NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN WESTERN POPULIST POLITICS IN 2016

For Westerners,2016 was a year of frequent 'black swan' events.Following a referendum held on June 23,Britain decided to leave the European Union.On November 8,Donald Trump won the U.S.presidential election unsurprisingly.Another referendum was held in Italy on December

New Development in Global Politics and Rethinking on China's Multilateral Diplomacy

The new developments in global politics exert three systemic impacts on international relations. Global issues, vital to the survival of mankind, rise to the top agenda of national governments. The epicenter of global power is shifting from U.S. and Europe to the rest of the regions. The global "political excitement and zeal" is rolling on. All exact more on the competence of global governance. The current international multilateral mechanisms are in "competence deficit", worsening either in terms of adequacy, validity or legitimacy. The call for the reform of it is ever soaring. China by the way is at once engaging in the multilateral diplomacy transforming the international system and facing the growing pressure of assuming "leadership" and "international responsibility". China needs to continuously adapt to the changed national identity in the multilateral diplomacy, to reconcile the multilateral mechanisms that deal with regions and domains in China's strategic planning and laying-out, to organically associate the short-term and long-term goals and to upgrade the concept of harmonious world in the practice of multilateral diplomacy.

Religious Affiliated Political Parties in the Post-Arab Spring Era:In Retrospect and Future Prospects

Since the rise of the Arab Spring,a series of social movements have led to a deterioration of political stability in some Arab countries.In the past decade,ordinary people in Arab countries have generally increased their aspirations to express their own political opinions in the public sphere.When viewed from the consequences of contemporary political reforms,the degrees of political participation of different national parliaments are eventually influenced by the transition from authoritarian rule and are characterised by their polity.While before the Arab Spring,the performance of religious affiliated political parties in every nation’s parliament was not prominent,but the democratisation reform provided these religious affiliated political parties with important political opportunities to even overtake their secular opponents.Religious traditions are dominant cultural in the Middle East and North Africa(MENA).The political participation of religious affiliated political parties plays a directionally representative role on the current development of political and religious relations in this era.By comparing the political performance of Islamic political parties in the parliamentary elections in Arab countries since 2010,this essay attempts to theoretically explore the role of religious affiliated political parties in the process of social integration and the political modernisation after the democratisation revolution,and explains the intervention of deeplyrooted religious tradition into public politics.Religious affiliated political parties in the Arab countries are strengthened on the one hand by internal initiative and on the other hand by catering to external needs.However,at the same time,the political participation of religious affiliated political parties has triggered concerns amongst secularists about theocracy,and its true effectiveness is also severely constrained by the degree of progress in the political modernisation process of the host country.

Tourism Development and Well-Being:The Role of Population and Political Stability

This study's primary purpose was to explore the role of tourism development in enhancing well-being in a highly populated developing economy by focusing on the case study of Pakistan Several econometric techniques and approaches were used on annual time series data covering the 1990-2016 period to investigate the causal relationship of well-being with tourism development,political stability,economics,and population growth.The findings suggested that tourism development enhances economic growth and well-being,hence providing support for the tourism-led growth hypothesis However,population growth and political instability exhibited a negative relationship with well-being;in addition,the level of political stability determined tourism activities.Hence,this study is unique due to its specific focus on the role of political stability and tourism development in the enhancement of wellbeing in a highly populated developing economy Moreover,the practical implications of the study have been provided in light of the main findings.

Sudan’s Political Development Path

Since Sudan declared independence from Britain in 1956, it has been mired in long-term unrest. It witnessed two civil wars between the north and the south from 1955 to 1972, and from 1983

The Relations between Nationalism and Islam in the Middle East

This paper argues that the conflicts between modernity and tradition in the process of modernization in the Middle East are rooted in the complicated relations between the two different ideologies,i.e.,nationalism and Islam.The author probes the complicated relations between nationalism and Islam from three aspects:the impact of the Middle Eastern nationalism on Islam,the responses of Islamic fundamentalism to nationalism and the influence and prospects of the conflicts between Islam and nationalism in the political development in the Middle East.