Hong Kong as special cultural zone: Confucian geopolitics in practice

Responding to An, Sharp, and Shaw’s article, ‘Towards Confucian Geopolitics’, I consider how strategies and interpretations of Chinese geopolitics are playing out in Hong Kong with attention to their cultural dimensions. First, I reflect upon the reactions of individuals and the media in the West—specifically Britain—to the protests and street violence that rocked its former colony in the summer of 2019. Second, to reckon with An, Sharp, and Shaw’s contention that the hybridized nature of Chinese geopolitics emerges from its ‘strategic adaptability’, thereby enabling the integration of foreign ideas into Chinese cultural traditions, I offer a brief critique of cultural and infrastructural developments in Hong Kong relating to the West Kowloon Cultural District. Initially intended to showcase local culture and link it into the art world’s global circuits, the megaproject is increasingly being made in China’s image. Third, as a counterpoint to the supposed flexibility of the Chinese geopolitical imagination, I address the ossification of Western geopolitical thought and practice. In order for geographers to build more pluralistic critical geopolitics, engaging with a diversity of geopolitical approaches and their cultural underpinnings is key. For Western nation-states, failing to practice a more hybridized geopolitics may represent a more existential risk.

Election points to mounting instability risks in Peru

Significance The voting underscores deep social divides. If the result stands, it opens the way to a left-of-centre government whose stated programme has business worried. Fujimori’s claims of fraud have not been substantiated but may encourage street violence between rival supporters. Impacts Unless Castillo can reassure business, capital flight will continue, putting downward pressure on the exchange rate. Negative investor sentiment will be partly offset in the longer term by the increase in prices for minerals. Fujimori's claims of irregularities will increase and extend uncertainty, and will prompt widespread anger if the result is reversed.

Turkish gangster’s claims will shake politics further

Significance In a stream of videos posted over four weeks, Peker has accused former and current political figures, some close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of crimes including rape and murder. Silent for weeks, Erdogan has stood by Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Peker’s main target, along with former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. Impacts The scandal may bring down Soylu, once the fuss has abated. The allegations will damage Turkey's reputation abroad as a stable polity. Erdogan’s rule-of-law record suggests elections will not be free and fair and could involve street violence.

Towards a New Form of Undemocratic Capitalism: Introducing Macro-Equity to Finance Development Post COVID-19 Crisis

Sustainable Development Goal 16 talks about Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, and goal 10 talks about reducing inequality. A major problem exposed by the COVID-19 crisis is that public deficits seem to be the normal state in the business cycle’s booms and downturns, limiting capacity for emergencies. Corporate capitalism has an incentive to perpetuate deficits to increase growth, provide risk-free interest income to financial institutions, and to increase inequalities and economic injustice. To counter this problem, the purpose of this communication is to suggest that countries need to issue equity capital, which we term macro-equity. This macro-equity will give dividends to its shareholders in times of public surplus and issue new shares in times of public deficits. The communication is written as a mind experiment, debating the issues that may arise. This proposal raises many questions of an ethical and moral nature that will lead to passionate debate. The use of macro-equity will reduce countries’ stress, created by high public debt. With appropriate incentives, it may create an entrepreneurial mindset in political leaders that may even reduce corruption and promote redistribution. The moral and ethical issues need to be weighed against the street violence in the absence of any change.

‘I fear only the neighbourhood and the Lord!’ Youth violence in marginalized spaces

Male juveniles in segregated poor neighbourhoods are at increased risk of violence. The code of the street approach is commonly used to understand the context informing street violence in such marginalized spaces, but the concept is mainly used in Western countries, especially in African American communities in the US. This study investigates whether the code of the street is also applicable to the largest Roma neighbourhood in Europe, located in Bulgaria, through guided interviews with male juveniles. The results show that some elements of the code work are applicable in this space, but clear differences also emerge. These findings affect the generalizability of the approach and the understanding of street violence.

