers. In both cases, governments – the Romanov Dynasty and the Provisional Government that first seized power from the Tsar – were unable to resolve these problems. But these factors alone were not sufficient enough to cause the Russian Revolution, rather they should be understood as preconditions. What was also needed was a strong party – the Bolshevik Party – willing and able to capitalize on such preconditions. First, this paper will argue that economic crises such as food shortages, inflation, and poor working conditions triggered mass discontent with the Tsar and the Provisional Government. Second, soldiers who were demotivated by war weariness, were disinclined to protect the political order during the February Revolution and the October Revolution. Finally, in the midst of crises, the Bolshevik Party positioned itself to build on these preconditions and turn them into revolution

Does African Culture Impede Development?

Many scholars hastily claim that African culture impedes development; however, this is an invalidate claim. First of all, culture is continuously evolving according to circumstantial factors internal and external to the country, and it is unclear how much culture affects development. For example, external influences such as geography, colonialization, and the global system contribute to underdevelopment far more than culture. In this paper, I will begin by defining culture and development. Then, I will explain how third (circumstantial) factors could impede development and culture. The following sections will show two of the common mistakes made by scholars who attempt to argue that African culture harms development, and I will address flaws in those arguments. First, many scholars argue that Africans’ communalism hinders an individual capacity to innovate and therefore restrains developmental capacity. However, similar cultural traits are found in many advanced countries around the world. Second, many scholars try to prove that the economic difference between Asian and African countries emerged from their cultural differences. However, these scholars who romanticize Confucian values fail to notice that Asian Confucianism was once considered backward in the 19th century and the Asian Miracle of the 20th century was possible mostly because of the Cold War interest that fueled the Asia’s economic growth

A War That Never Ends: Internal Conflicts, External Interventions, and the Civil Wars in Afghanistan

About the author: Chang-Dae David Hyun received his H.B.A with a concentration in political science from the University of Toronto in 2017. He was a Winner of Kathleen & William Davis Scholarship and Saul & Lois Rae Scholarship at the University College. He received a full scholarship from the Tsinghua University of China during the summer of 2017. He was a former sergeant from the Republic of Korea Air Force (2007-2010)

Moving Beyond American Conditional Aid to Haiti

A root cause of Haiti’s poverty is the IMF’s structural adjustment plan. A solution based on Chinese aid, unlike neo-liberal policies, allows Haiti to protect its rice and other industries. Author information: Chang-Dae David Hyun, former sergeant with the Republic of Korea Air Force, earned his Honors B.A (2017) at the University of Toronto specializing political science. He is the winner of the Kathleen & William Davis Scholarship and Saul & Lois Rae Scholarship at University College (U of Toronto), and spent summer 2017 on a full scholarship to Tsinghua University of China

Innovation strategy of science and technology in Korea

노트 : 16th International Conference on Composite Material

In vitro antioxidant and anti-adipogenic effects of slendesta, standard potato extracts containing 5% protease inhibitor II

Background: The objective of the present study is to observe the anti-adipogenic effects of Slendesta (SLD), a standard potato protein extracts containing 5% potato protease inhibitor II (PI2) on the 3T3-L1 preadipocytes which are able to differentiate into mature adipocytes and accumulate lipids, as an obesity model with cytotoxicity and antioxidant effects.Materials and Methods: The cytotoxicity of SLD was observed against 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cell line by MTT assay, and also antiadipogenic effects were observed through lipid accumulation assay during 3T3-L1 differentiation as comparing with N-Acetyl-Lcysteine (NAC). In addition, antioxidant effects of SLD were detected by free radical scavenging capacity and superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity as comparing with ascorbic acid.Results: The SLD showed obvious cytotoxicity against 3T3-L1 pre-adipocyte cell line at higher concentrations, from 1.5 mg/ml for 72 h treatment, and the cytotoxic IC50 of SLD after 24, 48 and 72 h treatment times were detected as 10.11 ± 0.67, 5.71 ± 0.37 and 5.34 ± 0.21 mg/ml, respectively. The SLD also concentration-dependently inhibited the lipid accumulations formatted during 3T3-L1 cell differentiations. The adipogenic specific genes including PPARγ, C/EBPα, C/EBPβ and leptin were found to be reduced in SLD and NAC-treated cells compared to control cells. Furthermore, the SLD effectively showed DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC50 = 161.98 ± 64.65 μg/ml) and SOD-like effects (IC50 = 284.54 ± 54.47 μg/ml), and the cellular ROS was significantly inhibited in the SLD-treated cells compared to control cells.Conclusion: The results suggest that SLD effectively inhibit the differentiations of 3T3-L1 preadipose cell probably through antioxidant activities and direct cytotoxicity in case of higher concentration, along with satiety effects mediated by increases of circulating cholecystokinin. These findings are considered as direct evidences that SLD may serve as a predictable functional ingredient for obesity as an alternative therapy.Key words: Slendesta, potato protease inhibitor II, 3T3-L1 cell, cytotoxicity, anti-adipogenic effects, antioxidant effects

Delayed Infrarenal Aortic Pseudoaneurysm Treated by Endovascular Stent Graft in Pyogenic Spondylitis

A 61-year-old male patient with pyogenic spondylodiscitis and epidural and psoas abscesses underwent posterior decompression, debridement, and instrumented fusion, followed by anterior debridement and reconstruction. Sudden onset flank pain was diagnosed 7 weeks postoperatively and was determined to be a pseudoaneurysm located at the aorta inferior to the renal artery and superior to the aortic bifurcation area. An endovascular stent graft was applied to successfully treat the pseudoaneurysm. Postoperative recovery was uneventful and infection status was stabilized