Rural/urban differentials in demographic processes: The Central Asian states

While the populations of the Central Asian successor states are extremely heterogeneous on many indicators, the issue of rural or urban residence is consistently important in terms of differentials in population growth, socio-economic status and public health. In this paper I focus on rural population trends in Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. I explore the relatively disadvantaged position of rural inhabitants as well as regional variations within the rural population. The differentials in fertility and mortality rates and the large projected population increases indicate that future policy interventions and data collection efforts should incorporate a specific focus on rural areas.     

东南亚伊斯兰势力的新发展及其影响

东南亚金融危机后,东南亚一些国家合法的伊斯兰政治势力趋于活跃,非法的伊斯兰极端势力也得到发展,活动日益猖獗,对东南亚政治和社会稳定造成破坏和冲击。目前,东南亚合法的伊斯兰政治势力和非法的伊斯兰极端势力的影响都在扩大,但仍在政府的可控范围之内。因此短期内印度尼西亚和马来西亚等国变更国家体制的可能性不大,但伊斯兰教和世俗力量的斗争将加剧。从东南亚政治、社会经济和宗教发展的总体情况看,东南亚伊斯兰极端势力难以形成大的气候,但东南亚恐怖主义袭击的威胁还存在,东南亚的反恐斗争任重道远。     

Conflicts in urban fringe in the transformation era: An examination of performance of the metropolitan growth management in Beijing

The performances of urban growth management are often criticized because their original objectives are frequently inconsistent with local development facts. Underlying the many reasons for this are the political and institutional contexts that influence policy-making and development activities. The urban fringe, a zone is managed to against urban sprawl in many countries, represents the conflicts between urban management system and local development resulting from political transformation. This study examines the case of decentralised-concentration strategy, one of the most important metropolitan growth management in Beijing since the 1990s, and sheds some lights on the performance of the growth management in the transformation context. The results suggest that the aims of municipal growth management to concentrate developments in urban fringe have partly been achieved through actual local developments; however, some unexpected and illegal local developments outside the planned areas are counterproductive from the perspective of municipal growth management. The performance of the present growth management is being challenged by new trends towards political decentralisation and locally fiscal responsibilities. In the interest of future policymaking, the dominant central planning system in Beijing should take these decentralisation trends into growth management account, compared with the great progress in decentralisation in economy system. The urban policy needs to shift from the dictatorial manner and put more efforts into creating a harmonious relationship between municipal growth management and actual local demands on development.     

Seclusion,decision-making power,and gender disparities in adult health: Examining hypertension in India

Research on the social determinants of health in developing countries is increasingly focusing on the importance of gender. Cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension are a growing concern in developing countries, where they are now the leading cause of death. Researchers have documented differences in hypertension between men and women, but the importance of gendered practices in shaping these differences has been left unexamined. Using national data from the India Human Development Survey 2005 (N = 101,593), this study assesses the moderating role of two salient and widespread gendered practices—women’s seclusion and decision-making power—on hypertension disparities between women and men. Both seclusion and low decision-making power are associated with increased odds of hypertension for women, but in the case of seclusion reduced hypertension for men. Results also show the gender gap in hypertension is exacerbated with women’s seclusion and low decision-making power.     

Care Diamonds and Welfare Regimes in East and South-East Asian Societies: Bridging Family and Welfare Sociology

This paper tries to bridge the micro-level analyses of social networks for "care" provision which have been conducted in the field of family sociology, and the macro-level framework on welfare mix which has been developed in the area of welfare sociology, because the options for creating social networks are given to individuals by society. A group of Asian researchers including the author have conducted comparative research on social networks for childcare and elderly care in six Asian societies, namely Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Japan. To reexamine the results, the author draws diagrams of the care diamonds in each society for each type of care (childcare or elderly care) to show the balance between four sectors (the state, market, family and relatives, and the community) which determines the pattern of welfare mix. The most prevalent pattern in Asian societies today is the pattern with a large family and relatives sector and a large market sector. We can interpret it as a familistic welfare regime combined with liberalism. However, Japan alone shows a pattern close to pure familism because the development of the market sector is restricted by immigration policies prohibiting the employment of foreign domestic workers. Unlike other Asian societies which were exposed to the global market before the family could become a closed organization and marketization of care work took place easily, in Japan, where the modern family system had been established, both socialization and marketization of care work have stagnated.     

The Tunnel at the End of the Light: the Crisis of Transition in Hungary

The economic, political and social transition processes of the last two decades, far from being in harmony, clearly have a detrimental rather than an enriching influence on each other. These processes will never become harmonised just by themselves in a natural fashion. The worst obstacle of a successful transformation is that the chief actors, such as the government, the market and the representatives of the society. The Prince, the Merchant and the Citizen do not show the necessary commitment, competence and determination to create a new, effective type of partnership. This is a challenge which urgently demands answers on all levels of governance, economic and social life. This must be done in the frames of local communities, and on the regional, the European and the global levels. Nearly twenty years after the political turnabout, Hungary now needs a new social contract and must lay down the ethical, political, institutional and intellectual foundations for its twenty-first century democracy.

建立东北亚安全机制:机遇与原则

和平与发展的时代主题 ,各国对多边安全合作的积极态度 ,朝鲜与他国关系的改善 ,经济全球化带来的相互依存 ,为建立东北亚安全机制提供了重大的机遇。只要切实按照平等参与、协商一致、尊重现状、循序渐进、以经促政的原则行事 ,一个充满活力、公正合理的东北亚安全机制一定能够形成     

世界新秩序和美国对华新政策

本文论述美国１９９７年后对华新政策。文章综述９０年代起美国历届政府的对华的检讨,到１９９７年克林顿政府采取对华新政策,主要是稳定亚洲、中国大陆、台湾,以确保美国在亚洲战略地位和经济利益     

东北亚文化与东北亚哲学

东北亚哲学是东北亚文化的重要组成部分,东北亚哲学是东北亚文化总体的指导思想.也是东北亚文化发展的思想基础.东北亚哲学的价值观、天人观和辩证思维方式,是引领东北亚社会繁荣发展的先进文化.     

新疆与中亚国家加强经济合作的战略思考

新疆利用地缘优势,把“走出去”和“向西开放”紧密结合起来,与中亚国家加强经济合作,是双赢发展的需要。当前,影响双边经济合作的因素主要是中亚国家的社会制度与我国不同、体制性差异大、法制建设滞后、社会不稳定、民族文化心理阻碍、地区安全因素、上海合作组织在经济合作方面还处于初级阶段等。但与中亚国家加强经济合作是维护亚欧地区稳定与发展的共同需要,是新疆实施“向西开放”战略、发展外向型经济的最佳切入点,是走发展新型工业化之路,打造支柱产业的现实需要。中亚国家巨大的资源和消费市场亟待开发,双方拥有共同开发的核心项目,合作前景广阔。新疆应抓住机遇,提高经济发展的国际竞争力,积极与中亚国家加强经济合作。