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10561. High Times on the Silk Road: The Central Asian Paradox

Author:
David Lewis
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
In medieval times, traders carried jewels, spices, perfumes, and fabulous fabrics along the legendary Silk Route through Central Asia. Today, the goods are just as valuable, but infinitely more dangerous. Weapons and equipment for American troops in Afghanistan travel from west to east, along the vital lifeline of the Northern Supply Route. In the other direction, an unadvertised, but no less deadly product travels along the same roads, generating billions of dollars in illicit profits. As much as 25 percent of Afghanistan's heroin production is exported through the former Soviet states of Central Asia, and the UN's drug experts express grave concerns. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN's Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), claims that the “Silk Route, turned into a heroin route, is carving out a path of death and violence through one of the world's most strategic, yet volatile regions.” A report from his office asserts that there is a “perfect storm spiraling into Central Asia” with drug trafficking funding terrorist groups and insurgency, fostering instability and conflict, and leaving a host of health problems behind. This should be a wake-up call to Central Asian governments. Yet, oddly, nobody seems to care very much.
Topic:
Crime and Government
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, America, and Central Asia

10562. The World's Top Cop: A Talk with Ronald K. Noble

Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
From the uniquely global perspective of Interpol, do you see much change—up or down—in the scope, the reach, or the frequency of corruption? And, is there a chicken and egg syndrome when it comes to the nexus of corruption and crime?
Political Geography:
United States and Paris

10563. On the Run: In Burma's Jungle Hell

Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Lush forests, raging rivers, and steep hills circle Burma's central plain from west to east like a giant horseshoe. It is an idyllic landscape, home to Hsar K'Tray Saw, a 13- year-old Karen boy who lost his sight when a landmine planted by Burmese soldiers exploded outside his village. It is also where a 37-year-old mother was gang raped by half a dozen soldiers in a rice field; where the body of an unknown porter lays rotting down a jungle trail, shot as he was trying to escape enslavement by the Burmese Army; where old, young, and infirm villagers alike grab their few possessions and flee into the jungle, hiding from merciless army patrols like hunted game for weeks, months, sometimes years. In short, this is a land of fear.
Political Geography:
Burma

10564. Imagining Iraq, Defining Its Future

Author:
Missy Ryan
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
BAGHDAD, Iraq—In a neglected graveyard, headstones of British soldiers lie discarded in the sand, sheared off by nearby bomb blasts, toppled by vandals, and crumbled by the passage of 90 years since these young men died in an unfamiliar desert land while their generals and statesmen conjured up a country called Iraq. The British war cemetery, which sits on the edge of a Baghdad thruway, is one of the visible reminders of the first Western occupation of modern Iraq, when European powers divvied up the spoils of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and British administrators endowed Iraq with the foundations of a modern state.
Political Geography:
Iraq and Europe

10565. The Myth of a Kinder, Gentler War

Author:
Michael A. Cohen
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Shortly after he assumed command of all U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal provided his soldiers with operational guidance for fighting insurgent Taliban forces. McChrystal's words directly reflect the Pentagon's new model of U.S. warfare and inform the philosophy behind the current U.S. military escalation in Afghanistan: “The ongoing insurgency must be met with a counterinsurgency campaign adapted to the unique conditions in each area that: protects the Afghan people, allowing them to choose a future they can be proud of; provides a secure environment allowing good government and economic development to undercut the causes and advocates of insurgency.”
Topic:
NATO and Insurgency
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and United States

10566. Bosom Buddies? Ban and Obama's Curious Relations

Author:
Stephen Schlesinger
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Last summer a remarkable secret memo surfaced that rocked the traditionally calm corridors of the United Nations secretariat, while at the same time highlighting the depths of the problems faced by the UN secretary-general. Spineless, ineffectual, lacking in charisma and above all “conspicuous in [his] absence at critical moments,” the memo from the distinguished deputy chief of mission of Norway only highlighted publicly what many had known for some time: Ban Ki-moon is in deep trouble. At the same time that Obama appears to have his own problems with Congress and America's worsening economic problems, the UN chief is faced with having to find his own way out of a wilderness.
Political Geography:
United Nations

