Lijun Yang - New Humanism and Global Governance

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Yang, Lijun, 1963 editor. | Shan, Wei, editor.

Title: New humanism and global governance / edited by Lijun Yang, South China

University of Technology, China; Wei Shan, NUS, Singapore.

Description: New Jersey : World Scientific, [2018] | Selected papers from two international

conferences jointly held by the Institute of Public Policy (IPP) at the South China

University of Technology and UNESCO. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018010675 | ISBN 9789813236172 (hc : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Globalization--Social aspects--Congresses. | Globalization--

Economic aspects--Congresses. | Globalization--Political aspects--Congresses.

Classification: LCC JZ1318 .N485 2018 | DDC 303.48/2--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018010675

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Dr YANG Lijun is Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Public Policy at South China University of Technology (SCUT). She has studied social changes and social movements in contemporary China, particularly the Cultural Revolution and nationalism. Her research papers have appeared in academic journals such as The China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, The Review of History, Asian Studies, and ChineseAffairs. Her book Social Structure and the Cultural Revolution in China: Citizenship and Collective Violence was selected as one of the five best books in all social science subjects in the Asian Pacific region, and for this she received the Ohira Memorial Foundation Award in 2005. She has also edited and co-edited many volumes on contemporary China.

Professor Yang received her BA in Media Studies from Beijing Broadcasting College, now The Communication University of China, her MA in Politics from Yokohama City University, Japan and her PhD in Sociology from Hitotsubashi University, Japan. Before joining SCUT, she held various research and teaching positions in the State Language Work Committee of the State Council of China, Hitotsubashi University, Aichi Prefectural University, Aoyama Gakuin University, Waseda University ( Japan), and National University of Singapore.

Dr SHAN Wei received his BA and MA in International Studies from Peking University and PhD in Political Science from Texas A&M University. His research focuses on the political behavior of citizens and the elite in the context of political and economic development. Topics he has covered include Chinese citizens political participation, changes in political culture, masselite relations, political leadership and factional politics within the elite group. His research paper appears in China Quarterly and other academic journals. He is the co-editor of The State of Rural China: Peasants, Agriculture and Rural Society in the Reform Era.

The two important and shocking events of 2016 Britains exit from the European Union (Brexit) and Donald Trumps election victory triggered enormous backlashes worldwide. It would seem to indicate that todays governance and world order has met its most turbulent transitional period. At the domestic level, the existing political, economic and social systems are falling far short of its expectations. At the global level, the U.S.-led world order is facing multiple challenges due to the relative decline of American power and the rise of emerging powers like China and India. This could turn out to be the biggest institutional and governance crisis the world has ever seen since the World War II.

Such a crisis has its roots in todays politico-economic context. While most countries, economically speaking, were quick enough to reap the fruits of the last phase of globalization for their own profit, none has been resilient enough to cope with devastating consequences that are associated with globalization, such as the widening of income inequality gaps, the decline of middle class, social division and illegal immigration. Government incompetence, in turn, has led to the spread of anti-globalization and anti-immigrant sentiments, trade protectionism and economic nationalism, particularly in Europe and the U.S.

Politically speaking, many democratic systems are facing unprecedented challenges. To a degree, democracy has been hijacked either by capitalists to maximize their profits or by voters to demand better welfare. Over time, xenophobia and nationalism have become common social phenomena. Europe has witnessed the rise of far-right political forces. The European Union (EU), which is designed to promote peace and prosperity in post-World War II Europe, is now in danger of collapse. Social injustice and inequality are serious problems for Asian authoritarian systems while state governance remains effective. Asia too is facing geopolitical conflicts caused by territorial disputes, the North Korean nuclear threat and the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) in South Korea. The Middle East region is increasingly turning into a hot bed for radical Islamism. Hence, they are sources of global instability.

Since 2014, the Institute of Public Policy (IPP) at the South China University of Technology (SCUT) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have been co-hosting a series of annual international academic conferences and seeking to invite scholars from in and out of China to discuss the major challenges to todays world order and governance, as well as international experience in responding to these challenges. The theme of the 2015 conference is New Humanism, Governance and Sustainable Development. It examines the unequal distribution of wealth, the widening income inequality gap, and the political governance crisis that have been taking place in developing countries since the 2008 global financial crisis, the contradiction between economic development and environmental protection, the middle income trap and other important issues in the developing world. The conference of 2016 identified its theme as order and governance in the contemporary world, with a special focus on de-globalization, democratic crisis, anti-immigration sentiments, nationalism and radical extremism.