BRANDEIS JOURNAL OF POLITICS
  • About
    • About Us
    • Meet Our Staff
    • Get Involved
    • Submission Process
  • Current Issue
    • Letter From the Editors
    • Debt As A Tool Of Inequity
    • A Comparison of Unemployment Insurance In Western Europe & The United States
    • Charter Schools: One Path To The American Dream
    • Re-examining Private Education And Social Inequality In Chile
    • Bargaining Against Americans: How Public Sector Unions Undermine Accountability And Hurt Citizens
    • Could the European Union’s Agricultural Policy Serve as a Framework For US Agricultural Policy
    • Reducing Emissions in Developing Nations
    • No-Excuse Absentee Voting: A Fair Equalizer
    • Abortion Rights: Safeguarding Women’s Liberty
    • Diplomatic Immunity: Outdated, Unethical, And In Need of Reform
  • Archive
    • Letters From the Editor >
      • Fall 2018
      • Spring 2019
    • Sub-Saharan Africa Section >
      • Burgeoning Cities and Suffering Publics: The Lagosian Infrastructure Trade-Off
      • An Explosive Climate: Spiraling Security Politics in the Lake Chad Basin
      • Africa's Digital Advance
      • The Language of Crisis
      • The African Gold Rush
      • Adowa Dance: Black Feminist Practice
      • The Panda’s Approach to Pandemonium: Managing Corruption in Nigeria
      • Student Movements in South Africa: Decolonization, Language, and Racial Justice
      • Foreign Investment in Africa: A Legacy of Unequal Relationships
      • The Politics of Inclusion
      • Uganda: The Politics of Persecution
      • The Politics of Destabilization: Interpreting Al Shabaab’s “Terrorist Attack” in Kenya
      • Senegal's Arduous Path Forward
      • Political Relations with Major Powers
      • A Half-Hearted Commitment to the Central African Republic
      • A Conflict-Free Congo: Can Corporations Revise Their Use of Conflict Minerals?
      • Rituals or Rights? The Politics of Female Genital Modification in Somalia
      • Mali: Tensions Between Islam, Ethnic Differences and the State
      • Manufactured Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa
      • Two Nigerias in Conflict: The Emergence of Boko Haram and its Implications for Nigerian Stability
      • US-Africa Summit: A Turning Point in Relations
      • A Change in Leadership at a Critical Period
      • The African Union and the International Criminal Court: Selective Justice?
      • Is the Fairytale Over For South Africa?
      • Interpreting US AFRICOM Toward a Future of Military Engagement on the African Continent
      • From Decentralization to Secession: Tuareg Rebels and the Quest for Balance in Mali
      • The Dragon's Gold: Chinese Investment in Africa
      • Deconstructing Boko Haram: Institutional Reform on the Path to Peace
      • Oil Money: Ghana’s Economic Considerations in the Global Oil Surplus
      • Protests in Ethiopia
      • Africa's Infrastructure: Leapfrogging the Traditional
    • Americas Section >
      • Three Kinds of Representation: The Case of Argentinian Women in Congress
      • American Military Presence in Okinawa: An Obsolete Endeavor
      • Abolish ICE: A History of the Agency and The New Movement for its Elimination
      • I Don’t Want to Talk About Vietnam”: U.S. Counterinsurgency between Saigon and Baghdad
      • Refugees in Canada: A Closer Look at the Safe Third Country Agreement
      • Sovereignty Under Attack?: The Costa Rican Case
      • Who, When, and How? Social Democracy Awaits in Cuba
      • Ni Una Menos: Twitter's Role in Fighting Femicide in Argentina
      • American Saber-Rattling Not Enough to Destroy Trade Relations with Canada
      • The Beaver and the Dragon: Canada's Strategic Embrace of China
      • Room For Improvement: Macri’s Economic Reforms, Argentine Political History, and the Argentinian Poor’s Protests
      • The More, The Merrier: Democracy, Corruption, and Impunity in Honduras
      • The Problem of Bouterse
      • The Socio-Economic Risk Factors that Culminated in the Zika Virus Outbreak
      • Trump’s Unfettered Populism and What It Could Mean for U.S. Foreign Relations
      • Cyber Attacks and Political Hacks: Implications of the 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment Hack
      • The Past, Present, and Future of the American Immigration System
      • The Path to a Global Internet
      • Threat from the East: China's Pivot to Latin America
      • State of Anarchy: The International Void Created by Maras in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
      • Redefining Cuban Relations: A Closer Look at the End of the Cuban Embargo
      • The Dilemma of Mutual Understanding
      • The End of an Era: The Normalization of U.S.-Cuban Relations
      • Leader by Default: Why the Sun Has Yet to Set on American Global Leadership
      • Colombia and the FARC: Peace at Last?
      • Brazil’s Elections: The Long-Term Implications of a Tight Presidential Race
      • The Enduring Popularity of Rafael Correa and the New Left
      • The Secret Ingredient: Why Drones are Vital to U.S. Hegemony
      • Effects of Snowden’s NSA Leaks on U.S. Foreign Relations
      • The Failure of The United States’ Arab Spring Strategy
      • Apocalypse Postponed: The Enduring Importance of Maintaining the Arms Control Regime
      • Judicial Review or Institutionalized Racism?
      • Negotiating with North Korea: Try and Try Again
      • Celebrating Fifty Years of Diplomatic Gridlock: U.S.-Cuba Relations in 2012
      • Regional Integration and Private Sector Growth in Cuba
      • The Prospects of Slavery Reparations in the Caribbean
      • Protests Reflect Infrastructural Inadequacies in Brazil
      • History in the Making or a Recipe for Disaster? El Salvador’s Gang Truce Examined
      • Debating Iran: Can the United States Make a Deal with the Devil?