10567. Both a Borrower and Lender Be Can Islamic Microfinance Bring Peace to Palestine?

Author:
Kenneth E. Barden
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
RAMALLAH, Palestine—Mahmod Ismail Oda is a farmer, raising a variety of leafy vegetables in a small greenhouse in the northern part of the West Bank outside of Jenin, some 25 kilometers from the border with Israel. The land here is rocky and hilly and a great amount of effort is required to turn this land to productive use. Two years ago, Oda needed money to obtain some plastic housing to protect his vegetables from the elements. Unfortunately, the $5,000 he needed was not an amount that commercial banks were particularly interested in servicing, nor did Oda possess the collateral typically required in conventional loan arrangements. Oda, a devout Muslim, is in his mid-40s and still full of energy. But, as the father of a young family, he feared being encumbered by a debt he could not readily repay. Oda found his answer in a new model of financing, one that blends micro-loans with respect for Islamic law, or shariah. In stepped Reef Finance, just one of a number of nascent institutions that may play a major role in bringing a level of prosperity, even peace, to the rural communities of the West Bank.
Topic:
Debt

10568. Free trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific a decade on: evaluating the past, looking to the future

Author:
Christopher M. Dent
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
This paper charts the growth and patterns of free trade agreement (FTA) activity in the Asia-Pacific, discussing the extent to which there has been evolution and learning in FTA practice among Asia-Pacific states, with attention to the most notable trends in technical policy content and the different ideational approaches to formulating agreements. This sets the broad context for considerations of the current and likely future paths of FTA convergence, harmonization, and transformation in the Asia-Pacific. It is argued that new options for economically rational and politically feasible bilateral FTA partnerships within the Asia-Pacific region are running out. One response has been to explore more seriously options for forming wider plurilateral and regional agreements within the Asia-Pacific. However, a number of constraints and hindrances will work against such FTA convergence and harmonization. The longer term transformation of existing, mostly bilateral FTAs into different or expanded types of agreement has stronger prospects.
Political Geography:
Asia-Pacific

10569. Regional cooperation in Northeast Asia: searching for the mode of governance

Author:
Hidetaka Yoshimatsu
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Since the late 1990s, China, Japan, and South Korea – the core states in Northeast Asia – have gradually engaged in various initiatives and institutions for regional cooperation. Such initiatives extend from summitry to functional cooperation in finance, environmental protection, logistics, and other areas. Furthermore, the three countries have shown their willingness to vitalize cross-border economic activities by concluding commercial arrangements. Given these evolutions, this article seeks to address the following questions: what features are found in trilateral cooperative initiatives and how these features are evaluated in terms of 'regional governance'? The paper advances two propositions. First, regional cooperation in Northeast Asia can be characterized as weak neoliberal orientation and intensive business involvements in cooperative projects in state-directed policy networks. Second, regional governance in Northeast Asia has gradually intensified the nature of regulatory governance in which the governments of the three countries sought to harmonize standards and regulatory systems through trilateral cooperation.
Political Geography:
Japan, China, South Korea, and Northeast Asia

10570. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the softest of them all? Evaluating Japanese and Chinese strategies in the 'soft' power competition era

Author:
Yee-Kuang Heng
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
As states jostle to attract and entice others by deploying a range of innovative strategies, a 'soft' power competition era looms possibly in the Asia-Pacific. This paper argues that reflecting on this period of competitive policy innovation provides a valuable opportunity to re-assess the theory and practice of Joseph Nye's 'soft' power, given its conceptual and empirical frailties: how theoretically precise are the policies commonly described as projecting 'soft' power? To do so, it undertakes a comparative evaluation of Japan's and China's 'soft' power strategies. By paying close attention to the theory–practice linkage, it illuminates the disparities in their understanding of Nye's 'soft' power. Rather than a one-size-fits-all concept, 'soft' power strategies with distinctively Japanese and Chinese characteristics are emerging, bringing different advantages and weaknesses. The proverbial magic mirror would conclude that by more closely matching Nye's formulations and displaying a less competitive streak, Japan appears the 'softer' power.
Political Geography:
Japan, China, and Asia-Pacific

