Abstract: As a consequence of European and Japanese colonialism, most Southeast Asian states have historically been suspicious of external interference and domination by the Great Powers. A regional preference for autonomy from Great Power politics was endorsed in the early years of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through the formulation of a declaratory principle for regional order. In November 1971, the five founding member states signed the Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) Declaration in Kuala Lumpur.1 The ZOPFAN Declaration is a political document that captured contrasting views within ASEAN on the role of external powers in Southeast Asia at that time. While Indonesia has traditionally ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: As with other countries, Malaysia expresses concern about national sovereignty and issues related to the distribution and balance of power in the international system. However, Malaysia's behaviour in foreign relations is in some respects distinctive, and this may be due partly to the influence of a heritage of pre-modern Malay thinking. Certain ideas in this heritage—including perspectives on the character of the state, the interests of the state and international order (moral as well as political)—differ radically from post-Westphalian thinking. The best way to interrogate the Malay tradition of foreign relations is likely to be through a disciplinary collaboration between International Relations (IR) and Area ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: This article argues that role theory is a useful approach to understanding more clearly the concept of middle powers. As John Gerring notes, in developing the concept, we seek successful alignment across the conceptual triangle: intension, or internal attributes; extension, or external referents; and a label that covers both.1 Unfortunately, middle power conceptualization has been unusual compared to most other academic concepts in International Relations (IR). According to R.A. MacKay, the label was created by Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King in a 1946 parliamentary speech on the postwar international order, in which he insisted on a role for "middle powers" like Canada.2 This label was then absorbed into ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Indonesia is the leading global producer of crude palm oil. Mass production of palm oil requires large-scale land conversion, resulting in Indonesia having the world's highest rate of annual primary forest loss.1 In 2017, palm oil production required approximately 12 million hectares of land (an area the size of North Korea) to produce 38 million tons of palm oil. In 2016, Indonesia exported 22.8 million tons of palm oil valued at US$14.4 billion.2 Given the contentious nature and scale of palm oil production, this article examines the ways in which discourse coalitions seek to legitimate the agronomy of rural development in Indonesia. The authors consider whether Indonesia represents a variant of the developmental ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: "He was a businessman, he was like water, flowing wherever it flows. We are like a rock, we cannot be moved."On 1 September 2016, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the strongest of Myanmar's twenty or so Ethnic Armed Groups (EAGs), walked out of the "Twenty-first Century Panglong Conference", the country's most ambitious peace talks since armed insurgencies erupted across the country in the 1950s. The peace talks were meant to be a shining symbol of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi's new National League for Democracy (NLD) government's commitment to peace, inclusion and development. The walkout was a serious blow to the peace talks, as it now lacked the involvement of the largest EAG. In April 2017, the UWSA ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Since the early 2010s, the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) has increased its official development assistance (ODA) to Myanmar. In 2016, South Korea disbursed US$47.31 million in ODA to Myanmar, an almost ten-fold increase compared to 2009 (US$4.87 million). As Table 1 shows, in 2016 South Korea's ODA to Myanmar was smaller than its ODA to the other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) such as Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. However, the growth rate of South Korea's ODA to Myanmar over the last ten years was higher than that of any other ASEAN country. In 2016, Myanmar ranked 8th among South Korea's ODA recipients, up from 38th in 2007.1 In 2015, the South Korean ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: During the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, railways epitomized the triumph of scientific ingenuity in harnessing human capital, finance and technology to overcome the constraints of time and space. In any successful rail development plan, the shortened travel time ensures that the economy can make more efficient use of its resources, while population movements for employment and leisure can be accelerated. Similarly, railways remove space as a major barrier to industrial planning and development. If this is successfully carried out, physical geography becomes much less of a barrier to the establishment of industrial facilities. Between centres of population and skill concentration, railways ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Shaun Narine's excellent new book interrogates the role the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is likely to play in the Asia Pacific over the next decade or so. The book's major strength is its insistence on viewing ASEAN's development in the broader regional context.After a brief introduction, the first three substantive chapters cover ASEAN's history as far as the multiple crises of the late 1990s; its quest for internal reform through the creation of a three-pillared ASEAN Community; and its attempt to position itself at the centre of a web of intersecting regional organizations. The next three chapters profile the giants—China, the United States, Japan, India and Russia—that ASEAN seeks to engage ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: In recent years, the first overseas visit undertaken by a new Australian prime minister has been to Indonesia. Thus it was unsurprising that Scott Morrison flew to Indonesia about a week after he was sworn in as Australia's thirtieth prime minister on 24 August 2018. During the visit, the two countries upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), elevating Australia to the same level as the United States and China in Jakarta's foreign policy priorities. Both leaders also announced the conclusion of negotiations on a long-awaited bilateral free trade deal, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The CSP and CEPA follow an upswing in bilateral ties over the past year. ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: The main title of Marites Vitug's account of the Philippines' maritime rights case against China does this book justice. The Philippine case against China was rock solid and the Philippines won a comprehensive legal victory on 16 July 2016. Vitug's book itself, at the risk of a bad pun, is also rock solid. It is an authoritative account, with lots of colour and character, of the history of the maritime rights dispute between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, the decision by President Benigno Aquino to take China to court in 2013 and how the case itself unfolded.The book's subtitle though does not do the book justice. Certainly, using access and interview skills as one of the Philippines' leading ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: On 9 May 2018, the Malaysian electorate terminated 60 years of dominance by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) of Malayan/Malaysian politics by voting into office the opposition Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope). The Anatomy of an Electoral Tsunami, written by three of Malaysia's leading political observers, is not so much a dissection of the election itself, but rather a compilation of opinion pieces which analyse the increasing social, political and economic decay which, under the UMNO-dominated government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, threatened the future of Malaysia as a viable parliamentary democracy. All three writers are well credentialed for this task. Lim Teck Ghee is a long established ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: The title of Daniel C. O'Neill's book, Dividing ASEAN and Conquering the South China Sea: China's Financial Power Projection, is probably out of order. Those looking for a work on the South China Sea might at first be disappointed, but O'Neill's analysis is well worth the time of anyone interested in China's pursuit of power, both in Asia and around the world. The author builds a compelling academic argument for something that many Southeast Asia watchers probably already know in their bones, but for which they might lack an analytical framework: that Beijing uses its financial assistance to buy influence and divide the region. That is what the book is about, and O'Neill could have just as effectively made his case ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: The flashpoints of Asia are well-known: the Korean Peninsula, the East China Sea, the South China Sea and Taiwan. All four are characterized by simmering tensions and the potential to erupt into conflict with widespread, and potentially catastrophic, consequences. There are ample books and commentaries dealing with each flashpoint, but Brendan Taylor goes further by painting a broader picture of how these four issues are collectively worsening Asia's strategic environment. Taylor sketches how tensions could play out in each flashpoint and argues that crises can only be avoided by understanding the complex relations between them. He suggests that a major war in Asia is more likely than most would assume, as the ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Indonesian Islam has earned something of a bad reputation in recent times. Amid reports of rising intolerance against religious minorities, terror attacks, high-profile blasphemy cases and the growing political influence of hardline Muslim groups, it is easy to take an alarmist stance and assume that Indonesia's approximately 225 million Muslims are heading down the path of puritanism. Indeed, even seasoned analysts of Indonesia often forget that Indonesian Islam is heterogeneous, and that the everyday experiences of Muslims from different socio-cultural backgrounds are extremely diverse. This is why Hew Wai Weng's and David Kloos' respective books are much-needed additions to contemporary scholarship on Islam in ... Read More Keywords: South China Sea PubDate: 2019-01-15T00:00:00-05:00
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