Intolerable Cruelty： Marriage,Law, and Society in Early Twentieth-Century China

In Intolerable Cruelty： Marriage, Law, and Society in Early Twentieth-Century China, Margaret Kuo argues that legal reforms allowed wives in the Republican era unprecedented opportunities to leave abusive or undesirable marriages. In addition to reevaluating Republican-era law, Kuo significantly contributes to scholarship by acknowledging the agency of the wives who brought forth their cases in court. In contrast to CCP scholarship that ＂has worked to expunge GMD contributions＂ to women＇s rights and family law （p. 12）, Kuo argues that the Republican era offered flexible solutions during ＂an important transitional period＂ （19. 198）.     

Greening Without Conflict? Environmentalism,NGOs and Civil Society in China

This article argues that the specific features and dynamics of China’s environmentalism can be attributed to two factors: the ‘greening’ of the Chinese state at the time when environmentalism emerged, and the alternating politics of toleration and strict control of social organizations. As a result, environmentalism has developed in a gradual way, encompassing the various forms of ‘green’ NGOs that we see in the West and the ex–socialist states of Eastern and Central Europe. Yet, on the other hand, environmentalism was also robbed of the opportunity, as well as the immediate urgency, to openly confront the government. This is where it deviates from environmentalism in the West and the former Eastern–bloc countries.     

Economic Transformation in Russia and China: How Do We Compare Success?

One of Europe's leading international economists compares the economies of Russia and China by tracing the evolution of their transformation from central planning to market-oriented systems. The paper singles out the respective structural and policy constraints and the importance of political decisions in moving ahead with reforms in crucial years when the dangers of reversals have materialized. It analyzes, inter alia, the reasons for present growth in both countries, which is robust in Russia and impressive in China. While macroeconomic performance indicators are commonly used to compare success and work out projections, the author argues that underlying structural and political contexts as well as institutional problems of a different nature in each country provide the key to our understanding of the respective obstacles to sustainable growth.