      • Priority for 21st Century Defense: A Sustainable U.S. Military Strategy
      • The Rise of Drones in American Foreign Policy
      • From a Dirt Road to a Green Cup: Brazil 2014
      • Leftward Shifts and Power Shifts: Latin America’s Pink Tide
    • Asia-Pacfic Section >
      • No Country for the Rohingya: An Explanation of the Rohingya Refugee Crisis
      • The Future of American Trade Fear in East Asia
      • Entering The Chinese Room: China's Quest to Lead a New World Order
      • A Second Red Wedding: The Complications of Sino-Russian Relations
      • The Break Up: China and North Korea’s Toxic Relationship
      • Instability in the Middle Kingdom: The Shaky Foundations of China's Rise
      • The New Red Scare: An Examination of Cross-Strait Skepticism
      • A Realistic Move: China's New Silk Road
      • The Cost of Voting: How Xi Jinping Simultaneously Increased Democracy and Authoritarianism
      • Fishing For Trouble: The Economic Costs of Conflict in the South China Sea
      • The Danger of the Thucydides Trap: Xi Jinping's Visit to the United States
      • David vs. Goliath: The Philippines-China Arbitration Case
      • Xi's Return to Maoism
      • A Cause for Optimism?: China’s Energy Policy Post-COP21
      • The Show Goes On: Vietnam's Balancing Act
      • Redefining The State: Nationalism and the Push for Constitutional Revision in Japan
      • China’s Resources Policy: Expanding Influence
      • China’s Maritime Strategy: The Pursuit of Regional Dominance
      • China’s Geo-economics: Politics of Inequality
      • China’s Transition of Power: Domestic Struggles for Political Dominance
      • Confrontations Between Tibetan Protestors and the CCP Police Continue
      • 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster and Aftermath
      • Why Would China Want a Democratized Hong Kong?
      • East Asian Regional Integration
      • Stronger Together: A Case for ASEAN Military Integration
      • Capitalism Fights to Survive in China’s Special Administrative Regions
      • China’s Increased Involvement in Afghanistan Divergent from U.S. Wants
      • The Future of the Tibetan Problem
      • The Geopolitical Implications of the Indo-Japanese Abe-Modi Summit
      • Australia Experiences Heightened Degree of Geopolitical Influence U.S. and China Eye Each Other’s Moves in the Asia Pacific
      • Xi Jinping’s AntiCorruption Campaign: Stalinist Purge, or Second Chance for the Chinese Communist Party?
      • South China Sea Territorial Disputes ‘Rock The Boat’ of Regional Security
    • Europe Section >
      • Nominal Interests: A Breakthrough in the Ongoing Name Dispute Between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece
      • The Reinvention of the National Front
      • Democracy in Transition: Hungary's Descent into Authoritarianism
      • (Un)Orthodox Nationalism
      • Something is Rotting in the State of Denmark: Ethnic Nationalism Takes Root in Scandinavia
      • Blood, Oil, and Tears: Azerbaijan's Tradeoff Between Corruption and Growth
      • The Bear Awakens: Russia's Strategy to Sow Chaos in the West
      • Russia’s Return to Religion Signals Changes in Politics and Society, but Not Secularization
      • Spain: The Forgotten Frontier
      • Bye Bye Britain: Euroscepticism Threatens EU Solidarity in June Referendum
      • Europe's Migrant Dumping Ground: Serbia's Refugee Crisis
      • Regional Reconciliation: Evaluating Whether Cuba Will Join the OAS and the Subsequent Implications
      • Has Europe Got Milk?
      • Lifting the Iran Curtain: The Future of Economic Relations Between the EU and Tehran
      • Europe’s Take on the Rising Cost of Healthcare
      • Contrasting Eurozone Economies: The Good, the Bad, and the Corrupt
      • Europe's Take on Income Inequality
      • Russia’s Role in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Sustainer of Peace or Tension?
      • The Failure of Austerity
      • The Rise of Kazakhstan: A Solution for the EU’s Russian Energy Dependence?
      • Scotland After the Independence Referendum
      • Closing the European Security Gap
      • Europe Trading Up: The Strategic Importance of the TTIP
      • The UK to Tighten Immigration Restrictions
      • Old Powers, New Glory: U.K. and France’s Changing Roles in the New European Commission
      • Greece’s Political Pressure Cooker: the Rise of Radicalism
      • Caps Off: Analyzing the EU's Influence on Swiss Immigration Policy
      • Bulgaria and Romania’s Entry into the Schengen Treaty to be Further Postponed
      • Catalan Secession and Subsidiarity
      • The View from Independence Square
      • US-Russian Antagonism Reignited Over Human Rights Policy
      • The Dynamics of the Russia-China Relationship
      • European Action to Limit Aviation Greenhouse Gas Emission
    • Middle East and North Africa Section >
      • Confessionalism, the Rise of Hizbullah, and the May 2018 Elections in Lebanon
      • The Dilemma of Rebuilding the Cultural Heritage of Aleppo
      • Stars and Stripes in the Middle East: American Involvement in the Yemen Civil War
      • Unlikely Bedfellows: Israeli-Saudi Security Ties and the Middle East's Worst Kept Secret
      • The Constructed People: Kurdistan's Challenge to Iraqi Nation-Building
      • Globalism, Nationalism, and the Armenian Diaspora
      • The Turkish Coup Attempt: Was it an Erdogan Hoax?
      • Counterterrorism and Monarchical Power in Morocco
      • State and Familial Prostitution in Egypt
      • Post-Revolution Tunisia: The Challenges of Regional Inequality to the Political Transition
      • Examining Jordan's Influence in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
      • Democracy in Tunisia
      • A Cold Peace: The Future of Egyptian-Israeli Relations
      • Can He Do It? Examining the Significance of Hassan Rouhani Regarding Iranian Relations
      • The Iranian Interim Deal: Perspectives and Implications
      • Transcending the Sunni-Shia Divide; An Overview of Al Qaeda-Iranian Relations
      • Turkey: The Middle East’s “It” Country, or Has It Outgrown Its Fifteen Minutes of Fame?
      • Religious Minorities in the MENA: The Baha'is and Druze in Israel
      • The Invisible Hand Behind the Arab Spring
      • Egypt as a Litmus Test
      • Instability in Yemen: A Rebel Takeover
      • Hitting Home: Understanding the Appeal of the Islamic State in the West
      • Lessons From Afghanistan
      • The Role of the US in Mediating the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
      • The Everlasting Struggle: The Genius of Erdogan’s Political Rhetoric
      • Libya: Before and After the Fall of Muammar Gaddafi
      • Recent NGO Crisis Exposes Divisions in Egyptian Politics
      • The Revolution Will Be Live Streamed: The Role of the Internet in the Arab Spring: The Role of the Internet in the Arab Spring
      • Lebanon to join the Arab Spring?
