China and the United States: a succession of hegemonies?

This article critically reviews the suggestion that we are experiencing a ‘succession of hegemonies’ from the United States to China. It develops Martin Wight's writings on hegemony, and introduces a fundamental distinction (not made by Wight) between a power transition and a hegemonic succession. Wight held complex views about the nature of power and at times seemed to subscribe to a purely materialist account. Elsewhere he was more nuanced and appealed to the purpose of dominant states as part of his argument that influence does not correlate exactly with mass and weight. This suggestion is developed in the author's view of hegemony—as distinct from primacy—as denoting a legitimate practice within international society. These ideas are then superimposed upon current debates about a power transition, or a succession of hegemonies, as between the United States and China. The existing debate conflates those two issues. Accordingly, while it can readily be acknowledged that there are important indicators of a shift in the material distribution of power, this in no way amounts, as yet, to any kind of hegemonic succession. For the latter to occur, there would need to be clear evidence of an effective socialization of the aspirant hegemon's purpose and support for its preferred order. On the contrary, to date China has been largely content to operate within existing frameworks, rather than instigate a revision of them, and does not yet present a model for emulation elsewhere. It is possible that a power transition, without any hegemonic succession, could be corrosive of global governance.     

Towards a chequebook democracy? Business,parties and the funding of politics in Italy and the United States

This article seeks to establish to what extent Silvio Berlusconi's entry into electoral politics as leader of Forza Italia signals an ‘Americanization’ of Italian politics. It argues that Italian party democracy is moving in an ‘American’ direction in two ways. First, Italian party organizations are declining, leading to a more candidate-centred type of electoral politics. Second, the decline of parties is enhancing the ability of business to use its financial clout to tailor public policy to its own requirements. However, these trends do not have identical effects in Italy and the United States. This article will also show that this process of ‘Americanization’ interacts with the existing political praxis and institutional framework of Italian politics to produce an outcome which differs from both the traditional Western European model and the American model of party democracy. It will be concluded that this outcome seriously undermines representative democracy in Italy.     

China and the United States in Africa: Coming conflict or commercial coexistence?

China and the US are two key players in the recent round of ‘scrambling’ for Africa. They compete for control over oil and other strategic resources, for markets, and for political influence. Their competition has alarmed many. This study tests the alarmist interpretations by identifying what the US and China are actually doing and to how they perceive each other's activities. Their ambitions are often considered in isolation. When laid out side by side, the extent to which their activities in Africa may overlap or clash can be seen more clearly. China and the US are seeking different things at different places in the continent and are careful not to upset one another. Their activities do not support the dire prediction. The ‘scramble for Africa’ may irritate; it is unlikely to cause direct confrontations because competition remains by and large economic and economic competition in an integrated global economy creates networks of constraints that ameliorate potential confrontation.     

Five Decades of Canadian and Québec Content in French Textbooks in the United States

This study investigates the evolution of Canadian and Québec content in a sample of 65 first-year university French textbooks in the United States from the 1960s through 2010. Overall indicators of Canadian and Québec contexts and cultural notes were tabulated for each decade in addition to particular content such as Canadian history, Québec identity, and Canadian French language. The chronological analysis challenges the popular notion that teachers and textbooks authors are inherently uninterested in Canada. Instead, the analysis finds Canadian and Québec content increasing over the five-decade period reaching an all-time high point in the most recent decade. Results are explained by dynamic Québec-based factors of language politics and foreign relations initiatives rather than static US-based attitudes toward Canadian French. The analysis offers optimism for the role of Canadian and Québec Studies as a source of content for the teaching of French in the United States.     

France and Africa: the Emergence of Essential Reforms?

The traditional framework of relations between France and its former colonies in Africa is in crisis. Though this crisis is of long standing, events in Rwanda, Congo and elsewhere on the continent in the 1990s have shown up starkly the deficiencies in French policy. However, this article shows that it would be wrong to conclude, as some have done, that France will disengage from Africa; rather, France may well redefine its relationships with the continent by developing new priorities.     

Preserving the Status Quo: Britain,the United States,and Bolivian Tin, 1946–56

This article analyses the relationship between Britain, the United States, and Bolivia in the context of the tin nexus after the Second World War. While the connection between Britain and Bolivia was long-standing - Bolivian tin had been shipped to Britain since the nineteenth century - it extended far beyond simple bilateralism. Such was the intricate web of connections in the global tin industry that any rupture in the Anglo-Bolivian relationship would have fundamental ramifications on the equilibrium of the industry, and, in turn, Britain's predominant position within it. The United States had overtly challenged Britain's dominance during the Second World War by constructing a smelter to be supplied by Bolivian ores. Despite the financial exigencies of the post-war period, the profound upheavals in the domestic Bolivian tin industry, and the contentious, destabilising tin-procurement policy pursued by the United States, Britain was determined to confront this threat. By actively seeking to preserve its long-term contract for Bolivian tin, Britain was able to maintain its predominance in the post-war global tin industry. At the same time, Bolivia deftly utilised Anglo-American rivalry to ensure more than one outlet for its most critical export commodity.     

