The authors assess the factors that affect judgments about the fairness of the distribution of wealth with pooled public opinion data from Latinobarometro surveys conducted in 1997, 2001, and 2002. They test hypotheses with a multilevel logit model that allows them not only to examine the effects of the class background and perceptions of individual respondents but also to assess the impact of …
What explains the varied ways that Africans practice citizenship on an everyday basis? And how does the extent of state building (or neoliberal unbuilding) in a particular context affect the way individual Africans think about the rights, duties, and appropriate channels for exercising their citizenship? Over the past 20 years across most of sub-Saharan Africa, neoliberal economic reform has me…
Causal inference and the logic of historical explanation are grounded in temporality. Yet the relationship between causal analysis and aspects of temporality, such as duration, tempo, acceleration, and timing, is often less clear. Using examples from analyses of institutional change and postcommunist regime transitions, the author argues that aspects of temporality allow us to predict which cau…
Abstract This article argues that a more nuanced understanding is needed of the social composition of the redshirt protests in Bangkok from March-May 2010. Based on extensive interviews and survey research, the paper argues that many redshirts were “urbanized villagers” with lower middle class income levels and aspirations.
Abstract Thailand's traditional elite continues to depict former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his “redshirt” supporters as the enemies of the state. This study examines how the making of “otherness” is employed to conceal the dark reality of Thai politics in which the existence of enemies legitimizes the elite's power position and interests.
Abstract The Chinese Christian Patriotic Education campaign demonstrates that the party-state has adapted itself to the religious politics among various public and private institutional actors, pivotally coordinated by the relatively liberal State Administration for Religious Affairs. Consequentially, religious freedom in China has made slow but significant progress in the past decade.
Abstract Grand mediation (GM) is a new concept raised currently in China that relies on mediation but links various social and governmental resources together aiming at resolving conflict more effectively. This paper examines the mechanism and application of GM. The quadripartite interaction reflects a low degree of judicial power in contrast to a high degree of the rule of politics.
Abstract The Congress Party's victory in India's 2009 general elections led to claims of a re-nationalization of the political party system and to increasing issue-based voting. This article demonstrates that, to the contrary, the fragmentation of India's political party system and the electorate is still increasing and that “ethnic voting” continues to prevail over issue-based voting.
The strain between the U.S. and the ROK is often seen as a result of South Korea's anti-Americanism. However, alliance strain and anti-Americanism have not necessarily changed together. This conceptual disparity calls for the need to specify, rather than assume, causality. We utilize newly collected data from two major Korean dailies to show this need.
China criticized North Korea's nuclear test in 2006, but Beijing refused to condemn Pyongyang's provocations in 2010. When will China punish North Korea's belligerence? The “Dual Threats Model” suggests that China responds only when Pyongyang's activities heighten the possibility of U.S. military response, and as long as Pyongyang remains stable.
This article addresses two areas that have received little attention in discussions about Singapore's Malay dilemma: (1) the numerous and persistent Malay public seminars and conventions calling attention to their plight, and (2) the government's similarly persistent resistance to such calls, seen as inimical to the national interest.
This article examines why although the two Koreas have had many talks and reached many agreements, economic cooperation and exchanges have met setbacks, stalemate, spillback, and not spillover. It also explores why the two Chinas have made a relatively successful case of functionalist cooperation and exchanges but have failed to make economic cooperation spill over into political cooperation in…
This article contends that North Korean familism forms part of a broader trend toward family rule in post-socialist countries. Rather than being an outcast, North Korea has become the norm. The notion of “Red Family” as an ideal type is introduced by demonstrating that the selectorate of socialist societies is gradually transforming into a ruling caste. The adoption of the “Red Family” as a mod…
This paper examines the configuration of non-governmental organization (NGO) networks based on their ideological position. By utilizing social network analysis, this study observes the inter-organizational networks of the South Korean unification NGOs, and further examines the reflections of the ideological splits in online space and offline realities.
This study utilized sociological perspectives to explain the relationships between institutional arrangements (government’s role, social dimensions of indigenous business organizations, and consumption culture) and non-tariff trade barriers embedded in Japan and Korea. A comparative study of institutional arrangements and the automobile industry reveals that there have been visible and invisibl…
This study examines how campaign events influence regional voters’ candidate preferences during South Korean presidential campaigns. Results show that regional voters become more aware of regionalism through campaign events, and, thus, their voting intention becomes more homogeneous within the regions toward the end of the campaign.
In 2010, the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization agreement established a new Asian financial arrangement to help address potential currency or liquidity crises. This article analyzes the origins and basic features of the new arrangement, which reflect both progress and the continuing political challenges of building regional institutions in Asia.
ASEAN’s dialogue mechanism has been evolving from consensus-seeking to strategic means, to use the Habermas distinction. This consensus norm was maintained during the Cold War because of rapport among ASEAN leaders and the presence of an external threat. However, ASEAN expansion to 10 countries, the emergence of non-traditional threats to security, and democratization have weakened this norm.
This article explains distinctive patterns of Islamist mobilization in Indonesia by focusing on the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). It argues that the relatively solid party-mass relations and broad spatial penetration of PKS are conditioned by its organizational ability to deliver welfare services to strategically targeted constituencies to help construct a community base.
Following the return of Hong Kong to Chinese jurisdiction in 1997, there has been concern about the potential marginalization of Hong Kong within China's development. We argue that far from being marginalized, Hong Kong together with the Pearl River Delta is becoming the most dynamic region within China.