Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
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With the rapid proliferation of New Confucian studies since the mid 1980s, it has become an unquestioned dogma that one particular event at the beginning of 1958 marks a watershed in the movement’s...Show moreWith the rapid proliferation of New Confucian studies since the mid 1980s, it has become an unquestioned dogma that one particular event at the beginning of 1958 marks a watershed in the movement’s development. This event is the publication of the Manifesto that Mou Zongsan 牟宗三, Tang Junyi唐君毅, Xu Fuguan 徐復觀, and Zhang Junmai 张君劢 co-signed and published almost simultaneously in the two journals Minzhu pinglun民評論 (Democratic Tribune) and Zaisheng再生(National Renaissance) with the title “为中国文化敬告世界人士宣言─我们对中国学术研究及中国文化与世界文前途之共同认识” (Wei Zhongguo wenhua jinggao shijie renshi xuanyan –women dui Zhongguo xueshu yanjiu ji Zhongguo wenhua yu shijiewen qiantu zhi gongtong renshi; translated in English as “A Manifesto on the Reappraisal of Chinese Culture – our Joint Understanding of the Sinological Study relating to World Cultural Outlook.”). Its main purpose is to benefit Western intellectuals in 'aiding them to appreciate Chinese culture'. In order to do so, the authors employ a strategic terminology, which allows them to build a consistent cross-cultural dialogue between Western and Chinese philosophy by means of an unprecedented discourse on 'Chinese Rationalism' (中国心性之学 Zhongguo xinxing zhi xue). Interestingly, the latter is described by the authors as “the essence of Chinese Culture” and, beside its comparative value, it represents the most comprehensive configuration of Confucianism in the context of 20th century. Academic interest in Chinese Studies and Chinese Philosophy should take into account the articulation of Chinese Rationalism in the Manifesto of 1958 as representing a paradigm of post-comparative dialogue that exemplifies the underlying philosophical continuity beyond consistently different traditions of thought.Show less
As a social reformer, intellectual, and feminist, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) railed against the subordinate economic position of women in the United States around the turn of the...Show moreAs a social reformer, intellectual, and feminist, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) railed against the subordinate economic position of women in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century. Gilman lived and wrote at a time of radical social reform: a time in which industrialization took over the production processes of America; in which Victorian ideals about domesticity were being reshaped; and in which Darwin’s evolution theory dominated discourses regarding the perfect civilization. This thesis focuses on two of Gilman’s publications, her economic pamphlet Women and Economics (1898) and her utopian novel Herland (1915), and analyzes the rational approach that Gilman used to challenge and destabilize the abiding social standards and gender divisions.Show less
This article investigates rebel opportunity structures in non-ethnic civil wars. It argues rebel leaders act rationally and decide on war and peace on the basis of security and economic...Show moreThis article investigates rebel opportunity structures in non-ethnic civil wars. It argues rebel leaders act rationally and decide on war and peace on the basis of security and economic considerations. Rebel leaders only demobilize if the net benefits of peace are greater than the net benefits of war. Third-party interventions, such as United Nations peacekeeping operations, are only able to end civil war when it offers credible security guarantees to the rebel group and sufficiently alters the incentives rebel leaders face through the disruption of the rebel war economy. Only if an outside intervention manages to curb profits emanating from autonomous rebel financing, such as illicit resource extraction and trade or outside state support, will war no longer pay and will rebels comply with provisions offered in a negotiated peace settlement. The theory is supported by case studies of United Nations peacekeeping efforts during the Sierra Leone civil war (1991-2002) and the Second Congo War (1998-2003) in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Show less