Envisioning a Green Energy Future in Canada and the United States: Constructing a Sustainable Future in the Context of New Regionalisms?

A variety of actors in Canada and the United States are actively constructing a vision of a greener society that includes an environmentally sustainable energy future. Canadian provinces and states in the United States share environmental management, corporations collaborate to drive green development and implement local energy projects, and activists on both sides of the border share environmental protest strategies and mobilization frames. A transition to regionalism of greener energy resources along the Vermont–Canadian border is indicative of a larger “new regionalism” of sustainable identity, despite very concrete and pressing external pressures and energy challenges concerning global climate change, resource depletion, and energy sustainability challenges within the larger nations of both Canada and the United States. In this article, we aim to characterize this green visioning of a sustainable energy future, by focusing especially on the Vermont–Canadian border region, and additionally point to the benefits and contradictions that result.     

The North American Folk Revival: Nation and Identity in the United States and Canada, 1945–1980

The Secret of the Totem. By Andrew Lang. Longmans, Green &; Co. London, 1905. 10/6 Net. By F. B. Jevons.

The Origin of Worship : A Study in Primitive Religion. By Rafael Karsten. An Academical Dissertation. Wasa: F. W. Unggren. 1905. viii., 143 pp. By R. R Marett. Bantu Folk Lore. By Matthew L. Hewat, M.D. Cape Town: T. Maskew Miller. By Bertram C. A. Windle.

The Czech Ethnographical Review, vol. xi. Published by the Society of the Cech Ethnographical Museum. Prague, 1905. By Francis P. Marchant.

Der Sagenkreis vom Geprellten Teufel. Von Aug. Wünsche. Leipzig Und Wien, Akademischer Verlag, 1905. By E. Sidney Hartland.

Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, herausgegeben von Albert Dieterich und Richard Wünsch. Gieszen: J. Ricker. I. Attis: seine Mythen und seine Kult, von Hugo Hepding. (1903.) M. 5. II. 2: De Mortuorum Iudicio, scripsit Ludovicu0s Ruhl. (1903.) M. 1.80. II. 3: De Poetarum Romanarum doctrina magica quaestdones selectae, scripsit Ludovicus Fahz. (1904.) M. 1.60.

The Little Black Princess : A True Tale of Life in the Never-Never Land. By Jeannie Gunn. Alexander Moring, Ltd.

Animism: The Seed of Religion. By Edward Clodd, London: A. Constable &; Co. 1905. By R. R. Marett.

Anthropos: International Zeitschrift für Völker- U. Sprachenkunde. Edited By P. W. Schmidt. Band I, Heft 1, 2. Salzburg: Zaunrith'sche Buch- Kunst- Und Steindruckerei. 15 kr. p. a. By Charlotte S. Burne.     

Is the United States in decline—again? An essay

After a decade long period during which it was optimistically assumed that under conditions of unipolarity the United States was likely to reign supreme in world affairs for many decades to come, the mood, and with it the debate about the future of the US, has changed dramatically. Hubris has been overtaken by a new mood of intellectual pessimism; the idea of a new American century by the notion of a failing Empire. Though few may wish to call it such, there is no doubting the fact that a new‘decline debate’is now under way in the United States, one that will no doubt be as intense, if not more so, than the one occasioned by the publication in 1987 of Paul Kennedy's hugely influential The rise and fall of the Great Powers. In this article, the sources of the decline debate in the US are traced, as are how and why the debate disappeared following the collapse of the USSR, and why it has now returned to haunt the American landscape.     

What consensus? Geopolitics and policy paradigms in China and the United States

The Washington Consensus is not what it was. A model of development associated with the Untied States, it has been diminished both by apparent failures, widespread criticism and by the recent economic crisis that had its origins in the US. Anglo‐American capitalism has lost a good deal of its influence and attractiveness. As a consequence, alternative models of development have become more prominent, especially the so‐called Beijing Consensus. The authors argue that at one level this evolving policy discourse and debate reflects a long‐term structural change in the relative positions of China and the United States. However, it is far from clear that this transformation has gone far enough to underpin a significant ideational or policy challenge on China's part. On the contrary, the debate in China demonstrates that there is little appetite for, or expectation of, a major paradigm change in the near future.