      • The Persian Gulf and U.S. Strategy: Past and Future
      • Disintigrating Under Pressure: Saudi-U.S. Relations and the Syrian Conflict
      • Assessing the Effectiveness of Micro-finance Institutions in Jordan and Beyond
      • Prosecution, Politics, and Peace: Palestine’s Admittance to the International Criminal Court
    • Central and South Asia Section >
      • GST: India's Largest Economic Reform Since 1992
      • Investing in Kazakhstan: A Model of Chinese Power Acquisition
      • The Rise of Intolerance in India
      • The Past Guiding the Present: How Mongolia’s Soviet Past is Shaping its Development in the 21st Century
      • Will India Choose Israeli Technology or Iranian Oil?
      • The 2014 Indian Elections: The Rise of the BJP
      • Examining Modi's Defense Policy
      • The Indo-U.S. Relationship: Through the Lens of Republic Day
      • Hegemon Games: The Indo-Pak Question
      • Growing Forces: Foreign Investment in Central Asia
      • The Rupee Stumbles – What’s India’s Next Step?
      • The Enemy Behind the Gates: Pakistan's Teetering Talks
      • Indian Foreign Policy: In Search of a Direction
      • The Collapse of the India-Pakistan Talks
      • The Global Race to Myanmar
      • Trade: Is This the Way Ahead for Resolving Outstanding Disputes Between India and Pakistan?
    • Theme Section >
      • Economic Effects of Brexit: Should The UK Leave?
      • Will Demographics Drive China’s Debt Towards Disaster?
      • Using Realpolitik to Understand American Involvement in NATO
      • Security, Money, and Culture: The Role of the WTO in the Resilience of the U.S.-Japan Alliance
      • The Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Influence, Trade, and Resources
      • The Responsibility to Protect: A Well-Meaning yet Inadequate Solution to the Battle Between Sovereignty and Humanitarian Intervention
      • Disconnecting Dissent: The Dilemma of Privatized Public Speech and Free Information Online
      • Who Owns the Internet?: Control and Mastery of the New Public Sphere
      • Online Community Building: The Emotional, Social, and Political Challenges of Adapting to a New Way of Being Together
      • “The Great Firewall” as an Inefficient Barrier
      • Borderline Open: The Barriers of Schengen
      • The World’s Most Dangerous Border: Refugees in the Mediterranean Are Fighting for Their Lives
      • Overcoming the Physical Barriers of Natural Disasters: Despair and Hope in post-Hurricane Dominica
      • From Past to Present: The Porous Nature of the DRC’s Borders
      • India's Struggle for Gender Equality
      • A False Sense of Protection: Failure of the UN to Address Allegations of Sexual Assault Against Peacekeepers
      • Scapegoats of Politics: How the Malaysian Transgender Community Fell Victim to the Politicization of Islam
      • Adversity and Perseverance: The Story of Bangladesh's Garment Worker
      • "Bye, Honey!": Brazilian Women Fight for Their Rights After Dilma Rousseff's Impeachment
      • Mexico's Unstable Democracy: Self-Defense Groups, Cartels, and the Struggle Over the Rule of Law
      • Obama to Trump: Immigration Policy Rhetoric and Resistance
      • Translating Democratic Theory into Constitutional Design: A Conversation with Professor Jefferey A. Lenowitz
      • The Reign In Spain: Analyzing the Catalan Threat to European Democratic Order
      • Reaching for the Sky: The New Age of Connection in Sri Lanka
      • The Battle for Ukraine
      • North Korea’s Strategy of Escalating Threats and Its Problems
      • Accusations of Pinkwashing in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
      • Economies in Transformation, A Continent in Transition
      • The Dynastic Dictatorship Continued: The Internal Dynamics of North Korea and What to Expect From the New Leader
      • Russia's Gas Diplomacy
      • The "Oldest Profession" Organizes: A Conversation with Professor Gowri Vijayakumar
      • An Amazonian Legacy of Military Rule
      • Soldiers of Destiny, Deferred: Marriage Equality and Reproductive Rights in Irish Politics
      • A Tale of Two Courts: Why Chinese Capitalism Does Not Come With the Rule of Law
      • A Failure to Rise to the Occasion: Syria and the Future of “Responsibility to Protect”
      • South Sudan: Democracy Or Despair
      • Protests and Repression in a Digital Age
      • Wiping the Slate Clean: Modi's Water Conundrum
      • Increasing Oil Production: A Sound Approach to Achieving U.S. Energy Independence?
      • Water's Influence on Middle Eastern Policy: A Conversation with Dr. Mahmoud Abu-Allaban
      • A New Era for the Nile: The Effects of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
      • Getting Past the Green Monster: An Analysis of Germany's Energy Transition
      • Theme Section Graphics
      • The African Union and a New Scramble: A Continent in Transition
      • Regional Perspectives
      • Pervasive Issues in China's Continued Urbanization
      • Art, Power, Politics, and Protest in Saudi Arabia
      • Should Europe Brace Itself for Brexit
      • Energy Analysis
      • Composition & Organs
      • African Union Timeline
      • The Rohingya Refugee Crisis
      • Interview with Dr. Sung-Yoon Lee, Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor in Korean Studies
      • A Historical and Political Understanding of Aid: The Implications and Conditions of Aid Packages
      • Park Geun-hye’s “New Kind of Korea” Prospects for Re-envisioned Inter-Korean Relations
      • Interview with Professor Nyangoni
      • Interview With Professor Padraig Carmody of Trinity College of Dublin, Author of The New Scramble for Africa
      • Timeline of U.S. Refugee Resettlement
      • A closer look into North Korea
      • How Does North Korea Stack Up?
