When communism was imposed as the incontestable political doctrine at the culmination of the Second World War, many Eastern European nations set upon a new chapter in their respective histories. During the forty odd years as part of the Soviet Union a degree of economic, political and constitutional homogeneity was brought into this region, which…
Tag: China
How does neo-Marxist or post-Marxist theories of ideology differ from the classical Marxist tradition?
In a recent BBC online poll for finding the greatest thinker of the Millenium, Karl Marx came first. That Marx beat Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking among other leaders in their fields amounts to a big statement of Marx’s relevance in the new millenium. The relevance of the results is magnified when we…
Umar Faruq Abdallah’s and Tariq Ramadan’s views on the relationship between culture and religion in Islam
One of the misconceptions in the Occidental discourse on Islam is that the latter is a monolithic entity. Islam has spread far and wide across the planet. It has a significant presence from China in the East to Spain and Northern Africa toward the West. And through this broad range, there is considerable diversity and…
The importance of patriotism (aiguozhuyi) for Chinese intellectuals: A study w.r.t. Confucian values, historical events and the idea of ‘national humiliation’
It is a widely acknowledged fact that Chinese society and its prevailing culture are closely linked to its unique conception of terms such as ‘nation’ and ‘patriotism’. Contributing to this uniqueness is the fact that Imperial China of the last five centuries had evaded attempts by European Imperial powers to fully colonize it. Barring the…
Will the “free market” in China encourage the growth of democracy?
That China continues to be a communist state with no meaningful democratic practices in place is a cause of concern for the international community. The Communist Party follows a traditional process of selecting members for its leadership positions. Such being the case, it is impossible for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds to make it to…
A comparison of the development strategies of India and China and their rates of poverty reduction
India and China are both touted to be the next economic superpowers. As both countries are home to close to a third of the world’s population, they have enormous human resources with which to capitalize on. Alongside this natural advantage in terms of human resource, the domestic and foreign policies of both nations have been…
How are Pa Chin’s anarchist politics conveyed in his novel Family?
The novel Family, written by Pa Chin in the early part of the twentieth century, is one of the most influential novels in modern Chinese Literature. Set in the early twentieth century China, the novel has for its backdrop the most eventful period in Chinese history. In retrospect, one could see the early signs of…
The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism by Russell Roberts
Russell Roberts is one of the prominent economic thinkers of our times. His works are known for their insightfulness, accessibility and relevance to current economic problems. The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism is one of his best works as it excels in the above mentioned qualities. The book essentially presents to the…
Affect of Prejudice and Discrimination in China
The demographics and social structures of China are unique among world’s major countries. Close to 90 percent of the Chinese population is derived from the Han ethnic stock. The rest is comprised on small minority groups spread across China. Though the majority of Han Chinese share a common culture, their language is again quite varied,…
The most important criteria for assessing the performance of an economic system
The phenomenon of globalization has become ubiquitous in the new neo-liberal world order of the last few decades. This particular form of capitalism has steadily replaced socialistic and communistic forms of economic arrangement in many countries in the world. While proponents of this global economic model argue that this is the best possible system, there…