Suchergebnisse

Der Lebensmittel- und Agrarhandel hat sich in den letzten Jahren zu einem geopolitischen Schlachtfeld entwickelt. In der Tat wirft die stärkere chinesisch-russische Zusammenarbeit in diesen Bereichen angesichts der zunehmenden Spannungen mit dem Westen die Frage auf, ob dieser Sektor zu einem neuen Brennpunkt ihrer strategischen Partnerschaft wird. Der gestiegene Handel und der erweiterte Marktzugang täuschen über die Tatsache hinweg, dass die Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Mächten in diesem Bereich durch eine Reihe von Zollbarrieren und nicht auf Zolltarifen beruhender Handelshindernisse getrübt sind und die Marktprofile wohl eher nicht zueinander passen, als dass sie sich ergänzten. Darüber hinaus wiederholt der Sektor viele der asymmetrischen Entwicklungen, die für die breiteren Wirtschaftsbeziehungen kennzeichnend sind. In dem Maße jedoch, in dem die Regierungen diesen Sektor zunehmend als strategisch wichtig betrachten, stellt der chinesisch-russische Handel in diesem Bereich wohl einen nützlichen Indikator dar, an dem sich die Möglichkeiten und die Grenzen einer breiteren bilateralen Annäherung ablesen lassen.

This study uses food as a lens through which to empirically and theoretically problematize the concept of security. Food – its supply, provision, and access – is situated at the center of several interconnected crises, from environmental and climatic upheaval to growing geopolitical turbulence and great power competition. Over the past decade, in connection with these urgent international problems, food has increasingly also been articulated as a matter of security. However, as this study demonstrates, food as security – or food security – does not yet represent a common conceptual or ontological foundation upon which coordinated, concerted, and global action can take place. Rather, as with the concept of "security" more broadly, food security remains polysemic and contested, and – as this study posits – holds no essential meaning besides that which is attributed to it in specific settings, by and for someone. Indeed, contemporary articulations of food security range from classical geopolitical notions of food as part of strategic, zero-sum advantage and state power, to food as a part of a positive-sum, cooperative notion addressing hunger universally for individuals. Rather than taking either interpretation for granted, this study instead problematizes both, specifically as they feature in the policy spaces of the Russian Federation and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). To do so, the study empirically traces how state-centered and human-centered accounts of food as security were institutionalized in these respective policy settings. Following how these contingent understandings of food security came to be so understood, however, the study serves to challenge fixed notions and theorizations of security more broadly. It forefronts the role that politics plays in the story of what security means and for whom it is intended. And it suggests that food security is both not only reflective but also (re-)productive of different ways of conducting international politics more generally. ; Funding agencies: The overall PhD was funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, under grant #5/2013 Mistra Geopolitics

Food and agricultural trade has emerged as a battleground for geopolitics in recent years. Indeed, greater Sino-Russian trade cooperation in these sectors, amidst growing tensions with the West, raises the question of whether this sector is becoming a new focal point in their strategic partnership. But increased trade and market access belies the reality that the ties between the two powers in this sector are still marred by a range of tariff and non-tariff barriers and mismatched rather than complementary market profiles. Moreover, the sector replicates many of the asymmetric dynamics that mark the broader economic relationship. To the extent that the sector has increasingly been considered by authorities in strategic terms, however, Sino-Russian trade in this sector proves a useful indicator of both the possibilities and the limits of the broader bilateral rapprochement.

Der Lebensmittel- und Agrarhandel hat sich in den letzten Jahren zu einem geopolitischen Schlachtfeld entwickelt. In der Tat wirft die stärkere chinesisch-russische Zusammenarbeit in diesen Bereichen angesichts der zunehmenden Spannungen mit dem Westen die Frage auf, ob dieser Sektor zu einem neuen Brennpunkt ihrer strategischen Partnerschaft wird. Der gestiegene Handel und der erweiterte Marktzugang täuschen über die Tatsache hinweg, dass die Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Mächten in diesem Bereich durch eine Reihe von Zollbarrieren und nicht auf Zolltarifen beruhender Handelshindernisse getrübt sind und die Marktprofile wohl eher nicht zueinander passen, als dass sie sich ergänzten. Darüber hinaus wiederholt der Sektor viele der asymmetrischen Entwicklungen, die für die breiteren Wirtschaftsbeziehungen kennzeichnend sind. In dem Maße jedoch, in dem die Regierungen diesen Sektor zunehmend als strategisch wichtig betrachten, stellt der chinesisch-russische Handel in diesem Bereich wohl einen nützlichen Indikator dar, an dem sich die Möglichkeiten und die Grenzen einer breiteren bilateralen Annäherung ablesen lassen.

In the two decades after independence, Georgia's open economy and lax immigration policies have engendered, for the first time, immigration from far outside of the region. On the streets of Tbilisi, the most conspicuous of these migrants are from India, China, and the countries of Africa. Of those from India, a substantial number are students of medicine, or enrolled in other professional courses. Africans in Georgia are mostly driven by work opportunity with a few students in higher education institutions. Chinese immigrants, on the other hand, are almost entirely driven by economic opportunities. A modern Chinese presence in Georgia began in the 1990s with the beginning of Chinese state-owned investment ventures in the region, as well as a burgeoning restaurant scene. In 2000s, this expanded to encompass a trickle and then an influx of Chinese migrant shop owners and market vendors. The third wave of migration occurred in 2010 as a result of contract construction workers. As of today, there are around 1,000 Chinese now divided into five groups: specialists, businessmen, shopkeepers, contract workers, and those in the restaurant and catering sector. This paper will focus on the history of Chinese migrants in Georgia, driving causes, their level of integration (or lack thereof), vulnerabilities, and their status in Georgian society. It will also cover increasingly large-scale economic ventures in the country, the status of Chinese as a foreign language in Georgia, and the role of the PRC Embassy in the Chinese community.