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This paper studies the place attachment of Shanghai residents who have been displaced by redevelopment projects. The objective is to present the condition of the displaced residents and to add another easily ignored dimension to the study of China's phenomenal urban transformation. The first author conducted in-depth interviews during summer 2004 and 2005. Thematic analysis was employed to understand the dynamics of the everyday life experiences of these displaced residents. The findings show that the place attachment of displaced Shanghai residents is strongly connected with the generalized social environment and personal emotions generated through the constant bargaining in their everyday lives. In an environment of urban redevelopment in post-socialist China, bargaining place attachment is built on people's bargain with their social environment. "Bargaining" has become not only their negotiation strategy, but also the way they are attached to place-Shanghai. Moreover, bargaining place attachment legitimates the idea that place detachment is indispensable in the redevelopment of urban China. (Issues Stud/GIGA)

The residents' committee is the lowest level of the administrative hierarchy in China's cities, but it is also an important part of the political system. Under the rubric of community construction and grassroots democracy, residents' committees are undergoing certain democratic reforms such as improved procedures for elections and a more open and participatory governance process. At the same time, they are also important resources for the regime in terms of consolidating support and control, especially where maintenance of stability and mass mobilization are concerned. This paper analyzes the multifaceted nature of the residents' committee and its importance in China's political system. (Issues Stud/GIGA)

Spatial distribution is an important dimension of research into the development of high technology (hi-tech) industries due to the knowledgeintensive features of these industries. This paper separates the agglomeration effects and the spillover effects, and analyzes the evolution of the spatial distribution of China's hi-tech sub-industries from themid-1990s by combining the geographic concentration index (locational Gini coefficient, concentration ratio) and spatial econometrics (Moran's I). The results reveal that, firstly, most hi-tech subindustries tend to be concentrated in the eastern coastal regions of China, while there are significant spillover effects from the eastern coastal regions to the central regions. The development model based on national hi-tech industrial zones is the primary reason for industrial agglomeration, and it is the result of both government direction andmarket rules. Secondly, on the macro-level, there has been a certain amount of geographical concentration and interregional division of labor among China's hi-tech industries, but there is low intraregional specialization. Furthermore, in contrast to the findings of most of previous studies, the distribution ofChina's hi-tech industries and that of its innovation capacity share similar evolutionary trends, although they do not completely overlap. (Issues Stud/GIGA)

The achievement of a century of "Mahanism" was the Pax Americana that prevailed by the early 1990s. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the United States has sought to sustain the Pax Americana by practicing the "thousand-ship navy" strategy, or "Mullenism," and to expand its command of the sea to the rivers, harbors, and shorelines of other coastal states. Once the idea of the "thousand-ship navy"- now called the Global Maritime Partnership- was embedded at the heart of the 2007 Maritime Strategy (the "Cooperative Strategy"), Mullenism became more acceptable and persuasive. Faced with the rise of a seafaring China, the United States is now consolidating its maritime strategy. Established to realize the landward push of command of the sea, the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) is the core operational mechanism of the United States Pacific Command (PACOM) programs Pacific Partnership and Pacific Angel, both of which are incarnations of the Cooperative Strategy. The future of the Cooperative Strategy, or Mullenism, is likely to consist of NECC complexes for shaping the security environment in peacetime, and for the complete obliteration of the enemy from the sea in times of crisis. The United States enjoys a big lead over China in terms of hard power and soft power, and "smart power," which is a combination of the two, enables the U.S. Navy to dexterously insinuate the NECC into regional coastal states to advance Mullenism and pave the way for AirSea Battle, designed to launch a blinding campaign against the battle networks of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This will ensure that the U.S. Navy has operational freedom of maneuver and command of the waters surrounding China. The United States has quietly started engineering a "NATO at sea" and is confident that it can bring together rival countries such as China, India, and Japan under the single umbrella of a global maritime partnership and maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific. In the future, the United States will continue to adopt a hedging strategy toward China. The Pax Americana may well continue as long as the present incarnation of the Cooperative Strategy or Mullenism stays afloat. (Issues Stud/GIGA)