      • According to the Expert: Interview With Professor Eva Bellin
      • Fulfilling an Ideological Destiny? An Insight into United States Policy Regarding the Syrian Conflict
      • PIS Off: Polish Women Mobilize to Reject Tightening of Abortion Restrictions
      • Brain Drain in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Downside of Migration
      • Grand Master and Pawns: Looking at the United States and Russia
      • In Putin’s Element: Why the U.S. Needs to Let Russia Take the Lead in Destroying Syria’s Chemical Weapons
      • In Syria, It’s the End of the Line
      • Greenback Boogie: The Story of Remittances from Central Asian Immigrants in Russia
      • Regional Perspectives
      • The EU as a Passive Actor
      • In Search of Home: The Impact of Syrian Refugees on the International Community
      • Vladimir Putin: The New Leader of the Free World?
      • Modi's Pakistan Strategy
      • Resistance Infographic
      • Mexico's Other Border: Human Rights Abuses of the Trans-North American Migrant Crisis
      • Most Significant Refugee Producing Countries
      • Syrian Conflict Statistics
      • The View From Moscow: Contention and Cooperation in the Middle East
      • A Discussion of the EU with Lorenzo Bini Smaghi
      • EU Timeline
      • Turkey's Membership in the EU: A Holy Venture?
      • Al-Shabaab and the Threats Posed to International Peace and Security
      • Interview with Professor Robert J. Art
      • Instability and Nationalism: Why Ecuador's Colombian Refugees Face Discrimination
      • ISIS Timeline
      • Interview with Professor Gary Jefferson
      • Contemporary Cyber-Terrorism
      • ISIS’ Rise to Prominence and Implications for the Future: A Conversation with Ambassador Dennis Ross
      • Qatar: An Uncertain Ally Against IS
      • Red to Pink: The Continued Evolution of the Chinese Internet Space
      • Russia’s Separatist Subversions: Return of the Steamroller, or Running Out of Steam?
      • Shifting Sands: Arab Tacit Support of Israel during the Recent Gaza Conflict
      • North Korea’s Other Crisis
      • China’s Korean Dilemma
      • State-Sponsored Separatism: the Specter of Russian Influence in Post-Revolution Ukraine
      • The Iraqi Crisis: The Effects of Sectarian Politics and Religious Divides
      • The Islamic State and the Rise of Western Jihadism: Interview with Professor Jytte Klausen
      • Regions Under Threat By Global Climate Change
    • Afro and African American Studies >
      • Malcolm X: A Misunderstood Legacy
    • Sociology >
      • The Implications of the Melting Pot: Examining the Political Socialization Process for Children of Immigrants
      • The Modern WelfareWarfare Nexus
    • Economics >
      • The Demise of Middle-Class America: Corporate-Performance Focused Development, Automation, and the Middle-Class Squeeze
      • Equity and Efficiency: Reconsidering the “Big Tradeoff”
      • Low Cost Carriers and the Future of Air Travel in Asia
  • Full Journal PDFs
    • Fall 2012
    • Spring 2013
    • Fall 2013
    • Spring 2014
    • Fall 2014
    • Spring 2015
    • Fall 2015
    • Spring 2016
    • Fall 2016
    • Spring 2017
    • Fall 2017
    • Spring 2018
    • Fall 2018
    • Spring 2019
    • Fall 2019
    • 2020-2021
    • 2022-2023
  • CONTACT
China’s Geo-economics: Politics of Inequality
      by Sungtae Park


       Nature of every country, including its economy, is defined by its geography. The same holds true for China. Geo-economics of China is defined by two features. First, China has a very large and dense population even relative to its large landmass, particularly in terms of arable land. Second, China’s geographic features provide for an uneven development throughout the country. These two features result in an economy with notable inequality in wealth, one that is politically difficult to maintain. 

      The main geo-economic feature that has characterized China since the ancient times was that the country has the second largest landmass in the world yet is overpopulated. The top five largest countries in the world besides China (in terms of landmass) all have relatively small populations compared to their landmass. In fact, the country is mostly made up of mountains, hills, and other difficult lands, such as the Mongolian desert and Siberia in the North and the mountains and the plateaus in the West and the Southwest as well as jungles and hills in the South and Southeast. Only areas of arable land that China possesses are the North China Plain (China’s historic heartland), Manchuria (the rich black soil), and the Sichuan Basin (the breadbasket of China). The so called real population density, which measures population per arable land, reveals a startling figure with regards to the amount of China’s arable land relative to other large countries. Russia has a hundred seventeen people per square kilometer, the United States has a hundred seventy-nine people per square kilometer, Canada has seventy eight people per square kilometer, Brazil has three hundred eighteen people per square kilometer, and Australia only has forty three people per square kilometer. China, on the other hand, has nine hundred forty three people per square kilometer, nearly three times as much as Brazil’s real population density. 

       The dearth of arable land relative to China’s population has always meant that there were never enough resources to go around for everyone in China, leading to a small percentage of the country’s population with political power becoming rich and the rest remaining poor. Because of China is an immensely large country and is extremely diverse in nature (why it was historically called the Chinese empire, not the nation of China), a centralized authoritarian government was always required to keep the country stable and unified. The centralized political system, however, often led to a small percentage of China’s population using its power to amass wealth at the expense of the majority of the population, as is the case in most authoritarian countries. Because China is particularly resource-scarce, the general population was always vulnerable to economic downturns and especially famines. China has been called the land of famine and not without a good reason. The country has experienced 1,828 major recorded famines between 108 BC and 1911 AD, nearly one every year. When China performed well economically, domestic uprisings could be managed. On the other hand, when famines and other economic downturns spiraled out of control, they triggered mass uprisings that overthrew the government in power. The scarcity of usable land and resources and resulting inequality in wealth between those with power and those without have always been the main sources of political instability in China. 

