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Department of Asian and International Studies
Clarice Kit-ying LO (
盧潔瑩
): “Will China Avoid Falling into the Middle
Income Trap Under the New Generation of Leadership?”
Supervisor: Professor Paul CAMMACK
“Up to the present, China has relied heavily of low-productivity assembly by
an ever-increasing workforce to generate high rates of growth. The potential
of that strategy is coming to an end as the economy matures, the growth of
the workforce begins to slow, and wages as well as living standards rise.
There is a need, therefore, to transform and upgrade the economy, towards
high-productivity activities and a capacity for indigenous innovation. This essay
draws on a wide range of sources to assess the potential for this transition
under the new leadership. It is nicely written, and shows an excellent grasp of
the social, political and economic challenges China faces. Its strength is the
maturity of judgment shown in reaching a balanced conclusion, in an area where
much academic and journalistic commentary is marred by uncritical positive or
superficial negative approaches. Overall, an excellent paper which shows an
impressive ability to make sense of a complex and controversial topic.”
Suren Mark DE SILVA: “Aid in Sri Lanka – Traditional Donors and Their
Failure to Incite Change”
Supervisor: Dr. Ruben GONZALEZ-VICENTE
“This paper by Suren Mark de Silva discusses contemporary models of
international aid in Sri Lanka and highlights the failure of traditional donors to
tackle human right abuses through aid conditionality. The paper investigates
issues of conditionality and sovereignty, thus engaging one of the long-standing
debates on international aid and cooperation. Yet the author is careful to adopt a
nuanced perspective that finds flaws both in non-interventionist and conditional
approaches to aid. Through a well-informed discussion of Sri Lanka’s political
history and with an emphasis on elite nationalistic concerns, the author
concludes that traditional donors have not been able to accommodate Sri
Lanka’s aspirations for independence, nor to understand the challenges posed
by non-conditional aid from emerging economies. The arguments are supported
by well-founded data, which demonstrates extensive research. One of the great