From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Chinese diaspora in Singapore and Malaya found itself entangled in complex geopolitical and ideological struggles, where local and global forces intersected and clashed. The British colonial authorities depicted Chinese student-led, left-wing activities through the lens of the Cold War, framing them as communist insurgency and their artistic expressions as propaganda tools. However, a closer examination of the artistic practices of Chinese youth during this turbulent era reveals a plurality of motivations and ideals that transcended strict ideological binaries. This article offers a cultural and historical examination of the ascent and decline of the art societies—the Yi Yan Hui, its successor the Equator Art Society (EAS), and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), as embodied by its inaugural principal Lim Hak Tai. By tracing the personal and artistic journeys of pivotal artists and scrutinizing their aesthetic approaches, the article aims to challenge the long-held binary opposition in the art world of decolonizing Singapore and to shed new light on the on-ground experiences of Chinese youth struggling against Cold War tensions. Utilizing a visual lens, it highlights the agency of left-wing youth and socially engaged artists and reconsiders how these individuals navigated the intertwined realities of Cold War geopolitics and their imagined ideals of independent Singapore and Malaya.

The rules-based international order faces an existential paradox. Eight decades after its founding, international law has never been more vital to human flourishing, yet it has also never been more imperilled. Developments in recent years such as the invasion of Ukraine and the erosion of the multilateral trading system represent more than institutional failures – they expose critical fault lines that, if left unaddressed, threaten to fracture the foundational architecture of international law. This article explores what these trends reveal about the future of the international rule of law and contends that the way forward requires a spirit of sober optimism – one that neither abandons hope nor ignores hard realities about the existing legal order. It suggests that this approach represents our best hope for securing humanity’s shared future.

Over the last 20 years, many countries have experienced the rise of radical right-wing populist (RRP) actors that threaten democratic governance, including in Latin America. These actors have deployed a variety of discursive frames based on economic grievances and (perceived) changing social values. The 2018 elections in Costa Rica were part of this phenomenon: a right-wing populist outsider presidential candidate deployed several frames and earned the most votes in the first round of voting. We analyze support for this candidate to understand which sectors of society were galvanized by the deployment of economic, anti-establishment, and cultural frames. We find that economic frames had much weaker traction than anti-establishment and cultural frames and that opposition to same-sex marriage was the frame with the strongest galvanizing effect across a wide range of demographic groups, beyond the expected ones. These findings support extant scholarship demonstrating the effective politicization of cultural issues by RRP actors for electoral purposes.

Freyberg Place in Auckland’s central business district has emerged as a focal site for youth cultural gatherings. Within this space, university students have localised transnational popular culture, generating new cultural meanings, identities, and affiliations. Over the past decade, Hallyu, and K-pop in particular, has expanded significantly in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This study draws on personal accounts from university student K-pop fans of diverse backgrounds, with attention to their involvement in Auckland’s K-festival, random play dances, and the University of Auckland K-pop Planet club and its Konstellation dance crew. These narratives demonstrate how participation in K-pop activities facilitated adaptation to the residential, social, and academic challenges of university life, while simultaneously fostering peer networks and community belonging. Engagement in these events also enabled students to acquire leadership experience and transferable skills relevant to future employment. Face-to-face fan practices and embodied participation through dance provided an avenue for affective immersion, reinforcing identification with global fan networks. For these students, K-pop constituted both an alternative to Western popular music and a medium through which they articulated transnational identities, positioning themselves as globally connected cultural consumers.

Many institutions today promote “Global Asia(s)” and “Global Asian Studies” as both a method and an initiative. As a growing field, these institutions are committed to reimagining the studies of Asia through transnational, comparative, and boundary-crossing approaches. To map its contemporary landscape and identify emerging challenges, this study draws on interviews with ten directors from diverse institutions around the world, each engaged in Global Asia(s)/Global Asian Studies in distinct and pioneering ways. Despite varied contexts, these institutions share strong commitments – particularly a collective dissatisfaction with traditional models of Asian Studies and a common drive to transcend geographic boundaries, the East–West divide, and disciplinary silos. At the same time, local histories, community needs, academic traditions, institutional structures, leadership visions, and available resources shape divergent interpretations and implementations of Global Asia(s). Rather than advancing a unified model, this study emphasizes the field’s plurality and reflexive knowledge production process, arguing that its strength lies in this diversity and ongoing dialogue.

En 1924 y 1931, Brasil recibió la visita de misiones inglesas cuyo objetivo más evidente era diagnosticar los problemas de la economía brasileña y recomendar soluciones. Entre otras recomendaciones, ambas señalaron la necesidad de crear un banco central en el país, en consonancia con la reanudación del patrón oro en los países centrales después de la Primera Guerra Mundial y las conferencias internacionales de 1920 y 1922. Ocurre que, en Brasil, las propuestas de reforma monetaria y la creación de un banco central fueron debatidas por sucesivos gobiernos y legislaturas al menos desde el fin del Imperio. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es afirmar la existencia en el país de un extenso debate sobre el tema y diversas experiencias con bancos de emisión antes de la llegada de los money doctors.