      Such a condition has not changed throughout China’s modern history. When Mao Zedong unified China, he sought solve the country’s historic problem by creating a society where wealth is equally distributed among all people. His Communist experiment, however, only ended up Two faces of China Two faces of China creating mass starvation. Today, China has nearly completely shorn itself of the Communist ideology and has reverted back to the oligarchic system that it always has been throughout its history. A small percentage of China’s population continues to monopolize wealth. Euromonitor statistics show that only 80 million people make up China’s middle class, which is defined as the households (not individuals) who earn $10,000 or above annually, meaning that the middle class in China is less than 6 percent of its entire population. Nearly half the population still earns less than $1000 per household annually, while the remaining 45 percent of the population earn less than $3000 per household annually. While the current socioeconomic condition would remain stable if China’s rapid growth were to continue (experts say that China needs to grow at a minimum of 8 percent per year to prevent rate of unemployment from rising), the economic crisis that China is expected to face this year could soon become a political challenge. 

       The second geo-economic feature that has had heavy impacts on China since the late Qing dynasty is the discrepancy in development between China’s coastal and interior regions. China is a large country. Yet, it does not have easy transportation and communication routes, namely rivers and fat lands that could be used to develop the country’s interior. The United States, for example, while it is a large country, borders two oceans. At the same time, the Mississippi River and the wide plains of the Midwest make the interior of the United States easily accessible, while capital and goods can easily move up and down from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico. China, on the other hand, only has a single coast line, while the Yellow River and the Yangtze River can only go too far before they move into mountains. Transporting capital and goods into China’s interior is simply too costly relative to its benefits. Because only the coastal regions and portions of the Northern China plain have had easy access to foreign trade and capital, they became very wealthy relative to China’s rural interior regions. 

      The inequality between China’s coastal and interior regions has been a major source of instability, since the late-Qing era. Before China was forcibly opened up by the British in the 19th century, the Chinese government did not have to worry too much about the discrepancy in development because China traded very little with the West. After the opening, however, coastal cities, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, became very wealthy, while the living standard in interior regions remained very much the same, giving rise to the discontent that Mao Zedong was able to utilize to gain support. When Mao unified China, he completely closed of China from the West, temporarily eliminating the inequality between the coast and the interior. When Deng Xiaoping reopened China to the West, he recreated the inequality between the coast and the interior yet again. China currently faces two major problems from the resulting inequality. First, at the level of the masses, the people from the interior are discontent at the fact that the coastal regions are significantly richer. Second, at the elite level, government officials from the coastal and interior regions promote differing views on how China should develop. The Shanghai clique benefits immensely from the coastal areas’ development, while the Tuanpai clique prefers that China pay more attention to developing the country’s interior. The central government at Beijing must juggle these two factions and their views while maintaining the Chinese Communist Party’s overall unity or at least the appearance of. 

      While China has indeed been growing at a miraculous pace for the past thirty years, a close examination of the country’s geo-economics reveals much socioeconomic vulnerability. Despite being the world’s second largest economy, China has to deal with the fact that most of its citizens are very poor. At the same time, the country has to deal with the discrepancy in development between China’s coastal and interior regions. Dealing with these issues is becoming more and more challenging for the Chinese Communist Party, particularly as an economic slowdown is beginning to affect China
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • About
    • About Us
    • Meet Our Staff
    • Get Involved
    • Submission Process
  • Current Issue
    • Letter From the Editors
    • Debt As A Tool Of Inequity
    • A Comparison of Unemployment Insurance In Western Europe & The United States
    • Charter Schools: One Path To The American Dream
    • Re-examining Private Education And Social Inequality In Chile
    • Bargaining Against Americans: How Public Sector Unions Undermine Accountability And Hurt Citizens
    • Could the European Union’s Agricultural Policy Serve as a Framework For US Agricultural Policy
    • Reducing Emissions in Developing Nations
    • No-Excuse Absentee Voting: A Fair Equalizer
    • Abortion Rights: Safeguarding Women’s Liberty
    • Diplomatic Immunity: Outdated, Unethical, And In Need of Reform
  • Archive
    • Letters From the Editor >
      • Fall 2018
      • Spring 2019
    • Sub-Saharan Africa Section >
      • Burgeoning Cities and Suffering Publics: The Lagosian Infrastructure Trade-Off
      • An Explosive Climate: Spiraling Security Politics in the Lake Chad Basin
      • Africa's Digital Advance
      • The Language of Crisis
      • The African Gold Rush
      • Adowa Dance: Black Feminist Practice
      • The Panda’s Approach to Pandemonium: Managing Corruption in Nigeria
      • Student Movements in South Africa: Decolonization, Language, and Racial Justice
      • Foreign Investment in Africa: A Legacy of Unequal Relationships
      • The Politics of Inclusion
      • Uganda: The Politics of Persecution
      • The Politics of Destabilization: Interpreting Al Shabaab’s “Terrorist Attack” in Kenya
      • Senegal's Arduous Path Forward
      • Political Relations with Major Powers
      • A Half-Hearted Commitment to the Central African Republic
      • A Conflict-Free Congo: Can Corporations Revise Their Use of Conflict Minerals?
      • Rituals or Rights? The Politics of Female Genital Modification in Somalia
      • Mali: Tensions Between Islam, Ethnic Differences and the State
      • Manufactured Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa
      • Two Nigerias in Conflict: The Emergence of Boko Haram and its Implications for Nigerian Stability
      • US-Africa Summit: A Turning Point in Relations
      • A Change in Leadership at a Critical Period
      • The African Union and the International Criminal Court: Selective Justice?
      • Is the Fairytale Over For South Africa?
