Abstract: In 2018, the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute celebrates its 50th anniversary. As part of a series of events and publications to mark this occasion, in December 2017 Contemporary Southeast Asia issued a call for papers to be published in a special issue of the journal in August 2018 that would showcase original research undertaken by young scholars working on Southeast Asia. Authors had to be enrolled in a doctoral programme at a university or to have obtained their PhD degree within 12 months before 1 April 2018.Submissions had to include a strong central argument, a compelling narrative, a rigorous analytical framework and make an original contribution to the literature. Those articles which met this criteria were ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Although democracy has always been more of a chimera than a reality in Cambodia, for many observers the dramatic escalation of repression in 2017 marked a turn away from even the illusion of democracy towards "outright dictatorship".1 The crackdown, initiated shortly after the local commune elections in June, began with the closure of media and non-governmental organizations, including the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia radio stations, the US-backed National Democracy Institute and the English-language newspaper The Cambodia Daily, which had been highly critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government.2 Shortly afterwards, opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Kem Sokha was arrested on ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Islam appears to be on the rise in Indonesian politics. From local to national elections, more and more candidates—regardless of party affiliation—increasingly invoke Islamic attributes, demonstrate piety and reach out to religious leaders. Politicians mobilize along religious identity to appeal to Muslim voters. For many observers, the defeat of the incumbent governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election epitomized this phenomena.1 Prior to the election, a series of religious mass rallies occurred in which protesters demanded that Ahok, a Chinese-Indonesian Christian, be arrested and put on trial for blasphemy. Parallel to these protests, preachers delivered sermons in mosques ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: From a geostrategic point of view, for decades the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was relatively insignificant. However, over the past decade ASEAN's strategic importance in the EU's external relations has grown. The EU has significantly upgraded the scope and quality of its relations with ASEAN, actively seeking opportunities for cooperation in security and defence areas, while also expanding political dialogue and development-aid programmes with the organization.In 2007, ASEAN and the EU adopted the Nuremberg Declaration on an EU–ASEAN Enhanced Partnership.1 The Declaration aimed at establishing a long-term vision of and commitment to ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: During the past few years, scholars and commentators have increasingly expressed doubts about Indonesia's democratic project. Despite some progress, the executive and legislative branches are still dominated by the country's traditional political elite, which often blocks or undermines reforms and good governance institutions. There has also been a growing strain of illiberalism, particularly as radical Islamic groups attempt to impose their interpretation of religion on the state. These developments have bred cynicism about the ability of ordinary citizens and civil society to meaningfully participate in politics. However, many observers tend to overlook the Constitutional Court, one of the few state institutions ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: How did a United Nations (UN)-sponsored judicial process end up being held on a military base' And what effects has this choice had on the trial's proceedings and their potential legacy' These are the questions that motivate this article. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is a hybrid domestic/international court created by an agreement between the Cambodian government and the UN. It was created to examine the crimes of the Khmer Rouge whose 1975–79 regime led to the death of an estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million people.1 The ECCC began operating in 2007 and has so far convicted three former Khmer Rouge leaders of crimes against humanity and sentenced them to life imprisonment: Khieu Samphan ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: At the 18th Party Congress in 2012, the Chinese leadership set a strategic goal to transform China into a strong maritime power.1 In July 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated this ambition at the 8th collective study session of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee.2 Thereafter, China began a sustained effort to reinforce its control over the land features it had occupied in the 1970s and 1980s and expand its presence in the South China Sea. Beijing reformed its maritime administrative system and strengthened the capabilities of the navy and maritime law enforcement agencies in order to protect and promote its perceived interests in the South China Sea.3 In 2013, China began ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: According to an influential thesis by David C. Rapoport, terrorism comes in waves. But amid the current "Religious wave", it is easy to lose