Rethinking police legitimacy in postcolonial Hong Kong: Paramilitary policing in protest management

This article addresses a frequently asked question regarding Hong Kong policing since the outbreak of prolonged civil unrest in June 2019: How can we understand the tactics adopted by the police in their attempts to de-escalate street violence, and why did the highly regarded police quickly lose its legitimacy among the public? This article argues that these phenomena can be explained by the abrupt change in the structural and policing context. This combined and interacted with the limitations of the ‘paramilitary policing model’ and public order legislation of Hong Kong adopted since the realignment of Beijing’s Hong Kong policy under the ‘One Country Two Systems’ principle in 2012. In the face of growing resistance to change this shift demystified the ‘professionalism’, ‘neutrality’, and ‘accountability’ that had continually been associated with the public’s perception of the Hong Kong Police since the 1970s. The protests pulled the police back to the escalated force in protest policing which in turn led to further declines in perceptions of police legitimacy across the population of the special administrative region. The findings also provide the platform for further conceptual debate on police legitimacy.

The Advocacy of Facebook Public Group “Info Cegatan Jogja“ to Prevent Gangsterism Action “Klitih“ in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

“Info Cegatan Jogja” is a popular public group on Facebook in informing social issues around Yogyakarta city, Indonesia. The information of netizens who get the most comments and responses is the gangsterism action known as “Klitih” in Yogyakarta. The term Klitih has been a street violence phenomenon that deeply disturbs the life of social, economic, education, and tourism in Yogyakarta. This study describes the role of the Facebook group “Info Cegatan Jogja” in advocating for the prevention of Klitih gangsterism in Yogyakarta. The analytical technique used was the mix method approach in the form of discourse analysis to capture the news dynamics and netizen responses to the phenomenon. The results of this study found that Facebook public group “Info Cegatan Jogja” can mobilize civilian awareness to participate and communicate intensively to encourage law enforcement officials to take firm action against their actions. The Facebook group “Info Cegatan Jogja” has become an important channel for community solidarity education in facing street violence “Klitih” in Yogyakarta.

Nationality and Perception of Factors Impacting Decisions to Attend the Olympic Games Before and After COVID-19

The global pandemic caused by the spread of the COVID-19 virus in 2020 has impacted the sports industry in unprecedented ways that will remain at the forefront of how practitioners organize, market, and operate live sport events at every level. A study assessing nine factors impacting a decision to attend the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil found that the fear of contracting the zika viruswas the leadingconcernfor citizens born in the United States (U.S.) while citizens from Chinaranked terrorism, riots, and street violence higher than zika. The nine factors were categorized into three clusters representing 1) environmental health concerns (e.g., zika virus and water contamination), 2) safety and security risks (e.g., terrorism, street crime, riots), and 3) personal issues (e.g., lack of time/finances, no passport, health issues, and unknown factors). A significant difference (p < .05) was found in the combined mean scores of natural citizens from the U.S. and China for each cluster.The study sparks inquiry into whether a significant difference would still exist between Chinese and U.S. citizens’perceptions ofwhether environmental health factors impact decisionsto attend the Olympics if COVID-19 replaced the zika virus and the context applied to the 2020 Games in Tokyo which were postponed until 2021

Central America security improvements will not last

Significance Quarantine measures imposed across Central America’s Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) come amid falling trends in violent crime, and speculation that restrictions on movement may have further stifled violence by keeping people off the streets. Evidence on that looks conflicting, but whatever the short-term impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, it seems certain to foster increased criminality in the longer term. Impacts Quarantine measures may have helped keep street violence down but domestic violence is likely to have worsened. The economic downturn will increase demand for illegal people-smuggling networks once borders reopen. A rebound in violent crime after lockdown measures ease will dampen hopes of foreign investment in the affected countries. US assistance may rely on governments’ continued acceptance of damaging migration policies.

Crime News Consumption and Fear of Violence: The Role of Traditional Media, Social Media, and Alternative Information Sources

In this article, we examine the correlates of fear of violence in the cross-media landscape. The study draws on the Finnish National Crime Victim Survey ( n = 6,141, respondents aged 15–74 years). First, we examine from what information and media sources respondents receive information on violent crime. We then examine how consumption of different types of media and information sources on violent crime associates with the contemporary experience of fear of street violence, avoidance behavior due to threat of violence, and perceived threat of terrorism to oneself. We also examine whether this association remains when age, gender, education, past victimization, and economic strain are adjusted for.