The Clean Energy Dilemma in Asia: Observations on Russia and China

Two American economic geographers and prominent specialists, respectively, in the energy industries and resources of Russia and related economic developments in China, evaluate and supplement the material presented in the preceding paper on the clean energy dilemma in Asia (Wilbanks, 2008). The paper covers changes in the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth globally as well as in Russia and China, Russian oil and gas exports to Asia (more specifically to China), the development of energy resources and production in China, and energy intensities in both countries.     

The politics of US missile defence cooperation with Europe and Russia

Pushed by the realities of domestic politics to proceed with plans to deploy a US missile defense (MD) capability in Europe, the Obama administration has made cooperation on MD a key element in its strategy for engaging both NATO and Russia. While addressing many of the shortcomings of the Bush administration's approach, the current US vision underestimates both the technical and political obstacles ahead. European states and NATO see MD as a lower priority, particularly in the aftermath of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya, and are unlikely to commit the resources necessary to making a shared NATO MD architecture a reality. Russia's cautious support for MD cooperation is based on a desire to create a more inclusive model of European security, an idea that has limited support in Washington and the European capitals. By trying to do too much with MD cooperation, the Obama administration risks the whole effort collapsing. Given domestic constraints, the administration cannot pull back from its European MD plans, but should nudge them off centre stage in its conversations on security with both NATO allies and the Russians.     

中日俄在东北亚地区的能源博弈

国际能源消耗与日俱增,原油价格不断飙升,“能源安全”问题日趋凸显。比邻而居的中日两国都是世界能源消耗大国和能源进口大国,在能源领域有着“共同的弱点”。近些年中日在东北亚地区围绕俄罗斯西伯利亚·远东输油管线建设问题展开了激烈的博弈。作为能源供应国的俄罗斯,大搞能源外交,有意在东北亚能源市场中引入竞争机制,谋求本国利益最大化,这在客观上进一步加剧了中日在输油管线问题上的恶性竞争。在能源领域,如何协调和缓解对抗式、排他式的恶性竞争,避免传统的“零和博弈”是摆在中日俄面前的重要课题。     

A Comparative Analysis of Twenty-Eight Transition Economies in Europe and Asia

Two senior World Bank economists provide a broad comparative overview of transition economies, covering the former Soviet Union, East Central Europe, China, and Vietnam. In the process, they assess the experience of each of the 20 European and 8 Asian countries up to 1996, focusing on the wide variation in exposure to economic and political liberalization and distinguishing growing and recovering economies from the lagging. Based on recent measures of key macroeconomic indicators, the authors' classification and analysis embrace the impact of specific factors (e.g., different duration and intensity of reforms; exposure to regional tensions) on economic growth and inflation. Also included in the study is a comparison of inter-industry linkages and macroeconomic feedback in Russia and China. 9 figures, 8 tables, 25 references. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P21, P41, P51, P52.     

The European miracle. Environment,economies and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia

This article analyses the 1936 “Wotan” essay by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung in light of one of its reigning motifs, Ergriffenheit. First, this term is examined within the works of Protestant theologian Rudolf Otto and Indologist Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, who used it to describe what they claimed to be the original religious experience, a state of being deeply stirred or even seized by the “the holy” or by “the ultimate reality.” The article then examines antecedents in Jung's theory of states of psychic seizure, in which two halves of the psyche come into conflict, the resolution of which leads to an increased capacity to create the arts of culture. The analysis then moves to the “Wotan” essay itself, where Jung brings together his own theory of psychic seizure with the theory of the original religious experience as proposed by the above-named scholars of religion in order to suggest that, under National Socialism, the Germans were in the midst of a collective confrontation with their own inner divinity, which should lead to a national spiritual rebirth. The article then investigates the works of several of the men Jung mentions in the essay, as well as his use of ancient Germanic mythology, to support his claim. Through his portrait of the Germanic archetype Wotan, Jung psychologizes and thereby essentializes the Romantic image of the Germans as “a people of poets and philosophers” as well as that of a Nietzschean “master-race.” In conclusion, the article argues that, at least in 1936, Jung's attitude towards Hitler and National Socialism was much more favorable than has previously been recognized.     

Dreaming of a Golden Bengal: Discontinuities of Place and Identity in South Asia

This article analyses five different representations of the homeland category “Bengal”. The region of Bengal was partitioned twice in the twentieth century and imagined in a multitude of forms at different historical moments. The article describes the conditions that allowed different territories and peoples to crystallise as “Bengal” and “the Bengalis”, and investigates why some versions of the Bengali homeland proved durable as others faded away. Rather than asking who is the real Bengali and where is the real Bengal, it investigates how particular identity categories become popularly practised and why particular images of the homeland come to be perceived as true, legitimate and authentic. It concludes that homeland categories are never fixed and finalised, but are rather always in a process of becoming, and are contested, reimagined and redefined as socio-political contexts change.     

日俄战争后日俄美的东北亚政策

2005年作为日俄建交150周年的纪念,在日俄关系及东北亚国际关系中都将具有重要意义。同样,重新研究一百年前的日俄战争结束后东北亚地区主要国际势力的对策,对于认清国际外交舞台上瞬息骤变的政治风云,及各国纵横捭阖以采取符合本国利益的积极对策是有一定借鉴意义的。本文即对日、俄、美三个对东北亚地区有重要影响的国家在日俄战争后的外交对策进行了简要的论述。     

动物纹艺术与欧亚草原之路

我国北方长城沿线出土了大量含有动物纹饰的器物。从已知考古资料入手分析,发现其产生与商周时期黄河流域高度发达的青铜文化有关,而在其发展过程中又受到了以斯基泰类型为代表的欧亚草原动物纹的极大影响,这一切背后的推动力则是欧亚大草原上持续了数个世纪之久的民族迁徙浪潮。     

The rise of Islamic finance: post‐colonial market‐building in central Asia and Russia

Islamic finance signifies more than a projection of religious affiliation. The importance of Islamic finance is increasing in central Asia, both as a source of capital and as a form of post‐colonial market‐building. In central Asia, it is an important facet of the new phenomena of ‘nation‐branding’ and a means of reinvigorating the economy. In identity politics, Islamic finance projects an attitude of religious tolerance allowing states in the region to reposition their geopolitical identity relative to the Islamic community. This creates a ‘performance’ of Islamic finance that facilitates the creation of legitimacy for the state. Adopting Islamic finance projects images of the state's religious tolerance and diversity without changing the underlying structures; it suggests an ‘Islamicness’ that is useful to the development and post‐colonial goals of the state. As such, it creates opportunities for geopolitical alliances with Muslim countries. Economically, it appeals to rising financial‐industrial elites seeking new investment‐opportunities, which reduces pressure on the state to democratize. Meanwhile, in Russia, Islamic finance is an alternative source of capital for the sanctions‐hit state and a useful identity marker with which to connect to the increasingly wary Caucuses and Commonwealth of Independent States countries, lending it a wider significance across Eurasia.