10571. Balancing Okinawa's return with American expectations: Japan and the Vietnam War 1965–75

Author:
James Llewelyn
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
The Vietnam War greatly destabilized Southeast Asia and led to almost a decade of fighting by America and its Asian allies. It was fought on the principle that if communism was unchecked it would overrun the region, with the Southeast Asian countries falling under communist control like 'dominoes'. While countries such as Thailand, South Korea, and Australia provided military support to assist American strategic objectives, Japan, however, was constrained by its peace constitution and thus unable to provide direct military assistance. Nonetheless, under the leadership of the avid anti-communist conservative leadership of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, Japan still managed to play a role in the Vietnam War. Although Japan initially entertained the notion of facilitating mediation, with Okinawa's reversion hanging in the balance after 1967, Japan's leadership took a more hawkish approach on Vietnam in order to ensure that Washington would agree to reverting Okinawa to Japanese administrative control.
Political Geography:
Japan, America, Asia, South Korea, Vietnam, Australia, and Thailand

10572. Understanding Northeast Asian regional dynamics: inventory checking and new discourses on power, interest, and identity

Author:
Chung-in Moon and Jong Kun Choi
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Northeast Asia has emerged as the center of gravity in contemporary international relations (IR), partly owing to China's rise, over the past two decades. In understanding regional dynamics in Northeast Asia, the (neo-) realist perspective has been dominant. Despite its rich analytical and empirical contribution, however, preoccupation with power and its distribution, blurred geographic focus, and built-in status quo bias have prevented the existing realist literature to capture the new reality of the region that can be characterized by trends toward liberal transition, the politics of national identity, and growing correlates of perception, domestic politics, and regional interactions. Against this backdrop, we attempt to undertake an inventory checking of new discourses on power, interest, and identity in accounting for regional change and stability as well as to shed new light on debates on theorizing of IR in Northeast Asia.
Political Geography:
China and Northeast Asia

10573. Civilization and Empire: China and Japan's Encounter with European International Society

Author:
Tetsuya Sakai
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Situated in the twenty-first century world, the idea of an empire justified by the notion of 'civilization's mission' might seem anachronistic and indifferent to us. Contemporary International Society, however, cannot be totally free from the lineage of civilization and empire descending from the European International Society of the late nineteenth century. The problem of 'failed states' and states that abuse human rights, which has surfaced after the demise of the Cold War, often calls into question whether or not it is necessary for Contemporary International Society to utilize its 'civilizing' mode of interaction and intervene in such states. While such arguments are often inspired by a genuine desire to bring about a more humane international life, it cannot be denied that they have uncomfortable similarities with the late nineteenth century (pp. 182–183). International Society still has a dualistic mode: coexistence among 'civilized' states and 'civilizing' backward states.
Political Geography:
Japan, China, and Europe

10574. The Long Shadow: Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia

Author:
Tetsuya Umemoto
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Proliferation optimism and pessimism have set the parameters for debate about the strategic impact of the spread of nuclear weapons to an increasing number of actors. Nuclear proliferation strengthens international peace and stability, optimists argue, because the prospect of nuclear devastation would make state leaders ever more cautious in conducting external relations. Pessimists counter that the wider the ownership of nuclear arms, the greater the danger of nuclear calamity, which could result not only from deliberate release of nuclear forces but also from accidental or unauthorized detonation of nuclear devices as well as nuclear terrorism.
Political Geography:
Asia

10575. Erratum

Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
The publishers would like to apologise for an error in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 9(3), 2009, p. 373. The author's affiliation was published incorrectly as Keio University, Japan. The correct affiliation should be as follows: University of Freiburg, Department of Political Science, Freiburg, Germany.
Political Geography:
Germany

