Inter-Asia think tank partners ranked among the best in the world

An important aspect of the Inter-Asia research group's current project The impact of East Asia in the Spanish context: Cultural production, politics/policies and society, funded by the Spanish government, is the role of our close cooperation with external entities that promote the project and observe its results (Entes Promotores Observadores; EPOs), including leading think tanks in Spain and in China.The International Relations Program of the University of Pennsylvania has recently published its 2012 Global Go To Think Tanks Report and Policy Advice, lead by Professor James G. McGann, and the only international ranking system for think tanks available to date.

According to the 2012 edition, one of Inter-Asia's closest collaborators, the CIDOB Foundation (the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs; Centro de Estudios y Documentación Internacionales de Barcelona) has been recognised as the most influential Think Tank in the South of Europe. CIDOB was ranked 18th in the top 75 think tanks in Western Europe, 35th in the worldwide (non US) category, and 64th among the 150 top think tanks worldwide (US and non US).

According to this new edition of the Global Go To Think Tanks, with the 18th position (up 15 posts from last year’s position) CIDOB is the most valued Spanish think tank within category of the top 75 think tanks in Western Europe.

Within the category of the top 100 think tanks Worldwide (Non-U.S.) CIDOB is ranked number 35, up from position number 37 in 2010. Compared to 2011 edition, CIDOB not only improves its score in the Western Mediterranean ranking, but this year appears within the Top 150 think tanks Worldwide (US and non-US) in position number 64, thus entering the global elite of think tanks for the first time. "In a year in which CIDOB is celebrating 40 years, it is placed as one of the top think tanks in Europe. The big challenge ahead is to consolidate the position and try to improve it", says Carles A. Gasòliba, President of CIDOB, in a preliminary assessment of the results of the survey.

Several of the Chinese think tanks with which Inter-Asia collaborates together with the CIDOB Foundation have also been very highly ranked:

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)
Top 150 Think Tanks – Worldwide (US and Non-US) (#17)
Top 100 Think Tanks – Worldwide (Non-US) (#5)
Top   45 Think Tanks in China, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (#1)
Top   80 Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks (#11)
Top   50 International Development Think Tanks (#14)
Think Tanks with Outstanding Policy-Oriented Research Programs (#18)
Think Tanks with the Most Significant Impact on Public Policy (#14)

Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP, CASS)
Top 80 Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks (#11)
Top   50 International Development Think Tanks (#27)

Central Party School
Best Think Tanks with Political Party Affiliation§ (#12)

China Institute of International Studies (CIIS)
Top 150 Think Tanks – Worldwide (US and Non-US) (#38)
Top 100 Think Tanks – Worldwide (Non-US) (#36)
Top   45 Think Tanks in China, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (#8)
Best Government Affiliated Think Tanks (#7)

Entrevista digital a Seán Golden

En ocasió de la recent publicació de China en perspectiva. Análisis e interpretaciones, el bloc del Programa d’Estudis de l’Àsia Oriental de la UOC ha convidat Seán Golden, director del Centre d'Estudis i Recerca sobre Àsia Oriental (CERAO) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona i membre d'InterAsia a contestar les preguntes que es rebin al següent correu: pestudisasiatics@uoc.edu.

Bloc dels Estudis d'Àsia Oriental, UOC

L'estret camí de l'interior: Presentació

El dijous 17 de gener es presenta una nova traducció del membre d'InterAsia Jordi Mas,  L'estret camí de l'interior (Edicions de 1984), del poeta japonès Matsuo Bashô. 

L'acte tindrà lloc a la llibreria Proa Espais (carrer Rosselló, 212, Barcelona) a les 19:30h, i comptarà amb la participació del poeta Miquel Desclot, així com del traductor.

CHINA’S FIFTH GENERATION OF LEADERS: an Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove

The CIDOB Foundation of Barcelona think tank has published an analysis of the new leadership of the Chinese Communist Party by Seán Golden, member of the Inter-Asia research group that comments on the following topics:

• The 18th National Congress of Communist Party of China has replaced half the members of the Central Committee..
• The Red Guard generation born after the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 have come to power.
• There was a strong internal struggle between the children of veteran revolutionaries (taizidang) and the meritocrats who had risen to power through the Party’s selection processes (tuanpai).
• The taizidang promote liberalization in order to generate more wealth; the tuanpai promote redistribution of wealth to combat social inequality.
• The results of the 18th National Congress seem to indicate that the taizidang faction is winning the struggle.
• There are signs of political change in China: the social media allow people to organise themselves and publicise information the official media suppress.

The full text can be consulted here.

China en perspectiva. Análisis e interpretaciones

Edicions Bellaterra (Barcelona) acaba de publicar el libro China en perspectiva. Análisis e interpretaciones de Seán Golden, miembro del grupo de investigación Inter-Asia.

Nadie duda hoy en día que China sea un país de suma importancia, uno de los principales actores de la geopolítica y economía mundial. Pero al público en general le faltan conocimientos lo suficientemente profundos de la realidad china para comprender cómo funciona y cómo reacciona a los sucesos de escala global. El aumento del poder económico de zonas no pertenecientes a la UE ni a EE.UU. lleva a muchos analistas a hablar de un nuevo orden mundial «pos-occidental ». Si Europa y Estados Unidos no han sabido cómo reaccionar a estos cambios, se debe en parte al exceso de confianza en el valor «universal» del modelo de desarrollo euroestadounidense en la historia moderna, así como a la ausencia de nuevos planteamientos que permitan comprender las transformaciones que surgen de historias sociales, económicas y políticas distintas: los paradigmas propios de las circunstancias euroestadounidenses se convirtieron en «paradogmas» que han acabado constriñendo sus perspectivas. De momento, China defiende un mundo multipolar y diverso como alternativo a la hegemonía. Las grandes preguntas que debe contestar cualquier proyección de futuro son: ¿cómo será o debería ser un orden mundial con China como potencia preeminente?, y ¿cómo responderán las actuales potencias ante esta nueva situación?


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