Discourse Analysis of Chinese Energy Policy

Citation: 

“Energy Policy, Political Discourse, and Politics of Sustainable Development of the People’s Republic of China,” Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Political Science Association, May 27-29, 2014. 

Abstract

This paper investigates China’s conceptualization and implementation of sustainable development with the case of its energy policy between 1978 and 2012. As China has become the top energy consumer and a key actor in the global prospect for sustainable development of the world, the linkage between the Chinese interpretation of sustainability and the potential policy orientation is worth exploring.

Drawing on conventional studies on the theory of sustainable development, the paper sets up three dimensions—economic, ecological, and social—for assessing the notion in the Chinese context. With the methods of discourse analysis and process tracing, I generalize the Chinese model of sustainable development as a complex of economic primacy, ecological viability, and social green-engineering.

This paper makes the following argument: While the above three features have contributed to China’s eager reduction of energy intensity and aggressive expansion of renewables, however, the last one as an “engineering” is essentially anti-social and could be detrimental to China’s future sustainability. The recent emissions reduction measures taken in a top-down manner for the purpose of climate mitigation seemed to be efficient for a short time, but they may not be effective nor sustainable in the long run. A historical analysis on China’s energy policy since the economic reform is conducted to support this argument. 

Asia and (Post-)Modernity in Historical Narratives

Citation: 

"Overcoming of Being Asian? Temporality and Spatiality in Post-War Japan's Thoughts on Modernity," Political Science Review 36 (June 2008): 33-65. (with Chih-yu Shih) (in Chinese) 


Abstract

An obsession with modernity plagued Japan's modern thinkers as modernity seemed the key to Japan's inferiority to the West. One solution was to return to an Asia that enabled Japan to overcome modernity's alien features. However, this stress on Asia practically led to imperialist expansion. As a remedy, Maruyama Masao decided to bring modernity back into Japan's pre-modern history, while Takeuchi Yoshimi relied on an Asia that was a process rather than an entity. Koyasu Nobukni echoes Takeuchi with a postmodern narrative on East Asia that denies any claim to fundamentalism. In contrast, Mizoguchi Yuzo shuns Asia by linking each national modernity to the universal world without anything in between. Mizoguchi ironically inspired Baik Youngseo and Chen Kwang-hsing to resort to Asia again. Both cherish peripheral, sub-national narratives. Together, they are united in the quest for a deconstructed Asia that can overcome modernity's Western features.

Knowledge, Identity and Modernity Problematique

Citation: 

"Modern China Studies in Japan : Can Knowledge Emancipate Status?," Social Science in China 28, 1 (January 2007): 168-179. (with Chih-yu Shih and Gui-zh Li) (in Chinese) 


Abstract

Japanese Sinologists are confronted by two questions : whether Europe and America should be resisted and whether China should be excluded. Four research perspectives on China studies in relation to these two issues are put forward , represented by Shiratori Kurakichi , Naito Konan , Tsuda Soukichi and Takeuchi Yoshimi respectively. They each pursued emancipation from a humble status , but according to Youzou Mizouguchi , all failed. Mizouguchi himself attempted to use a new strategy of starting from the historical base of China and doing what he called "alienating" Japan for the sake of China. This enabled him to move freely in and out of China , which meant moving freely in and out of Japan as well. But his failure to define the scope of historical base meant that he was unable to decide what counted as being for the sake of China and what counted as endowing China with subjectivity , so that anybody's actions could be seen as being for the sake of China. At this time his emancipation strategy also failed.

Objectivity in Social Sciences

Citation:

“Not About Objectivity－A Note on Cultural Studies Perspectives,” Journal of National Development Studies 6,2 (June 2007): 1-28. (with Chih-yu Shih and Min-jay Guo) (in Chinese)



Abstract

This paper is a cultural studies critique of objectivism. It confronts the mainstream social science on the issue of objectivity. Through analogy and deduction, the paper denies the existence of any research target to be completely unrelated to the researchers or their research activities. Researchers identify their research targets because these targets extend themselves in time and space but separate abruptly from their surroundings. Extension and abruption are observable through the creation and use of symbols, which involve social learning. Learning is a matter of social purpose, which injects affect into the memory of symbol. Consequently, researchers and their targets are mutually constituted in the knowledge concerning social reality.