Futures of Crisis,Futures of Urban Political Theory: Flooding in Asian Coastal Megacities

Coastal megacities across Asia have experienced devastating floods in recent years. Studies project dramatic increases in populations prone to chronic flooding and potential permanent inundation of densely populated urban areas in future decades. The uncertainties presented by future flood risks disrupt prevalent state visions of globalization‐driven prosperity. The emerging reality of a shift in relationship between water and urban settlements has begun driving recalibration of power relations around a range of issues, including longstanding contestations over infrastructure delivery, housing, land rights and political representation. Flood mitigation efforts have played out in debates over displacement and eviction, and distributional concerns about the costs and benefits of these initiatives. This article develops a conceptual framework for assessing the implications of projections of flood risk for urban political theory. The article begins by identifying political contestations that emerge around the varied ways water intersects with urban processes—through dynamics of permeability, flow and drainage, aquifers and pipes, and coastal defense. It then explores how projections of the crisis of flooding have reshaped three contemporary debates in urban politics: those around property rights and the question of ‘informality’; around neoliberalization and financialization; and around the rescaling of the state. Finally, it briefly deploys this framework to examine the case of Jakarta.     

Tourism,heritage and politics: conflicts at the City of David,Jerusalem

This article analyses the development and progress of conflicts at the “City of David” heritage-tourism site in Jerusalem, Israel and the reciprocal relations between heritage sites and conflicts. It offers a comprehensive examination of the development of a major tourist attraction in Israel. Our research is based on the following two methods of qualitative research: (1) in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 43 key stakeholders; (2) textual analysis of current written materials and historical documents. The study investigates the relevant processes and decisions, stakeholder perceptions, the role of the archaeological excavations, and their relationship to the development of conflict. On a broader level, this study formulates a theoretical and practical framework for analysing the development of heritage tourism sites in conflict zones.     

Blocking,attracting, imposing,and aligning: The utility of ASEAN forest and environmental regime policies for strong member states

International institutions, including ‘global regimes’ and ‘regional regimes’, address an increasing number of environmental issues. While in the past much attention was given to global regimes, a plethora of regional institutions and organizations (regional regimes) and their environmental policies have recently gained more momentum in political practice and attention in scholarship. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one such regime, and is actively developing its own policies relating to (e.g.) forests and the environment. These policies necessarily have to be useful for the regime’s member states; however, we further argue, that within the member states the regime’s policies especially have to be useful for specific member states’ bureaucracies, because it is they who actually develop the policies on behalf of the member states. Further, this paper aims to analyse the utility of ASEAN’s forest and environmental policy for specific member states and their responsible bureaucracies. Our analytical framework builds on regional regime theory, bureaucratic politics, and concepts of actor’s utility and interests. It differentiates the utility of the regional regime policies into several functions: (i) blocking unpleasant international initiatives, (ii) attracting international political or financial support, (iii) imposing rules on other member states, and (iv) aligning the interests of member states against external political opponents. Our results indicate that ASEAN’s environmental and forest policies serve all four functions. For instance, through ASEAN structures, Indonesia is blocking strict CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulation of ramin wood to maintain existing ramin protections and business, and the ASEAN Biodiversity Centre is found to be instrumental in blocking ambitious claims towards biodiversity from international actors. In addition, Malaysia and Singapore have imposed an ASEAN wildfire haze pollution agreement onto other member states in order to protect their directly affected interests in air quality and air traffic. ASEAN is also attracting to its members various international environmental funds in areas including climate change, community-based forestry, and sustainable peatland management. Last, member states under ASEAN actively align their positions in international climate negotiations as well as global forest deliberations to enhance their influence. We conclude that policies developed within regional regimes such as ASEAN are aligned with the interests of stronger member states, and their bureaucracies in particular. It remains unclear, however, how powerful these actors need to be in order to make this customization of regime policies valid for them. The results suggest that not only a potential hegemon, but also second or third powers may have this option. At the same time, member states’ activities do not seem to be conducted by states as unitary actors; instead, issue-specific actions are based on the interests of issue-relevant bureaucracies, which are in charge of representing a given member state in a given field of a regime’s policy.     

The politics,satisfaction, loyalty,and success of Ph.D. students in hospitality and tourism

The purpose of this study was to explore the roles of organizational politics in educational institutions with regard to graduate students’ satisfaction with supervision and loyalty toward advisors, and thereby success of students in the Ph.D. program, within the hospitality and tourism discipline. The findings demonstrate that satisfaction and loyalty play important roles in doctoral students’ experiences in graduate education. Several implications for students and faculty are discussed.     

The Primacy of Space in Politics: Bargaining Rights,Freedom and Power in an İstanbul Neighborhood

This article explores and theorizes the ways in which urban space and political contestations are mapped onto each other. The ethnography illustrates the multifaceted transformations in a notoriously secularist neighborhood of ?stanbul, Te?vikiye, as it first turns into a high‐consumption locality in the post‐1980s, then into a high‐conflict urban space in the new millennium on the arrival of Muslim high‐spenders, particularly headscarved women. Aiming to fill the gap left by the absence of spatial analysis from political science and political sociology, I argue that the urban neighborhood becomes central for political contestation when both government and opposition fail to protect and secure liberties and rights. Now that devout Muslims are integrated into highly contested urban sites and share bourgeois lifestyles, ordinary people act in defense of their ‘sphere’ of freedom and privacy. This new territoriality is largely symptomatic of increasing fears of losing freedom, privacy and social status. This spatial defensiveness is reinforced by people's decreasing trust in, and increasing demands from, the state for the protection and security of their rights and liberties. My overarching argument is that exclusive attention to the bipolar clash between devout Muslims and secularists under the rubric of ‘neighborhood wars’ obscures multipolar conflicts around the discontents stemming from authoritarianism and democratization.     

“课程思政”理念下金融学课程的教学设计及创新

将课程思政融入金融学专业的教学是实现立德树人教育教学目标的重要途径。利用金融学专业课程众多历史案例,通过案例教学将金融知识、金融技能、金融素养和思政元素充分结合。运用线上线下相结合的翻转课堂教学方式,践行以学生为主体的教育观,将社会主义核心价值观和中华民族传统文化融入金融专业知识,为中国金融安全和长远发展培养具有专业知识和金融职业道德的全能型金融人才。     

素质教育下高校心理健康与思想政治教育关系

从高校素质教育重思想政治教育轻心理素质教育现状出发,通过分析其原因,指出高校进行心理健康教育已经是刻不容缓的事实,并指出高校应当采取思想政治教育与心理健康教育有机结合的方法,以取的更好的教育效果。     

略论微博问政

微博问政是中国政治舞台上备受瞩目的新宠,为社会主义民主政治理想的实现搭建了可展望美好前景的平台。但是在现有的民主政治和社会管理条件下,微博问政的风光背后还暗藏着隐忧。因此,必须从建立监管机制、提升媒介素养、建立多声音通道三方面完善微博问政未来发展的着力点。     

议题外交透视——兼析中国议题外交

议题是外交的核心概念。国际政治即是议题政治。当前国际政治中,议题即是一个权力工具,同时也是追逐国家利益的重要方式。议题的设置,反映着国际政治中权力的分配状况。有效地开展议题外交,根据本国利益对国际政治议题进行设置、诠释、引导乃至控制是现代国家谋求战略利益的重要手段。本文将对议题及其在国际政治中重要性的缘起进行分析,力求识得议题外交"庐山真面目"。