10576. Australia, Indonesia, and West Papuan refugees, 1962–2009

Author:
Klaus Neumann and Savitri Taylor
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
In this paper we examine the Australian government's response to West Papuan asylum-seekers during the period 1962–2009. We argue that, throughout this period, the Australian government has attempted to appease the sensitivities of its powerful northern neighbour, Indonesia, as far as it can without outraging a domestic public sympathetic to West Papuans or drawing international condemnation by too obviously breaching international law. For the most part, it has done so by trying to avoid accommodating refugees from Indonesia, liaising closely with the Indonesian government in relation to asylum-seekers, and assuring the Indonesian government of its unequivocal support for Indonesian territorial integrity.
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Australia

10577. Subaltern straits: 'exit', 'voice', and 'loyalty' in the United States–China–Taiwan relations

Author:
L.H.M. Ling, Ching-Chane Hwang, and Boyu Chen
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Mainstream approaches perpetuate the Taiwan–China 'crisis'. They do so by following Cold-War concepts and prescriptions, despite the rise of new realities and new visions for cross-strait relations. We draw on Hirschman's identification of 'loyalty' and 'voice' to describe the mainstream discourse on cross-strait relations in Taiwan, mostly directed by the United States. But a third option is now emerging. It offers the possibility of a paradigmatic breakthrough or 'exit' based on articulations of a postcolonial subjectivity for Taiwan and its relations with China.
Political Geography:
United States, China, and Taiwan

10578. Russia's breakthrough into the Asia-Pacific: China's role

Author:
Gaye Christoffersen
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Russia's place in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) is undefined, hovering between Moscow's grandiose visions of its geopolitical role in balance of power strategies, and Russia's near invisibility in the region. Russia's integration into the Asia-Pacific has been dependent on China to give Russia a legitimate political and military presence in the region. Moscow blames mistakes it has made in Asia Pacific integration, 1992– 2005, on this China dependence, and expects that post-2006 Russian integration will be different as Moscow diversifies its relations in the region, culminating in Russia hosting the APEC 2012 summit.
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Moscow, and Asia-Pacific

10579. Collective identity formation on the Korean Peninsula: United States' different North Korea policies, Kim Dae-Jung's Sunshine Policy, and United States–South Korea–North Korea relations

Author:
Young Chul Cho
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Focusing on the US Clinton and Bush administration's dissimilar security policies and practices toward the Korean Peninsula, this article aims to examine how the two different external security environments shaped South Korea's collective identity in relation, respectively, to the United States and North Korea, and the Sunshine Policy in different ways, with a temporal focus on the Kim Dae-Jung administration (1998–2003). In so doing, this article will investigate the following substantive questions: what are the reason and implication of harmony between South Korea–US alliance identity and inter-Korean national identity in South Korea during the Clinton administration? In contrast, what are the reason and implication of discord between the two identities during the Bush administration? Related to these questions, this article presents two analytical arguments on the formation of South Korea's collective identity associated with the Sunshine Policy, along with an International Relations theoretical argument implicated in the empirical analysis.
Political Geography:
United States and Korea

10580. Domestic sources of Japanese foreign policy activism: loss avoidance and demand coherence

Author:
Mireya Solís and Saori N. Katada
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
The conventional view in the field of international political economy – that greater economic interdependence creates an incentive for active foreign policy engagement – is hard to reconcile with Japan's foreign economic policy. To explain this counterintuitive outcome, we develop a new model of domestic demand for policy activism that integrates strands of prospect theory, collective action, and interest aggregation. We argue that both the rationale for mobilization and lobbying capacity are essential elements in understanding the domestic demand for significant foreign policy departures. We apply this conceptual framework to Japanese foreign economic policy in two issue areas: finance (Japan's response to the 1980s Latin American debt crisis and the late 1990s Asian Financial Crisis), and trade (Japan's Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Mexico and South Korea).
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, South Korea, Latin America, and Mexico