AMERICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY Spring 2012, Vol. 26, No. 1 ARTICLES SinoU.S. Relations and an Emerging Dual Leadership Structure in the AsiaPacific (Zhao Quansheng) In the Asia-Pacific region, with significant changes in both Sino-U.S. relations and international relations in this area since the beginning of this century, a China-US dual leadership structure is emerging. As a rising economic power, China has begun to take on a more influential, even leading role on economic, trade, and financial matters, while the United States remains the global superpower and the unchallenged leader in the fields of military, security and political influence. This emerging structure will oblige China and the United States to accommodate each other's core interests by developing a complementary relationship on the basis of each power's own strengths in different fields. That will be likely to ensure the regional stability and prosperity for the years to come. U.S. Counterinsurgency: Theory, Practice and Dilemma (Ge Tengfei and Su Ting) Since the 1950s, along with the Third World national liberation movements and the U.S. increased efforts in the political and military intervention in the Third World, the American government has paid more attention to the theory and practice of counterinsurgency. The counterinsurgency theory has gone through three phases: the Kennedy period, the Reagan period, and the Bush-Obama period. The Kennedy period emphasized the support for the local counterinsurgent governments. In the Reagan years, both insurgency and counterinsurgency were placed in the broader context of low-intensity conflict theory. During the Bush-Obama period, countering global insurgency of Islam Jihadism has become the main mission of the United States. Though the theory of counterinsurgency is regarded as one of the basic tools for U.S. intervention abroad, the United States still has to face a political, military and ethical dilemma inherent in its foreign intervention. On Jurisdiction over the Cases under the Alien Tort Statute of the U.S.A. (Li Qingming) In the early days of the United States, the Congress adopted the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) to grant the federal district courts jurisdiction over cases against aliens for torts in violation of international law or a treaty of the United States, in the hope to help the newly founded U.S.A. to win respect of other nations, and to provide the aliens with remedy so as to avoid the potential threat to the national security and to develop international trade. In the 1960s, with the rise of civil rights movement, international civil disputes involving foreign states multiplied. Because of the efforts of human rights groups plus other factors, such as the specific rules favoring the plaintiffs in the legal system of the United States, the ATS was hotly discussed in academic and judicial circles. The scope of personal jurisdiction and subject matter jurisdiction under the ATS has been greatly expanded, and the federal courts of the United States are willing to enforce international law especially international peremptory norms. However, the federal courts tend to refuse to enforce most international human rights conventions or treaties in ATS cases on the ground of nonselfexecuting treaty doctrine. On the Judicial Review of Antitrust Consent Decrees in the United States (Liu Jin) Before the promulgation of the Tunney Act in 1974, the judicial review of the antitrust consent decrees proposed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) was very simple. American federal district court had operated simply as a “rubber stamp.” The Tunney Act and its 2004 amendments were designed to ensure adequate judicial review on antitrust consent decrees. The following practices revealed that the role the courts played had switched from a “rubber stamp” to a “forum”. But the courts still show much deference to the discretion of the DOJ. The Tunney Act and the practices demonstrated not only the checks and balances between the judicial and administrative powers, but also the courts deference to the discretion of the administration. On U.S. Presidential Waiver Authority with a Case Study of its Application to American Satellite Export to China (Liu Weidong) Presidential Waiver Authority is a relatively special one among the administrative authorities in the U.S.. The president is able to perform this authority independently after he gets the authorization from Congress. Presidential Waiver Authority is widely used in Americas political life. Meanwhile, it is influenced by many complicated factors. For issues relating to exporting satellites from America to China, Presidential Waiver Authority had been functioned effectively before 1998. After then, Congress has tightened its control over such export; U.S. government has censured China for proliferating missile technology, and there has been personal bias against Chinas development. As a result, the president has not yet employed this authority since then, and Americas business of satellite export to China has come to a complete standstill. Negotiations over Asset Claims before the Normalization of Sino-U.S. Relations: The Policies of the Nixon and Ford Administrations (Mao Ruipeng) After the issuance of the Shanghai Communiqué in February, 1972, the United States and China commenced improving bilateral trade relations in which the issues of asset claims became their priority concern. From the U.S. position, the solution to the issues could both promote the normalization of SinoU.S. economic and trade relations, and, in political sense, symbolize the progresses of bilateral relations. The negotiation process showed that even though the United States worked as a main promoter, the realization of the normalization of SinoU.S. relations was, in fact, the decisive factor to the successful resolution of the issues. Since the U.S. was unable to make substantial efforts to realize the normalization of the U.S.China relations, it attempted to rely on the progress in the economic field to show the close relations between the two countries. But, being not satisfied with the U.S.s efforts, China did not make full cooperation. American Trade Policy in the Great Depression and its Impact on SinoUS Trade (Sun Yuqin) During the Great Depression, the protectionist trade policies initiated by the United States, greatly damaged the development of international trade. Chinas foreign trade, especially the trade with the United States, also suffered severely. From 1929 to 1932, despite the passive devaluation of the Chinese currency, the positive effect on Chinas export was far less than the effect caused by U.S. increase of import tariff and decline of import demand. Since 1933, the reduction of U.S. tariff barriers, devaluation of U.S. currency and the silver purchase had led to the relative appreciation of Chinas currency. However, the limited trade liberalization and the rise in American national income encouraged an expansion of import demand, and thus stimulated a growth in China's exports to the United States. The Origin of the Salem Witchcrafts in the 17th Century (Li Wenshuo) Salem Witchcrafts is one of the mysterious events in the early American history. The peaceful Salem village was suddenly beset by witchcrafts, and thus a series of trials and punishment followed. Salem Witchcrafts took place in the context of transAtlantic immigrant activities and cultural exchanges, but the transformation of the society in New England mainly triggered the event. Witchcraft has been a tradition of the Occident and a subject of lots of studies. Many researches have been done by the U.S. academia. The research is beneficial to the comprehension of American history of the colonial period. BOOK REVIEW A Review of American Legal and Judiciary Practice under the Constitutional Democracy and the Development of Capitalist Economy (Zhang Qingyi and Ren Donglai) The Westward Expansion of American Feminist Criticism: On Nina Bayms Women Writers of the American West, 1833～1927 (Jin Li) ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES Summary of the Symposium of “Comparative Study of the Establishment and Operational Model of Chinese and American Government Institutions”(Xu Feng) New Books Editor's Note