China's long war against Japan from 1937 to 1945 has remained in the shadows of historiography until recently, both in China and abroad. In recent years, the opening of archives and a widening of the opportunity to discuss the more controversial aspects of the wartime period in China itself have restored World War II in China ('the War of Resistance to Japan') to a much more central place in historical interpretation.

In The 1930s, two wars captured the imaginations of western progressives. One of them, the Spanish Civil War, still lives in popular historical memory. The other, the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45, known in China at the War of Resistance against Japan (Kang-Ri zhanzheng), has been much more in the historiographical and cultural shadows since 1945. Only relatively recently has this situation changed.

This article develops an account of who controls Europe's semipresidential cabinets politically. The authors ask which actors negotiate cabinet composition and what shapes who is in charge of the cabinet-questions that have been the focus of key debates about the political consequences of this regime type since Duverger.