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This chapter introduces a new framework for testing the recognition/redistribution hypothesis. It develops an index of twenty-three different types of MCPs that have been adopted for three different types of minority groups (immigrants, national minorities, and indigenous peoples). Western countries are then categorized in terms of their level of MCPs. Whether countries with higher levels of MCPs have faced an erosion of the welfare state as compared to countries with lower levels of MCPs is tested. It is shown that there is no negative correlation between the strength of a country's commitment to MCPs and its ability to sustain welfare spending or economic redistribution. The chapter also examines the heterogeneity/redistribution hypothesis, and shows that this too is overstated. In general, the size of immigrant groups, national minorities, and indigenous peoples in Western countries does not affect a country's ability to sustain its welfare commitments, although a rapid change in the size of immigrant groups does seem to have an effect. Yet even here, the authors of this chapter argue, there are hints that adopting MCPs can help to mitigate whatever negative effect a rapidly increasing immigrant population may have.

The first 18 months after the Tiananmen bloodshed marked the height of global criticism of China's human rights record, but the years 1992–1995 quickly gave some indication of the difficulties that would be faced by those who wished to move China beyond tactical concessions towards genuine acceptance of the validity of some of the core human rights norms. Major Western states, together with Japan, continued to reduce the bilateral pressure, for economic and strategic reasons, and China's recapturing of its high economic growth rates from 1992 enhanced its ability to pose policy dilemmas for those interested in competing in the Chinese market, as well as for far weaker countries that were poised to benefit from China's economic dealings with them. The Beijing leadership, which was plainly on the defensive with respect to its international interlocutors on human rights, decided to renew its efforts to regain the initiative. China's 1991 White Paper, which signalled limited engagement in the human rights discourse, was a major first stage in that strategy, providing China with an authoritative text upon which to draw in response to international criticisms. Beijing, however, went further and tried to link up with other governments in East Asia in the exploitation of a common dislike of Western triumphalism, and a common commitment to ‘Asian values’, questioning the universal application of democracy and human rights. The Chinese leadership began to launch more extensive, direct attacks on Western countries and on the major international NGOs. Nevertheless, the relative density of the human rights regime ensured that some constraints still operated on China's international diplomacy, and as the major states’ sanctions policies weakened, governments tended to make greater use of such multilateral institutions as the UN. The different sections of the chapter are: The Uses of the 1991 White Paper; Relativism versus Universalism —in democracy and human rights; The Economic Weight of China; The Rootedness of Human Rights Policy; The UN Commission on Human Rights; China and the Thematic Mechanisms — the work of the UN Special Rapporteurs and the new 1995 Chinese White Paper; and Conclusion.

This chapter focuses on the tight social controls, discrimination against and very limited rights of foreign migrants. As subcultures, foreign migrant groups are permanent and non-permanent residents integrally tied in with Japanese society. They are the most powerless of all subordinate subculture groups in Japan. As foreign nationals without Japanese citizenship, they are denied political representation and are ineligible for nearly all jobs of public employment and several benefits and privileges accorded to Japanese nationals. This chapter discusses inequality for foreign migrant groups, which include all foreign migrant groups with a population of around 10,000 divided into three broad regional categories: Asian, South American and Western countries. It presents a class analysis with three interrelated parts. The first part of this class analysis details and describes the class status of the ten largest foreign migrant groups in Japan, which represent nearly 92% of the total registered foreign migrant population. The second part of the class analysis includes smaller but significant foreign migrant groups. The final and third part of this class schema consolidates and brings together the larger and smaller foreign migrant groups, elaborates on the ascribed occupational status of foreign migrant groups, and equates and charts the class stratification of foreign migrant groups into ascribed occupational categories.

The pursuit of an absolute majority ruling is characterized by resistance against a ruling class more commonly referred to as populism which displays a sense of popular and militant nationalism as well as electoral opportunism. Its contradicting features make it difficult to advance as a unified force as it is articulated by new politicians to conduct offensive campaigns and radical change in order to hold office. There is a distinction between authoritarian and democratic populism as drawn out by political theorists. This chapter discusses the contemporary revival of populist aspect when it comes to leadership in Western democracies as prominent politicians focused on seeking and holding office to become national government leaders. It looks at populist leadership by examining its prevalence in unexpected venues such as that of Western countries.

This chapter provides a more detailed look at the landscape of American poverty, including the manner in which poverty is measured, lessons learned with respect to the patterns and features of U.S. poverty, the extent of poverty in the United States compared with poverty in other Western industrialized countries, and an understanding of the human meaning and pain associated with poverty.

This chapter examines the structural transnationalization of the online game industry, recent trends of transnational corporations (TNCs), and their engagement in the online game industry to determine whether these trends confirm that TNCs play pivotal roles in the cultural market. To understand fully the nature of transnationalization, the focus is on capital flow, people and financing, and the ways in which the online game industry has developed its transnationalization process. The chapter also explores whether emerging online game firms, as part of the new cultural industry in non-Western countries, in particular Korea and China, have changed the traditional form of the global flow of cultural products and capital—from Western countries to non-Western countries—by blurring the dichotomy of the West and the East. In other words, it discusses whether the transnationalization of the online game industry has promoted a shift of traditional interpretations of cultural dominance by Western countries in the global market in the midst of globalization.

The medical procedures of the Western world have influenced China with their beliefs and practices; China forgot many of the natural ways of giving birth as they began to adopt surgical practice and new medicines influenced by Western countries, and this caused more death. In Feng Shaoqu's description, the complaints that Chinese male doctors had historically directed against midwives were now projected onto Western doctors; whether out of ignorance or cunning, they violated the innate rhythms of birth. Feng also pointed out that birth was meant to be easy, and he echoed the animal analogies that figured so prominently in the Treaties on Easy Childbirth.

This chapter examines the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) from 1969 to 1975. It contends that trust was both a tool and objective of the conference, detailing how, even in the absence of trust, a major international agreement was concluded with the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the outcome of the CSCE talks. In a clear attempt to advance their respective interests, Warsaw Pact member states focused on state sovereignty and the immutability of post-World War II European borders as a cornerstone of their definition of international security, whereas North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states emphasized transparency, freer movement, and human rights, as well as confidence-building measures. As this chapter argues, the “tangled lines of trust and distrust” at the CSCE among the United States, the Western European countries, the neutral states, and the Soviet Union were incredibly complex, but they eventually secured the conference's success.

This chapter reveals that Russia is redefining its sociopolitical fabric while focusing on forging new strategic relationships with Western countries. The country has realized that rigid principles of governance and policymaking cannot help it in realizing its economic and political goals, and it is formulating liberal domestic and foreign policies to forge better relations with the West, deriving benefits for its economy and the people. The leaders want to rebuild Russia into a powerful and influential country in the global context, and to build relationships with the West based on mutual trust and benefits without any ill will or mistrust. Russia has realized that only fruitful interactions and strategic partnerships with the West can help it in fulfilling its economic and political ambitions.