Asian Review of Political Economy最新文献

The ongoing transfer of economic power from the West to the East created a shift in economic dominance and the global power balance, allowing emerging nations to enhance their positions. Several countries favor a Free and Open Indo-Pacific initiative to preserve the status quo. Because it maintains an essential seaport in the Indian Ocean, Bangladesh is recognized as a maritime nation. Bangladesh’s geographic advantage allows it to serve as a node and hub in regional and inter-regional trade and investment. This potential stems from the global movement of economic power toward the Indo-Pacific Region. This study assesses whether Japan’s FOIP can provide peace and stability to Bangladesh while grasping geopolitical sustainability. Furthermore, this paper argues FOIP’s regional economic cooperation is managed effectively, and Japanese investment might benefit Bangladesh’s economy for sustainable development. This qualitative study uses primary and secondary data to evaluate the feasibility of Japanese geopolitical projects in Bangladesh for peace, stability, and prosperity. This study provides a new paradigm in analyzing the strategic geopolitical implications of FOIP in the Bay of Bengal area, highlighting the repercussions of geopolitical transformation into a strategic focal point. This study depicts the equiangular developmental diplomacy’s balancing instrument and standards for joint stability and growth in the Bay of Bengal area.

Why would an emerging market economy without Western democratic institutions provide and promote social welfare to its citizens? This paper explores the driving forces behind the rapid yet unequal expansion of social welfare in China, a phenomenon notable since the late 1990s. Rather than adhering to the conventional state-centered approach that views welfare expansion as a strategy for one-party regimes to seek legitimacy, this study offers an alternate perspective that emphasizes the ‘demand’ side, particularly the role of business. Through a systematic analysis of all 336 Chinese municipalities from 2001 to 2012, the study demonstrates how big businesses act as ‘vanguard,’ pushing local governments to enhance social welfare provision. It suggests that big businesses, in the absence of institutionalized democratic institutions, serve as ‘functional equivalents,’ channeling societal demands to the government. This paper also finds that firms’ influence on social policy in non-democracies is more capability based instead of institutional based; large domestic and multinational corporations are more capable in lobbying the government.

While the recent “regulatory storm” in China has attracted attention from media, academia, and policy makers both in China and overseas, there lacks theoretical interpretation of Chinese central government’s major regulatory practices. Based on the review on global reflection of the shortcomings of the current market economy system and China’s own market economy practices, this article argues that China’s strengthening of market regulation is based on a people-centered paradigm of the state-market relationship that takes into account both efficient market and effective government and that is consistent with the international framework to improve the market economy system, in particular the stakeholder economy. To support the argument, this article illustrates China’s “regulatory storm” in terms of corporate governance, environmental goals, social impacts, adverse consequences, and employee rights with reference to cases from sectors affected by the “regulatory storm”. Moreover, China’s recent regulatory measures reflect the effectiveness of the “strong government” in rapidly rectifying market order and are in line with the global trend of building a new market system, which is worthy of reference for other Asian countries with similar political and economic contexts.

Development in Central Asia faces intensifying headwinds in various aspects. Terrorism and political instability have been the primary sources of concern for this chessboard of rivaling great powers. The US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan left a power vacuum, and the region’s future is further clouded by elevated uncertainty. The so-called ‘new Cold War’ discourse is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy that contextualizes regional geopolitical maneuverings. These developments present a pressing need to evaluate development challenges in Central Asia in the context of China’s rising influence in the region through the Belt and Road Initiative and other regional frameworks, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

This paper seeks to examine the shifting geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape in Central Asia in the context of global ideological confrontations and the regional Great Game between China and Russia. Drawing on think tank reports, English-language media reports, and scholarly works, it argues that China’s investment and development strategy in Central Asia can be improved by giving geopolitical and geoeconomic factors full consideration. The changing political dynamics in the region have significant implications for China’s engagement with Central Asian countries, its broader Belt and Road Initiative extending through Central Asia to Europe, and development challenges that transcend the dualistic categorization of development and security.

In much of the 20th century, the welfare state was regarded as the fundamental means for Western countries to embrace economic liberalization through domestic social contracts, whereas the developmental state was credited for East Asian economies’ growth with equality. However, economic globalization and technological changes have posed serious challenges for both models with respect to containing increasing inequality and achieving inclusive growth. China’s performance in inclusive growth has demonstrated distinct features that differ from the approaches of Western welfare states and East Asian developmental states. China has relied less on conventional means of redistribution, such as taxes and transfers. Instead, it has combined growth-oriented industrial policies, public infrastructure investment, and state-mediated poverty alleviation programs. China’s development strategy reflects a “third way” perspective on inclusive growth that might be instructive for latecomer economies.

In a world that is changing dramatically, China needs a third wave of opening. This article addresses several issues, including what the third opening looks like based on the two previous openings in modern China, why a third opening is necessary, and how to open up to the outside world in the future. In particular, a new period of strategic opportunity is required to solve the problem of “being scolded” and to achieve China’s sustainable development. This period will be created more proactively and unilaterally through five approaches, namely, (1) harmonizing domestic market standards, (2) reorganizing and re-identifying existing international rules, (3) modernizing the governance system, (4) allowing local and social level openness, and (5) promoting negotiations to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and advancing the U.S.–China Bilateral Investment Agreement negotiations. With respect to internal and external circulation, China can integrate domestic and international markets and internationalize China’s rules while aligning with the international community. Ultimately, the internationalization of China’s rules will be achieved through the integration of domestic and international markets.