Consuming narratives: the political ecology of 'alternative' consumption

This paper examines how political ecology themes of tropical conservation and social justice become representational practices underpinning 'alternative' consumption in the North. The notion of commodity culture is adopted to understand the ambiguous rationalities and ethical assumptions of two sets of consumption practices. The first case considers Edenic myth-making used to assimilate concerns over tropical deforestation in the South to consumption-intensive if conservation-minded lifestyles in the North. The second case looks at fair trade and how concern about social injustice and unfair labour practices in the South is harnessed to solidarity-seeking consumption constitutive of 'radical' lifestyles. The paper suggests these contrasting commodity cultures broadly conform to divergent positions in red–green debates. It argues that both are weakened as a form of social and political 'caring at a distance' due to an uncritical acceptance of consumption as the primary basis of action.     

17世纪英国海外贸易的拓展与转型

17世纪,英国与西欧、北欧呢绒的贸易趋于衰落,而与利凡特东印度以及北美殖民地的进口贸易却繁荣起来。进口的目的是为了再出口。这种输入与再输出的贸易越来越发达,而呢绒出口贸易则逐渐走向衰落,这就是所谓的贸易转型。17世纪英国的贸易转型分两个阶段：第一阶段发展的是与利凡特—东印度的贸易;第二阶段发展的是与殖民地的贸易。这种以再出口为目的的新型海外贸易,是17世纪英国巨额财富的主要来源。     

吉林省同日本的经贸合作与老工业基地振兴

日本是吉林省的主要经贸伙伴,自2000年起日本成为吉林省的第二大出口市场,发展同日本的经贸关系对吉林省具有十分重要的意义。本文通过对吉林省同日本经贸合作的现状及双方经贸合作的有利和不利因素的分析,提出了促进吉林省对日经贸进一步发展的对策建议。     

The Roles of Tea and Opium in Early Economic Globalization: A Perspective on China’s Crisis in the 19th Century

Alongside military conquest which characterized great part of globalization during the 19th century, the globalization of markets no doubt was its main manifestation. Addictive consumption goods played a leading role during this process, as observed in the case of China, tea and the opium trade had the largest impact. Owing to the importance of Britain’s growing demand for tea and its concomitant tax revenue, Anglo-Chinese trade became the dominant trade that Britain had in the East. To make up the trade deficit with China, Britain took advantage of its Indian colony and did its best in expanding its opium trade. Within this triangular trade scheme, Britain was the master, India was the instrument, and China was the ultimate victim. Confronted by the irresistible trend of globalization, China was ill prepared when facing this challenge leading to a complete failure in both military and commercial warfare and later on to an overall crisis in the 19th century.     

天明六年“南部马市”铜牌的再发现

马市铜牌又可称作交子,为大理国市场管理、交易收税之凭据。     

Overseas imports on the Blue Nile: Chemical compositional analysis of glass beads from Soba,Nubia

Archaeological evidence as well as textual sources leave no doubt about Alwa's (Alodia's) intense transcultural connections, further corroborated by understudied overseas glass bead imports found there. This paper presents results of an analysis of 23 glass beads from Soba, the most prosperous capital of medieval Nubia. Compositional analyses using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) have identified glass belonging to a number of broad compositional groups. Three samples were made of soda lime low-alumina glass produced in the Middle East (v-Na-Ca) and Egypt (m/v-Na-Ca). The remaining beads were made of two types of mineral–soda high-alumina glass (m-Na-Al) North Indian in origin. The results of this study provide new evidence for the provenance and chronology of glass beads available in medieval Soba and Northeast Africa, and contribute new data to research on trade contacts of that time.     

The calm before the storm: A punctuated equilibrium theory of international politics

Research has shown that policymaking in numerous domestic policies, across a multitude of polities, systematically produces a pattern of change that matches Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET), characterized by many incremental and occasional dramatic changes. The field of International Relations (IR), however, has paid surprisingly little attention to PET, even though the same pattern of change is also found in international politics. This study attempts to fill this gap and explains stability and change in international politics based on PET. Specifically, we detail the dynamics behind this pattern of behavior, both at the domestic and the international level, as well as their interplay. The empirical section shows that different indicators of international politics, including troop deployments, foreign aid and international trade, follow a leptokurtic pattern of change, which characterizes Punctuated Equilibrium, and whereby changes in countries' behavior are generally incremental, representing periods of relative stability, and punctuated by large changes that dramatically overthrow existing policies. Moreover, our results indicate that policy outputs where greater friction is at play are more punctuated than those policies that cannot as easily or directly be managed. This study urges future research to further explore the dynamics of stability and change at the aggregate, international level.     

管窥9—10世纪我国陶瓷贸易的域外中转港现象——以东南亚地区为焦点

9-10世纪时,我国海上对外贸易进入了第一个高峰时期,标志之一就是瓷器的大规模外销。其路线大致可分为两条:一条自东海、黄海至高丽、日本等国,另一条自南海至东南亚、印度及阿拉伯地区等处。关于后者,东南亚地区是一个重要的节点。当时在东南亚地区是否存在中国瓷器外销的中转港,学界众说纷纭。从爪哇海发现的黑石号、印坦和井里汶三条沉船出发,通过梳理相关文献及考古材料,可以认为9世纪前中期在东南亚可能并不存在中转港;9世纪末,在黄巢攻掠广州之后,中转港才得以逐渐形成,其地点很可能是文献记载的"箇罗国"。     

2001—2015年全球健康产业贸易网络特征研究

基于2001—2015年195个国家间健康产业贸易矩阵,采用社会网络分析方法,分析了全球健康产业贸易网络特征。结果表明：①绿色农产品、保健食品行业和药品行业全球贸易参与性最高,保健康复、健康家居行业区域性较强。②健康产业的出口集中控制在少数国家,而健康产业需求普遍性较高。③全球可以分为欧洲及中东亚、美洲、中东及南亚、亚太地区、东南非洲5个健康产业子群。④欧美在药品、保健品、农产品等行业具有控制优势,中国在保健康复、家居行业居主导地位。⑤欧美国家长期居于贸易核心地位,中、印等亚太国家控制作用显著提升,多元化趋势显现。⑥全球健康产业网络格局是由科技水平与科研投入、健康理念、产业政策等因素综合带动形成的。     

Building synergies between WTO and UNESCO: the case for data-driven policy coordination

The different legal worldviews of WTO and UNESCO on trade and culture vividly illustrate the formidable challenges we face nowadays to deliver legal and policy coherence in global governance. Bridging the trade and culture policy divide in this area requires stronger inter-agency dialog and cooperation, starting with joint initiatives for improved policy-oriented statistics.