perspective. Militant Islamists of previous generations, like the hijackers of 9/11, are now followed by those of the iGeneration. For these young militants, the 9/11 attacks are pixelated images from a distant past of phone booths and dial-up Internet. The Religious wave seems endless.Yet we know that terrorists do, in fact, quit. This is the starting point of Julie Chernov Hwang's book, Why Terrorists Quit: The Disengagement of Indonesian Jihadists. Hwang's work builds on a research agenda that is more closely associated with criminology than terrorism studies, in which ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: For the first four decades of its existence, while openly acknowledging that it has looked to Europe as an inspiration, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has not tried to model its regional cooperation on Western European regional integration. Unlike the supranational European Union (EU), with its binding constitution, laws, a vast and powerful central bureaucracy, a European parliament and judiciary that are all intended to enmesh the member states in a regional union marked by diminished national sovereignties, ASEAN has taken a very different route to regional integration. ASEAN was initially designed as a loose and minimalist regional association to promote good neighbourly relations so that ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: The South China Sea has been at the forefront of Asian geopolitics since China constructed seven artificial islands in the Spratly Islands in 2013–16. China's terraforming caused a great deal of alarm not only among the other claimants but also rival Great Powers. As such, it is important to explore how the South China Sea dispute is being defined by Great Power politics. In that context, Anders Corr's edited volume, Great Powers, Grand Strategies: The New Game in the South China Sea, represents a timely contribution to the topic. The book is a collection of studies that examine the grand strategies of the Great Powers as well as key bloc actors such as ASEAN and the European Union.China inevitably figures ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: What drove the North Vietnamese leadership to fight the most powerful country in the world, the United States' Did their leaders understand what they were up against and what the costs to the nation would be' While Tuong Vu's book is not about the "Vietnam War" per se, it is this puzzle that drove him to explore Vietnam's communist revolution—a rare case of a revolution that succeeded and which has stood the test of time.Vu takes readers on a journey through the history of Vietnamese communism: from the introduction of communist ideas in the 1920s and 1930s, through to the gradual ideological integration with the Soviet bloc in the 1950s. As the author notes, "Communism was completely alien to Vietnam" (p. 59)—an ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: Despite its title, this is not really a book about the South China Sea dispute. It is, to quote the author, "a project developing a conceptualization of power suitable for analytical use in international relations" (p. 16). It is about the relationship between China's growing "power"—and the majority of the book is devoted to ways of assessing that power—and the state's actions. Turcsányi regards the South China Sea "as an important playground" (p. 2) where China's policy can be appraised.Turcsányi's book is an extension of his PhD at Masaryk University and follows a traditional thesis format with an opening chapter on research design. There is, unfortunately, no index or bibliography. He has been content to borrow ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: How have patterns of "strategic culture" influenced the behaviour of Thai security elites and military officials' This stimulating book by Gregory Raymond, an academic who used to work for the Australian Department of Defence, addresses this question. In the Introduction, Raymond argues that strategic culture is the "sum of national strategic culture and military organizational strategic culture" (p. 19). The former involves "public symbols and narratives" related to military force under the shadow of past external vulnerabilities, while the latter comprises "beliefs, habits and assumptions" that the military uses to adapt to its environment (p. 20). The interaction between these two "cultures" has influenced Thai ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
Abstract: In 2017, China's People Liberation Army Navy (PLA-N) officially opened its first overseas military facility, a support base in Djibouti. Until fairly recently, Beijing had been insistent that it would not follow the path of the United States and other major powers in asserting its military presence internationally. But in the mid-2000s, concerns began to be raised about a so-called "string of pearls", a series of Chinese-built or -financed port facilities in the Indian Ocean that could potentially be used for both civilian and military purposes. While some of those fears were exaggerated, and remain so, they were not entirely without merit. In addition to Djibouti, the development of port infrastructure in ... Read More Keywords: Authoritarianism; Cambodia; Islam and politics; Muslims; Islam; Southeast Asia; European Union countries; Constitutional courts; Non-governmental organizations; Civil society; Constitutional law; Indonesia.; International criminal courts; South China PubDate: 2018-08-29T00:00:00-05:00
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