      • Interpreting US AFRICOM Toward a Future of Military Engagement on the African Continent
      • From Decentralization to Secession: Tuareg Rebels and the Quest for Balance in Mali
      • The Dragon's Gold: Chinese Investment in Africa
      • Deconstructing Boko Haram: Institutional Reform on the Path to Peace
      • Oil Money: Ghana’s Economic Considerations in the Global Oil Surplus
      • Protests in Ethiopia
      • Africa's Infrastructure: Leapfrogging the Traditional
    • Americas Section >
      • Three Kinds of Representation: The Case of Argentinian Women in Congress
      • American Military Presence in Okinawa: An Obsolete Endeavor
      • Abolish ICE: A History of the Agency and The New Movement for its Elimination
      • I Don’t Want to Talk About Vietnam”: U.S. Counterinsurgency between Saigon and Baghdad
      • Refugees in Canada: A Closer Look at the Safe Third Country Agreement
      • Sovereignty Under Attack?: The Costa Rican Case
      • Who, When, and How? Social Democracy Awaits in Cuba
      • Ni Una Menos: Twitter's Role in Fighting Femicide in Argentina
      • American Saber-Rattling Not Enough to Destroy Trade Relations with Canada
      • The Beaver and the Dragon: Canada's Strategic Embrace of China
      • Room For Improvement: Macri’s Economic Reforms, Argentine Political History, and the Argentinian Poor’s Protests
      • The More, The Merrier: Democracy, Corruption, and Impunity in Honduras
      • The Problem of Bouterse
      • The Socio-Economic Risk Factors that Culminated in the Zika Virus Outbreak
      • Trump’s Unfettered Populism and What It Could Mean for U.S. Foreign Relations
      • Cyber Attacks and Political Hacks: Implications of the 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment Hack
      • The Past, Present, and Future of the American Immigration System
      • The Path to a Global Internet
      • Threat from the East: China's Pivot to Latin America
      • State of Anarchy: The International Void Created by Maras in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
      • Redefining Cuban Relations: A Closer Look at the End of the Cuban Embargo
      • The Dilemma of Mutual Understanding
      • The End of an Era: The Normalization of U.S.-Cuban Relations
      • Leader by Default: Why the Sun Has Yet to Set on American Global Leadership
      • Colombia and the FARC: Peace at Last?
      • Brazil’s Elections: The Long-Term Implications of a Tight Presidential Race
      • The Enduring Popularity of Rafael Correa and the New Left
      • The Secret Ingredient: Why Drones are Vital to U.S. Hegemony
      • Effects of Snowden’s NSA Leaks on U.S. Foreign Relations
      • The Failure of The United States’ Arab Spring Strategy
      • Apocalypse Postponed: The Enduring Importance of Maintaining the Arms Control Regime
      • Judicial Review or Institutionalized Racism?
      • Negotiating with North Korea: Try and Try Again
      • Celebrating Fifty Years of Diplomatic Gridlock: U.S.-Cuba Relations in 2012
      • Regional Integration and Private Sector Growth in Cuba
      • The Prospects of Slavery Reparations in the Caribbean
      • Protests Reflect Infrastructural Inadequacies in Brazil
      • History in the Making or a Recipe for Disaster? El Salvador’s Gang Truce Examined
      • Debating Iran: Can the United States Make a Deal with the Devil?
      • Priority for 21st Century Defense: A Sustainable U.S. Military Strategy
      • The Rise of Drones in American Foreign Policy
      • From a Dirt Road to a Green Cup: Brazil 2014
      • Leftward Shifts and Power Shifts: Latin America’s Pink Tide
    • Asia-Pacfic Section >
      • No Country for the Rohingya: An Explanation of the Rohingya Refugee Crisis
      • The Future of American Trade Fear in East Asia
      • Entering The Chinese Room: China's Quest to Lead a New World Order
      • A Second Red Wedding: The Complications of Sino-Russian Relations
      • The Break Up: China and North Korea’s Toxic Relationship
      • Instability in the Middle Kingdom: The Shaky Foundations of China's Rise
      • The New Red Scare: An Examination of Cross-Strait Skepticism
      • A Realistic Move: China's New Silk Road
      • The Cost of Voting: How Xi Jinping Simultaneously Increased Democracy and Authoritarianism
      • Fishing For Trouble: The Economic Costs of Conflict in the South China Sea
      • The Danger of the Thucydides Trap: Xi Jinping's Visit to the United States
      • David vs. Goliath: The Philippines-China Arbitration Case
      • Xi's Return to Maoism
      • A Cause for Optimism?: China’s Energy Policy Post-COP21
      • The Show Goes On: Vietnam's Balancing Act
      • Redefining The State: Nationalism and the Push for Constitutional Revision in Japan
      • China’s Resources Policy: Expanding Influence
      • China’s Maritime Strategy: The Pursuit of Regional Dominance
      • China’s Geo-economics: Politics of Inequality
      • China’s Transition of Power: Domestic Struggles for Political Dominance
      • Confrontations Between Tibetan Protestors and the CCP Police Continue
      • 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster and Aftermath
      • Why Would China Want a Democratized Hong Kong?
      • East Asian Regional Integration
      • Stronger Together: A Case for ASEAN Military Integration
      • Capitalism Fights to Survive in China’s Special Administrative Regions
      • China’s Increased Involvement in Afghanistan Divergent from U.S. Wants
      • The Future of the Tibetan Problem
      • The Geopolitical Implications of the Indo-Japanese Abe-Modi Summit
      • Australia Experiences Heightened Degree of Geopolitical Influence U.S. and China Eye Each Other’s Moves in the Asia Pacific
      • Xi Jinping’s AntiCorruption Campaign: Stalinist Purge, or Second Chance for the Chinese Communist Party?
      • South China Sea Territorial Disputes ‘Rock The Boat’ of Regional Security
    • Europe Section >
      • Nominal Interests: A Breakthrough in the Ongoing Name Dispute Between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece
      • The Reinvention of the National Front
      • Democracy in Transition: Hungary's Descent into Authoritarianism
      • (Un)Orthodox Nationalism
      • Something is Rotting in the State of Denmark: Ethnic Nationalism Takes Root in Scandinavia
      • Blood, Oil, and Tears: Azerbaijan's Tradeoff Between Corruption and Growth
      • The Bear Awakens: Russia's Strategy to Sow Chaos in the West
      • Russia’s Return to Religion Signals Changes in Politics and Society, but Not Secularization
      • Spain: The Forgotten Frontier
      • Bye Bye Britain: Euroscepticism Threatens EU Solidarity in June Referendum
      • Europe's Migrant Dumping Ground: Serbia's Refugee Crisis
      • Regional Reconciliation: Evaluating Whether Cuba Will Join the OAS and the Subsequent Implications
      • Has Europe Got Milk?
