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Modernisation ‘Modernisation’ constitutes a key term in contemporary Chinese intellectual discourse. The Chinese word first appeared in the sense of transforming something according to the latest technology and fashion; its earliest occurrence in this sense is found in a 1928 work on Western art by Feng Zikai. Feng, an influential figure in Chinese modern art, employed it with reference to the modernisation of architecture as a result of the introduction of new styles and techniques. Defining ‘modernisation’ with reference to China implies taking a stand in a century-long debate on the position of this country in world history. Chinese intellectuals have discussed what modern is and how it is achieved since the late nineteenth century. The Self-Strengthening Movement (1860–1895), the Hundred Days’ Reforms of 1898, the ‘New Policy’ reforms of 1902–1911, the 1919 May Fourth Movement, the economic and military reforms attempted by the Nationalist government, just to name a few – all aimed...

commercial society’. Tan imagined that in such a society ‘administrative power and ideological faith’ – i.e. the Party-state – would be disempowered by the effects of the economic reforms it implemented. Tan Yuliang also argued that even academic work would be eventually ‘swallowed’ by the commodification monster. As a precaution against this, his essay makes two suggestions to humanists in search of the spirit of the Humanities. To begin with, they should free themselves from their dependence on state power and achieve greater intellectual autonomy. Secondly, they should avoid overrelying on cultural models borrowed from the West and rescue instead elements from China’s pre-industrial tradition as the foundation of a new spirit of the Humanities (Tan Yuliang, 1994). Tan’s remarks highlight an overlapping between the narrative of commodification and that of cultural ‘homogenisation’ (Dirlik, 2001). Modernisation ‘Modernisation’ constitutes a key term in contemporary Chinese intellec...

hina cannot rise peacefully, and if it continues its dramatic economic growth over the next few decades, the United States and China are likely to engage in an intense security competition with considerable potential for war. Most of China’s neighbors, including India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Russia, and Vietnam, will likely join with the United States to contain China’s power. To predict the future in Asia, one needs a theory that explains how rising powers are likely to act and how other states will react to them. My theory of international politics says that the mightiest states attempt to establish hegemony in their own region while making sure that no rival great power dominates another region. The ultimate goal of every great power is to maximize its share of world power and eventually dominate the system. The international system has several defining characteristics. The main actors are states that operate in anarchy—which simply means that there is no higher authority ab...

The modern​ Conservative Party is never happier than when Labour has a unilateral disarmer as its leader. In 1986 Margaret Thatcher arrived at her party’s annual conference in Bournemouth with a spring in her step, despite having endured months of bruising political infighting in the aftermath of the Westland affair. She promptly fell over a manhole cover and sprained her ankle but even this did little to dampen her spirits. The reason for her good mood was that over the previous two weeks both the Liberal and Labour Party Conferences had voted in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament. In the case of the Liberals this merely confirmed Thatcher’s view that they were not to be taken seriously, particularly as the vote set the members at odds with the leadership of the Alliance and represented a direct rebuke of David Owen’s much more hawkish SDP. Labour was different. ‘The Labour Party will never die’ was one of Thatcher’s mantras. What Labour did mattered because it was the only alt...

FROM MONETARY TARGETING TO INFLATION TARGETING: LESSONS FROM THE INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES by Frederic S. Mishkin Graduate School of Business, Columbia University and National Bureau of Economic Research Uris Hall 619 Columbia University New York, New York 10027 Phone: 212-854-3488, Fax: 212-316-9219 E-mail: fsm3@columbia.edu January 2000 Prepared for the Bank of Mexico Conference, "Stabilization and Monetary Policy: The International Experience," Mexico City, November 14-15, 2000. I thank Rodrigo Valdez and Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel for helpful comments. Any views expressed in this paper are those of the author only and not those of Columbia University or the National Bureau of Economic Research. From Monetary Targeting to Inflation Targeting: Lessons from the Industrialized Countries Frederic S. Mishkin JEL No. E5, F33, O54 Abstract The paper looks at the evolution of monetary policy in industrialized countries by evaluating two monetary policy strategies, monetary targeting and...