China after Deng Xiaoping: the search for a non-democratic development model

This chapter examines the search the Communist Party leadership undertook for a non-democratic development model after 1997, and its implications. The political situation in China after Deng was laid down well in advance. Jiang's emergence out of Deng's shadow after the latter's death as the real leader of China, in a sense, marked a return of the Communist Party system to what it was supposed to be after it seized power in 1949. China's post-Deng leaders have sought a twenty-first century development model that differs from Western liberal democracy. While post-Deng governance reforms in China have certainly enhanced the capacity of the Communist Party and the Chinese government to direct economic development and maintain order and stability, it is too early to say how effective and sustainable such changes will be beyond the immediate future. Aside from post-Deng China, the Singaporean government under the People's Action Party (PAP) appears to be the only notable exception to the law of probabilities

Valley and Skyline Sketches

The joys and pitfalls of dining outside, by Steve Fagin. Trail workers live fully in Tongass National Forest, by Liana Tsang Cohen

From Japanese Colony to Sacred Chinese Territory: Taiwan’s Geostrategic Significance to China Historicized

This paper shows that while China now attaches geostrategic importance to Taiwan, it has not always done so. It has only accorded such significance to Taiwan in the post-Mao era. By reviewing how Taiwan became a Japanese colony, how it came under the control of Chiang Kai-shek’s government, and how it came to be seen by the government of the People’s Republic of China as a sacred territory before being deemed geostrategically significant, this paper seeks to demonstrate that Taiwan’s importance to China is not based on geography, an immutable factor. Instead, it was the result of contingencies of history and the changed calculations of succeeding governments in China. This leads to the important conclusion that the geostrategic importance the Chinese government now attaches to Taiwan may change if the Chinese leadership alters its strategic calculus or if the government itself is replaced

The U.S. Military and American Commitment to Taiwan’s Security

This article focuses on how the U.S. military assesses the threat of a Taiwan Strait crisis over the next two decades, America’s possible responses, and the U.S. capacity for effective intervention. It examines the drivers behind the U.S. approach, highlighting their implications

Party-state Realism: A Framework for Understanding China’s Approach to Foreign Policy

The author puts forth an analytical framework called party-state realism for understanding how policy makers in the People’s Republic of China approach foreign policy. It has four defining characteristics. In order of importance, they are: putting the interests of the Communist Party at the core of China’s national interest calculation; and on this basis adopting an instrumentalist approach; adopting a party-centric nationalism; and adhering to a neoclassical realist assessment of the country’s place in the international system and its relative material power in advancing national interest. In this conception, the putting of the Chinese Communist Party’s interest at the core of national interest is a constant, not a variable, factor. This does not mean the changing international context and relative national power are irrelevant, just that they take secondary importance

Évaluation du problème de déficit de puissance sur le lien descendant dans les réseaux cellulaires CDMA

Présentation du CDMA -- Les techniques d'accès multiple -- Fonctionnement d'un réseau AMRC/IS-95 -- Le déficit de puissance -- Interférences dans le sens descendant -- Déficit de puissance pour une cellule isolée -- Intégration d facteur d'utilisation de la voix -- Résultats pour le cas d'une cellule isolée -- Comparaison avec la probabilité de blocage dans le sens montant -- Étude pour une cellule non isolée -- Étude de l'interaction entre deux cellules -- Modélisation des interférences -- Formule finale pour la puissance émise -- Modélisation symétrique -- Méthode matricielle -- Probabilité de blocage -- Intégration du facteur de voix -- Résultats pour le cas d'une cellule non isolée -- Comparaison avec la probabilité de blocage dans le sens montant