      • Lifting the Iran Curtain: The Future of Economic Relations Between the EU and Tehran
      • Europe’s Take on the Rising Cost of Healthcare
      • Contrasting Eurozone Economies: The Good, the Bad, and the Corrupt
      • Europe's Take on Income Inequality
      • Russia’s Role in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Sustainer of Peace or Tension?
      • The Failure of Austerity
      • The Rise of Kazakhstan: A Solution for the EU’s Russian Energy Dependence?
      • Scotland After the Independence Referendum
      • Closing the European Security Gap
      • Europe Trading Up: The Strategic Importance of the TTIP
      • The UK to Tighten Immigration Restrictions
      • Old Powers, New Glory: U.K. and France’s Changing Roles in the New European Commission
      • Greece’s Political Pressure Cooker: the Rise of Radicalism
      • Caps Off: Analyzing the EU's Influence on Swiss Immigration Policy
      • Bulgaria and Romania’s Entry into the Schengen Treaty to be Further Postponed
      • Catalan Secession and Subsidiarity
      • The View from Independence Square
      • US-Russian Antagonism Reignited Over Human Rights Policy
      • The Dynamics of the Russia-China Relationship
      • European Action to Limit Aviation Greenhouse Gas Emission
    • Middle East and North Africa Section >
      • Confessionalism, the Rise of Hizbullah, and the May 2018 Elections in Lebanon
      • The Dilemma of Rebuilding the Cultural Heritage of Aleppo
      • Stars and Stripes in the Middle East: American Involvement in the Yemen Civil War
      • Unlikely Bedfellows: Israeli-Saudi Security Ties and the Middle East's Worst Kept Secret
      • The Constructed People: Kurdistan's Challenge to Iraqi Nation-Building
      • Globalism, Nationalism, and the Armenian Diaspora
      • The Turkish Coup Attempt: Was it an Erdogan Hoax?
      • Counterterrorism and Monarchical Power in Morocco
      • State and Familial Prostitution in Egypt
      • Post-Revolution Tunisia: The Challenges of Regional Inequality to the Political Transition
      • Examining Jordan's Influence in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
      • Democracy in Tunisia
      • A Cold Peace: The Future of Egyptian-Israeli Relations
      • Can He Do It? Examining the Significance of Hassan Rouhani Regarding Iranian Relations
      • The Iranian Interim Deal: Perspectives and Implications
      • Transcending the Sunni-Shia Divide; An Overview of Al Qaeda-Iranian Relations
      • Turkey: The Middle East’s “It” Country, or Has It Outgrown Its Fifteen Minutes of Fame?
      • Religious Minorities in the MENA: The Baha'is and Druze in Israel
      • The Invisible Hand Behind the Arab Spring
      • Egypt as a Litmus Test
      • Instability in Yemen: A Rebel Takeover
      • Hitting Home: Understanding the Appeal of the Islamic State in the West
      • Lessons From Afghanistan
      • The Role of the US in Mediating the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
      • The Everlasting Struggle: The Genius of Erdogan’s Political Rhetoric
      • Libya: Before and After the Fall of Muammar Gaddafi
      • Recent NGO Crisis Exposes Divisions in Egyptian Politics
      • The Revolution Will Be Live Streamed: The Role of the Internet in the Arab Spring: The Role of the Internet in the Arab Spring
      • Lebanon to join the Arab Spring?
      • The Persian Gulf and U.S. Strategy: Past and Future
      • Disintigrating Under Pressure: Saudi-U.S. Relations and the Syrian Conflict
      • Assessing the Effectiveness of Micro-finance Institutions in Jordan and Beyond
      • Prosecution, Politics, and Peace: Palestine’s Admittance to the International Criminal Court
    • Central and South Asia Section >
      • GST: India's Largest Economic Reform Since 1992
      • Investing in Kazakhstan: A Model of Chinese Power Acquisition
      • The Rise of Intolerance in India
      • The Past Guiding the Present: How Mongolia’s Soviet Past is Shaping its Development in the 21st Century
      • Will India Choose Israeli Technology or Iranian Oil?
      • The 2014 Indian Elections: The Rise of the BJP
      • Examining Modi's Defense Policy
      • The Indo-U.S. Relationship: Through the Lens of Republic Day
      • Hegemon Games: The Indo-Pak Question
      • Growing Forces: Foreign Investment in Central Asia
      • The Rupee Stumbles – What’s India’s Next Step?
      • The Enemy Behind the Gates: Pakistan's Teetering Talks
      • Indian Foreign Policy: In Search of a Direction
      • The Collapse of the India-Pakistan Talks
      • The Global Race to Myanmar
      • Trade: Is This the Way Ahead for Resolving Outstanding Disputes Between India and Pakistan?
    • Theme Section >
      • Economic Effects of Brexit: Should The UK Leave?
      • Will Demographics Drive China’s Debt Towards Disaster?
