Month: January 2008

Do Americans view China as an Emerging Strategic Threat?

China’s miraculous economic growth has become a source of concern for some Americans who hold a realist view of international politics. The argument is that the increase in economic prowess will lead (is leading) to an increase in military power and a heightened strategic threat to the predominance of the United States in global affairs. How concerned is the average American with China’s emergence on the international scene? One of the best places to find the answer to this question, and to all questions related to the public’s views regarding international affairs is the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The Council has archived on its website reports on public attitudes going all the way back to 1975. An important virtue of these surveys is that they disaggregate elite opinion from the rest of the public.

As for Americans’ views of China, in the 2006 survey slightly more than one-third of Americans viewed China as a strategic threat (click on the chart below for a larger image). Not surprisingly, almost 3/4 of Americans viewed international terrorism as a strategic threat to US interests, putting that issue at number one. Click the link above for the whole report, which polled the public on other issues, such as international trade, immigration, and global warming.

Chicago Council Survey 2006

China 2007 Trade Surplus Record $262bn

China’s rising economic and military power has caused some concern in the United States and in Europe. Just like China in the 1980s, China’s economic policies–particularly as it relates to the values of its currency and the effect that has had on China’s foreign trade and current accounts–have irked politicians and pundits (hello, Lou Dobbs) here in the US. They will not be heartened by the news that China’s trade surplus has reached a record $262 billion. Interestingly, however, the EU replaced the US as China’s largest export market.

China’s trade surplus rose by nearly 50 per cent to a record $262bn in 2007, but import growth exceeded export growth in each of the final three months of the year, suggesting that the country’s controversial trade imbalance may be peaking.

In another first, the European Union also replaced the US as China’s largest export market. Sales to the expanded EU grew by 29.2 per cent in 2007, compared to just 14 per cent to the US.

Coalition Government set to be Formed in Croatia

In a previous post, I noted the relatively democratic nature of the post-election bargaining amongst the various parties, coalitions, and options. Party leaders and other officials assured the public that a new governing coalition would be sworn in before the expiration of the constitutionally-mandated period. This has, indeed, been the case with an 83-member coalition government presiding over the Croatian Parliament’s (Sabor) 153-seat single chamber. The Financial Times reports on some highlights of the new government:

he prime minister, who has governed in a minority coalition for the past four years, secured a slender parliamentary majority through deals earlier this week with the Peasants and Social Liberal parties and the Serb ethnic-minority party.

Other ethnic-minority representatives and a pensioners’ party member bring the new governing coalition to a comfortable 83-seat total.

A Serb member enters the cabinet for the first time as one of four deputy prime ministers, while the new governing coalition also includes the first-ever member of parliament from the Roma minority.

Globalization and Collective Action

Deborah Yasher wrote an interesting article on the link between globalization and collective action. If you are on campus, here is a link to a pdf version of the article. A well-known phenomenon in the field of social movements and collective is the so-called “free-rider problem”. From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

In many contexts, all of the individual members of a group can benefit from the efforts of each member and all can benefit substantially from collective action. For example, if each of us pollutes less by paying a bit extra for our cars, we all benefit from the reduction of harmful gases in the air we breathe and even in the reduced harm to the ozone layer that protects us against exposure to carcinogenic ultraviolet radiation (although those with fair skin benefit far more from the latter than do those with dark skin). If all of us or some subgroup of us prefer the state of affairs in which we each pay this bit over the state of affairs in which we do not, then the provision of cleaner air is a collective good for us. (If it costs more than it is worth to us, then its provision is not a collective good for us.)

Unfortunately, my polluting less does not matter enough for anyone — especially me — to notice. Therefore, I may not contribute my share toward not fouling the atmosphere. I may be a freerider on the beneficial actions of others. This is a compelling instance of the logic of collective action, an instance of such grave import that we pass laws to regulate the behavior of individuals to force them to pollute less.

Review Article

Globalization and Collective Action

Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics

Margaret E. Keck; Kathryn Sikkink
Has Globalization Gone Too Far?

Dani Rodrik
Limits of Citizenship: Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe

Yasemin Nuhoğlu Soysal
Review author[s]: Deborah J. Yashar
Comparative Politics, Vol. 34, No. 3. (Apr., 2002), pp. 355-375.


World’s Top 10 (International Relations) Think Tanks by FPRI

The Foreign Policy Research Institute has compiled a list of the world’s top ten think tanks. You can find the report archived at the International Crisis Group’s website here.

Here are the top 10, according to FPRI:

Top 10 Think Tanks Globally
(Arranged Alphabetically)

Think Tank

Country

Centre for European Policy Studies

Belgium

French Institute of International Relations

France

German Institute for International Politics and Security

Germany

Institute of World Economy and International Relations

Russia

International Crisis Group

Belgium

International Institute for Strategic Studies

United Kingdom

Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies

Israel

Japan Institute of International Affairs

Japan

Royal Institute of International Affairs

United Kingdom

Shanghai Institute for International Studies

China

Crisis Group Named in Top Ten Global Think Tanks

The Crisis Group is a non-governmental Organization (NGO) that does great work on conflict around the world. From the group’s website, we find out:

The International Crisis Group has been listed as one of the “Top 10 Think Tanks in the World” in a new survey, based on peer review, conducted over 18 months by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

The Crisis Group have archived the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s report here.

From the group’s “about” page, we learn about the Crisis Group’s purpose:

The International Crisis Group (Crisis Group) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, with some 145 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.

Crisis Group’s approach is grounded in field research. Teams of political analysts are located within or close by countries at risk of outbreak, escalation or recurrence of violent conflict. Based on information and assessments from the field, it produces analytical reports containing practical recommendations targeted at key international decision-takers. Crisis Group also publishes CrisisWatch, a twelve-page monthly bulletin, providing a succinct regular update on the state of play in all the most significant situations of conflict or potential conflict around the world.

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