As most software used by government agencies and companies is proprietary, malicious computer activity targeting breaches in that software can be likened to a pandemic of an infectious disease in the cyber world. When a breach occurs, the consequences can be widespread and damaging because the damage can spread rapidly. Therefore, cybercrime prevention needs to involve all users in a cooperative effort,with warnings and information on countermeasures distributed to users in order to prevent the "disease" from spreading when unprotected computers encounter an attack. This cooperative effort relies heavily on all institutions reporting information security incidents. Based on institutional theory, together with regulatory pluralism and responsive regulation theory, this paper examines the pluralized regulatory approach adopted to promote a system for sharing reports of information security incidents in Taiwan and China. An expanded model of regulatory enforcement and a strengths-based pyramid are proposed and used as a framework for discussing existing systems for encouraging the reporting of information security incidents. (Isuues Stud/GIGA)

Recent theoretical attempts to understand the dynamics of technological innovation have been based predominantly on the theory of localized knowledge spillover which sees technological innovation as the result of inter-firm interactions in the process of industrial clustering. This study introduces a new analytical framework that goes beyond inter-firm knowledge exchange and highlights the significance of the strategies and selectivity of both the state and firms to understand the dynamics of technological innovation in a transitional economy such as China. A comparative study on the strategies and selectivity of central government, local government, and individual firms in both Shanghai and Shenzhen, the two key city-regions in China, has found that difference in the degree of state-firm strategic coordination- or the dynamic process in which firms' innovation-related strategies are coordinated with the "strategic selectivity" of the central and/or local governments- is a significant factor explaining the regional variation in technological innovation. The Chinese experience demonstrates that the uneven growth of technological innovation has been contingent upon how the state builds a favorable institutional structure and market environment to stimulate, encourage, and support firms' innovative activities and how firms actively respond to the institutional environment created by the state. (Issues Stud/GIGA)

This article employs reassurance theory to explore the question of how trust can be built between China and Taiwan, suggesting that a major breakthrough in cross-Strait relations will not be possible unless these two historical rivals reassure each other through costly signals. This paper tentatively assesses a number of costly signals that Beijing or Taipei might make to elicit trust from the other side. Given that China's political system has an intrinsic credibility problem, Beijing will have to bear more costs than Taipei if its reassurances are to be credible. However, China's superior power gives it more leverage in promoting a cross-Strait trust-building process. Although such a trust-building approach would entail certain costs and risks for both Beijing and Taipei, it is a worthwhile enterprise for the sake of peace and reconciliation across the Taiwan Strait. (Issues Stud/GIGA)

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana has been in operation since 2005 as a nationwide health financing option in the form of District Mutual Health Insurance Schemes. With the Kwabre District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme as a case study the study sought to assess; households level of satisfaction, challenges affecting the scheme, the scheme's sustainability prospects and make recommendations to inform policy. Primary data were obtained through a household sample of 203, which was distributed through a proportionate stratified sampling technique. Interview guides were used to obtain information from 12 accredited health service providers and the scheme management. Secondary data were also acquired from the Kwabre East District Health Directorate (DHD) and the scheme's management office. Data analysis indicated that, the scheme is substantially dependent on tax funding (93.5%). Everybody pays for the scheme through taxation (NHIL) but unfortunately the scheme excludes over 72.1% of the population it covers. There is a low internal fund generation as a factor of excessive disenrollment resulting from membership non-renewal. Based on this premise, the scheme may not be sustainable in the long run as a Mutual Health Insurance Scheme since the schemes are dependent on the collective pool of resources. It is recommended that Government should boldly implement the one-time premium on a progressive and reasonable premium affordable to all. Conscious efforts should thus be geared towards improving revenue collection from premiums through education, enforcement of subscription renewal and introduction of copayment.

In Canada, indigenous communities have gained recognition as First Nations endowed with specific and potent constitutional rights. This legal status has made Canadian First Nations into models for indigenous demands around the world, including in Taiwan. The goal of this paper is (1) to reflect on Canadian and Taiwanese examples to understand how indigenous communities have constructed national identities and achieved recognition as First Nations with inherent legal rights; (2) to explore how indigenous peoples in Canada and Taiwan have achieved recognition as participants in democratic politics and as sites of constitutional rights; and, last but not least, (3) to appreciate what lessons they can learn from one another. (Issues Stud/GIGA)