      • Using Realpolitik to Understand American Involvement in NATO
      • Security, Money, and Culture: The Role of the WTO in the Resilience of the U.S.-Japan Alliance
      • The Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Influence, Trade, and Resources
      • The Responsibility to Protect: A Well-Meaning yet Inadequate Solution to the Battle Between Sovereignty and Humanitarian Intervention
      • Disconnecting Dissent: The Dilemma of Privatized Public Speech and Free Information Online
      • Who Owns the Internet?: Control and Mastery of the New Public Sphere
      • Online Community Building: The Emotional, Social, and Political Challenges of Adapting to a New Way of Being Together
      • “The Great Firewall” as an Inefficient Barrier
      • Borderline Open: The Barriers of Schengen
      • The World’s Most Dangerous Border: Refugees in the Mediterranean Are Fighting for Their Lives
      • Overcoming the Physical Barriers of Natural Disasters: Despair and Hope in post-Hurricane Dominica
      • From Past to Present: The Porous Nature of the DRC’s Borders
      • India's Struggle for Gender Equality
      • A False Sense of Protection: Failure of the UN to Address Allegations of Sexual Assault Against Peacekeepers
      • Scapegoats of Politics: How the Malaysian Transgender Community Fell Victim to the Politicization of Islam
      • Adversity and Perseverance: The Story of Bangladesh's Garment Worker
      • "Bye, Honey!": Brazilian Women Fight for Their Rights After Dilma Rousseff's Impeachment
      • Mexico's Unstable Democracy: Self-Defense Groups, Cartels, and the Struggle Over the Rule of Law
      • Obama to Trump: Immigration Policy Rhetoric and Resistance
      • Translating Democratic Theory into Constitutional Design: A Conversation with Professor Jefferey A. Lenowitz
      • The Reign In Spain: Analyzing the Catalan Threat to European Democratic Order
      • Reaching for the Sky: The New Age of Connection in Sri Lanka
      • The Battle for Ukraine
      • North Korea’s Strategy of Escalating Threats and Its Problems
      • Accusations of Pinkwashing in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
      • Economies in Transformation, A Continent in Transition
      • The Dynastic Dictatorship Continued: The Internal Dynamics of North Korea and What to Expect From the New Leader
      • Russia's Gas Diplomacy
      • The "Oldest Profession" Organizes: A Conversation with Professor Gowri Vijayakumar
      • An Amazonian Legacy of Military Rule
      • Soldiers of Destiny, Deferred: Marriage Equality and Reproductive Rights in Irish Politics
      • A Tale of Two Courts: Why Chinese Capitalism Does Not Come With the Rule of Law
      • A Failure to Rise to the Occasion: Syria and the Future of “Responsibility to Protect”
      • South Sudan: Democracy Or Despair
      • Protests and Repression in a Digital Age
      • Wiping the Slate Clean: Modi's Water Conundrum
      • Increasing Oil Production: A Sound Approach to Achieving U.S. Energy Independence?
      • Water's Influence on Middle Eastern Policy: A Conversation with Dr. Mahmoud Abu-Allaban
      • A New Era for the Nile: The Effects of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
      • Getting Past the Green Monster: An Analysis of Germany's Energy Transition
      • Theme Section Graphics
      • The African Union and a New Scramble: A Continent in Transition
      • Regional Perspectives
      • Pervasive Issues in China's Continued Urbanization
      • Art, Power, Politics, and Protest in Saudi Arabia
      • Should Europe Brace Itself for Brexit
      • Energy Analysis
      • Composition & Organs
      • African Union Timeline
      • The Rohingya Refugee Crisis
      • Interview with Dr. Sung-Yoon Lee, Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor in Korean Studies
      • A Historical and Political Understanding of Aid: The Implications and Conditions of Aid Packages
      • Park Geun-hye’s “New Kind of Korea” Prospects for Re-envisioned Inter-Korean Relations
      • Interview with Professor Nyangoni
      • Interview With Professor Padraig Carmody of Trinity College of Dublin, Author of The New Scramble for Africa
      • Timeline of U.S. Refugee Resettlement
      • A closer look into North Korea
      • How Does North Korea Stack Up?
      • According to the Expert: Interview With Professor Eva Bellin
      • Fulfilling an Ideological Destiny? An Insight into United States Policy Regarding the Syrian Conflict
      • PIS Off: Polish Women Mobilize to Reject Tightening of Abortion Restrictions
      • Brain Drain in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Downside of Migration
      • Grand Master and Pawns: Looking at the United States and Russia
      • In Putin’s Element: Why the U.S. Needs to Let Russia Take the Lead in Destroying Syria’s Chemical Weapons
      • In Syria, It’s the End of the Line
      • Greenback Boogie: The Story of Remittances from Central Asian Immigrants in Russia
      • Regional Perspectives
      • The EU as a Passive Actor
      • In Search of Home: The Impact of Syrian Refugees on the International Community
      • Vladimir Putin: The New Leader of the Free World?
      • Modi's Pakistan Strategy
      • Resistance Infographic
      • Mexico's Other Border: Human Rights Abuses of the Trans-North American Migrant Crisis
      • Most Significant Refugee Producing Countries
      • Syrian Conflict Statistics
      • The View From Moscow: Contention and Cooperation in the Middle East
      • A Discussion of the EU with Lorenzo Bini Smaghi
      • EU Timeline
      • Turkey's Membership in the EU: A Holy Venture?
      • Al-Shabaab and the Threats Posed to International Peace and Security
      • Interview with Professor Robert J. Art
      • Instability and Nationalism: Why Ecuador's Colombian Refugees Face Discrimination
      • ISIS Timeline
      • Interview with Professor Gary Jefferson
      • Contemporary Cyber-Terrorism
      • ISIS’ Rise to Prominence and Implications for the Future: A Conversation with Ambassador Dennis Ross
      • Qatar: An Uncertain Ally Against IS
      • Red to Pink: The Continued Evolution of the Chinese Internet Space
      • Russia’s Separatist Subversions: Return of the Steamroller, or Running Out of Steam?
      • Shifting Sands: Arab Tacit Support of Israel during the Recent Gaza Conflict
      • North Korea’s Other Crisis
      • China’s Korean Dilemma
      • State-Sponsored Separatism: the Specter of Russian Influence in Post-Revolution Ukraine
      • The Iraqi Crisis: The Effects of Sectarian Politics and Religious Divides
      • The Islamic State and the Rise of Western Jihadism: Interview with Professor Jytte Klausen
      • Regions Under Threat By Global Climate Change
    • Afro and African American Studies >
      • Malcolm X: A Misunderstood Legacy
    • Sociology >
      • The Implications of the Melting Pot: Examining the Political Socialization Process for Children of Immigrants
      • The Modern WelfareWarfare Nexus
    • Economics >
      • The Demise of Middle-Class America: Corporate-Performance Focused Development, Automation, and the Middle-Class Squeeze
      • Equity and Efficiency: Reconsidering the “Big Tradeoff”
      • Low Cost Carriers and the Future of Air Travel in Asia
  • Full Journal PDFs
    • Fall 2012
    • Spring 2013
    • Fall 2013
    • Spring 2014
    • Fall 2014
    • Spring 2015
    • Fall 2015
    • Spring 2016
    • Fall 2016
    • Spring 2017
    • Fall 2017
    • Spring 2018
    • Fall 2018
    • Spring 2019
    • Fall 2019
    • 2020-2021
    • 2022-2023
  • CONTACT