William A. Callahan – författare

Visual images are everywhere in international politics. But how are we to understand them? In Sensible Politics, William A. Callahan uses his expertise in theory and filmmaking to explore not only what visuals mean, but also how visuals can viscerally move and connect us in "affective communities of sense." The book's rich analysis of visual images (photographs, film, art) and visual artifacts (maps, veils, walls, gardens, cyberspace) shows how critical scholarship needs to push beyond issues of identity and security to appreciate the creative politics of social-ordering and world-ordering. Here "sensible politics" isn't just sensory, but looks beyond icons and ideology to the affective politics of everyday life. It challenges our Eurocentric understanding of international politics by exploring the meaning and impact of visuals from Asia and the Middle East. Sensible Politics offers a unique approach to politics that allows us to not only think visually, but also feel visually-and creatively act visually for a multisensory appreciation of politics.

Visual images are everywhere in international politics. But how are we to understand them? In Sensible Politics, William A. Callahan uses his expertise in theory and filmmaking to explore not only what visuals mean, but also how visuals can viscerally move and connect us in "affective communities of sense." The book's rich analysis of visual images (photographs, film, art) and visual artifacts (maps, veils, walls, gardens, cyberspace) shows how critical scholarship needs to push beyond issues of identity and security to appreciate the creative politics of social-ordering and world-ordering. Here "sensible politics" isn't just sensory, but looks beyond icons and ideology to the affective politics of everyday life. It challenges our Eurocentric understanding of international politics by exploring the meaning and impact of visuals from Asia and the Middle East. Sensible Politics offers a unique approach to politics that allows us to not only think visually, but also feel visually-and creatively act visually for a multisensory appreciation of politics.

After celebrating their country's three decades of fantastic economic success, many Chinese are now asking, "What comes next?" How can China convert its growing economic power into political and cultural influence around the globe? William A. Callahan's China Dreams gives voice to China's many different futures by exploring the grand aspirations and deep anxieties of a broad group of public intellectuals. Stepping outside the narrow politics of officials vs. dissidents, Callahan examines what a third group--"citizen intellectuals"--think about China's future. China Dreams eavesdrops on fascinating conversations between officials, scholars, soldiers, bloggers, novelists, film-makers and artists to see how they describe China's different political, strategic, economic, social and cultural futures. Callahan also examines how the PRC's new generation of twenty- and thirty-somethings is creatively questioning "The China Model" of economic development. The personal stories of these citizen intellectuals illustrate China's zeitgeist and a complicated mix of hopes and fears about "The Chinese Century," providing a clearer sense of how the PRC's dramatic economic and cultural transitions will affect the rest of the world. China Dreams explores the transnational connections between American and Chinese people, providing a new approach to Sino-American relations. While many assume that 21st century global politics will be a battle of Confucian China vs. the democratic west, Callahan weaves Chinese and American ideals together to describe a new "Chimerican dream."

The rise of China presents a long-term challenge to the world not only economically, but politically and culturally. Callahan meets this challenge in China: The Pessoptimist Nation by using new Chinese sources and innovative analysis to see how Chinese people understand their new place in the world.To chart the trajectory of its rise, the book shifts from examining China's national interests to exploring its national aesthetic. Rather than answering the standard social science question "what is China?" with statistics of economic and military power, this book asks "when, where, and who is China?" to explore the soft power dynamics of China's identity politics.China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through careful analysis, Callahan charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China's domestic and international politics. China thus is the pessoptimist nation where national security is closely linked to nationalist insecurities.Callahan concludes that this interactive view of China's pessoptimist identity means that we need to rethink the role of the state and public opinion in Beijing's foreign policy-making.

This text examines the politics of culture and the culture of politics in Pacific Asia through case studies on the South Pacific, China, South Korea, Thailand and Southeast Asia. The contexts and cultures of the chapters are wide-ranging and Callahan skilfully ties them together with the objective of analyzing the relation between the state’s cultural governance and resistance to it. The themes covered include:governmentality and cultural production popular culture and resistance East/West relations gender, identity and democracy civil society, social movements and democracy national and transnational identity production. Cultural Governance and Resistance in Pacific Asia addresses the dynamics between Asian studies and cultural studies, and the overlap between comparative politics and international relations, and as such will appeal to students and scholars of Asian studies, cultural studies, comparative politics, sociology and anthropology alike.

This text examines the politics of culture and the culture of politics in Pacific Asia through case studies on the South Pacific, China, South Korea, Thailand and Southeast Asia. The contexts and cultures of the chapters are wide-ranging and Callahan skilfully ties them together with the objective of analyzing the relation between the state’s cultural governance and resistance to it. The themes covered include:governmentality and cultural production popular culture and resistance East/West relations gender, identity and democracy civil society, social movements and democracy national and transnational identity production. Cultural Governance and Resistance in Pacific Asia addresses the dynamics between Asian studies and cultural studies, and the overlap between comparative politics and international relations, and as such will appeal to students and scholars of Asian studies, cultural studies, comparative politics, sociology and anthropology alike.

In the 1990s, Greater China became the subject of debate as the site of either the danger of the "China threat" or the promise of Confucian capitalism. William A. Callahan argues that Greater China presents challenges not only to economic and political order but also to international relations theory. In fact, Greater China, though absent from geopolitical maps and international law, is very much present in economic and cultural exchange and exemplifies the contingent state of international politics. Callahan deconstructs the mainstream geopolitical and political-economic understandings of Greater China, tracing its emergence through an ethnographic analysis of four political "problems" in East Asia: the South China Sea disputes, Sino-Korean relations, the return of Hong Kong, and cross-straits relations. Callahan shows how bureaucrats, outlaws, tycoons, academics, workers, politicians, and hooligans alike produce Greater China through networks of relations in local, national, regional, global, and transnational space. Finally, Contingent States reveals how each of the "problems" provoked theoretical innovations that depart from standard conceptions of sovereignty, democracy, and the nation-state.William A. Callahan is senior lecturer of international politics and deputy director of the Center for Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Durham, England, and the author of Imagining Democracy: Reading "The Events of May" in Thailand and Pollwatching, Elections, and Civil Society in Southeast Asia.

This title was first published in 2000:  Corruption has become a major issue in East and Southeast Asia since the financial crisis of 1997, leading to widespread political change across the region. But political corruption is not a new issue in Southeast Asia. As Pollwatching, Elections and Civil Society in Southeast Asia shows through in-depth studies of Thailand and the Philippines, political corruption has been a major point of contention within South East Asian countries for decades.

This title was first published in 2000:  Corruption has become a major issue in East and Southeast Asia since the financial crisis of 1997, leading to widespread political change across the region. But political corruption is not a new issue in Southeast Asia. As Pollwatching, Elections and Civil Society in Southeast Asia shows through in-depth studies of Thailand and the Philippines, political corruption has been a major point of contention within South East Asian countries for decades.