Publications Review 5.03.2013

In this issue you will find: China's defence spending, Migration, West Bank, European bank and energy policy, political deadlock in Italy, economic policy of Shinzō Abe (Japan)

In their article “Demystifying China’s Defense Spending: Less Mysterious in the Aggregate”, in the forthcoming issue of The China Quarterly academic journal Adam P. Liff and Andrew S. Erickson, argue that “China’s defence spending overall is no mystery – it supports PLA modernization and personnel development as well as its announced objectives of securing China’s homeland and asserting control over contested territorial and maritime claims, with a focus on the Near Seas (the Yellow, East, and South China seas).”

This article offers greater context and perspective for Chinese and Western discussions of China’s rise and concomitant military build-up through a nuanced and comprehensive assessment of its defence spending and military transparency.

You can read this article here.

The latest issue of "Other News" is dedicated to problem of Media Coverage of Migration. The paper describes recent study conducted by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the European Journalism Centre (EJC), according to which media coverage of migration issues is far from conducive to promoting better understanding between cultures, religions and peoples around the world.

Also in this issue you will find an article by Mel Frykberg which describes the latest developments in the West Bank.

Recent newsletter of Bruegel, Brussels-based think tank specializing in economics, covers, among othe topics, the issue of Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) for European banks, which was recently outlined by European Council. It also describes European Union energy policy goals and major obstacles which stand in the way of free flows of electricity within the EU.

The latest Centre for European Reform newsletter, issued on the 1st of March, focuses on possible consequences of political deadlock in Italy for Eurozone.