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Begin New Search Political Geography Asia Content Type Journal Article Journal International Relations of the Asia-Pacific

41. The Political Economy of Regionalism in East Asia. Integrative Explanation for Dynamics and Challenges

Author:
Mireya Solís
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Challenge and opportunity – as Hidetaka Yoshimatsu reminds us in this fine book – define this momentous period in the history of East Asian regionalism. Adjustment to the forces of globalization (spearheaded now by the explosive growth of free trade agreements), to China's meteoric rise, and to income disparities in Indochina is a tall order for countries in the region. On the other hand, regional cooperation has made unprecedented progress with initiatives that go beyond inter-governmental negotiations in trade and finance, to cover Track II schemes on a multitude of areas such as the environment, product standard harmonization, and energy. And so, the unavoidable question is: will East Asia seize this historic opportunity to deepen regional solidarity or will it miss the boat?
Topic:
Climate Change
Political Geography:
China and Asia

42. Teaching international relations in Southeast Asia: historical memory, academic context, and politics – an introduction

Author:
Alan Chong and Natasha Hamilton-Hart
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
The teaching of international relations (IR) at universities in Southeast Asia plays a role in the production of knowledge about the IR of Southeast Asia. As a complement to the scrutiny of published research output, a focus on teaching offers one pathway toward comprehending the constitution of meaning in both the IR of Southeast Asia and the broader IR discipline. This introduction to a collection of essays on the teaching of IR in Southeast Asia also discusses the potential ways by which attention to teaching may uncover the socializing role of pedagogy. An inquiry into the discipline as it is taught in the region throws light on how particular national legitimating myths are reproduced, the transmission of collective historical memories, the dominance of certain schools of international thought, and the role of civil society in Southeast Asian knowledge production.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Asia

43. International relations in Indonesia: historical legacy, political intrusion, and commercialization

Author:
Bob S. Hadiwinata
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
This paper is about the development of international relations (IR) as a field of study in Indonesian universities. It argues that IR as a discipline has been encountering a paradox. On the one hand, while the discipline has been increasingly held in high esteem by students, marked by an increasing number of applicants to IR departments across the country; on the other hand, IR scholars show too little commitment to research and publication for the development of the discipline; and if they do publish, the quality of writing is generally poor. This article indicates that the paradox of teaching IR in Indonesia has much to do with historical legacies and political intrusion, as well as an economic environment in which universities are increasingly driven toward commercial activities. All these factors shape the current development of social science in general, and IR in particular.
Topic:
International Relations
Political Geography:
Asia

44. Teaching international relations in Vietnam: chances and challenges

Author:
Pham Quang Minh
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
This paper traces the evolution of the teaching of international relations (IR) in Vietnam, from the establishment of the first Institute of International Relations in 1959 to the proliferation of departments of IR or international studies from the 1990s. It notes the limitations facing teachers of IR and efforts to develop and standardize the curriculum in recent years. It also examines the way national history is portrayed in the teaching of Vietnam\'s foreign policy and regional relations in Southeast Asia, with increasing attention paid to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations from the 1990s. On July 27, 1995 the ceremony to admit Vietnam into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) took place in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. This event had multiple meanings for both Vietnam and ASEAN. It marked a new page in the history of Vietnam–ASEAN relations, transforming suspicion and distrust to cooperation (Vu, 2007, p. 316). For Vietnam, this ended a long confrontation with ASEAN that had started in 1978, as Vietnam was involved in the Cambodian conflict. Looking back to these years, a senior Vietnamese diplomat asked whether Vietnam had been vigilant enough during that time, and he continued his survey of Vietnam\'s regional relations through the lens of its three decades-long struggle and the Cold war between two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the US (Trinh, 2007, p. 19). For ASEAN, this ended an obsession about the \'Vietnamese threat\'. In this context of regional and international relations (IR) of Vietnam, the teaching of IR, in general, and the IR of Southeast Asia, in particular, was much influenced by the environment of the Cold war.
Topic:
International Relations and Cold War
Political Geography:
United States, Asia, and Vietnam

45. Introduction to the special issue of International Relations of the Asia-Pacific

Author:
Takashi Inoguchi
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Peter J. Katzenstein (2006) calls the AsiaBarometer Survey (ABS) a treasure-trove. It systematically digs many under-investigated aspects of daily lives of 29 Asian societies (Inoguchi et al., 2005, 2006; Inoguchi, 2007a, b, 2008). It is near-comprehensive in terms of the number of those societies surveyed in Asia. They are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. It covers East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia. Timor-Leste and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have not yet been surveyed. Nevertheless, no other survey has achieved this comprehensiveness before (Inoguchi and Fujii, forthcoming; also see Appendices 1, 2, and 3: 'Appendix1: List of the Participants of the Asiabarometer Workshops 2003–2007', 'Appendix 2: The Literature on the AsiaBarometer classified by country', and 'Appendix 3: The Literature on the AsiaBarometer Survey' available at the AsiaBarometer website: https: //www.asiabarometer.org/en /publications.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Indonesia, India, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Asia, Cambodia, Asia-Pacific, and Bhutan

46. Anti-Americanism in Asia? Factors shaping international perceptions of American influence

Author:
Matthew Carlson and Travis Nelson
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Against the backdrop of 9 / 11 and the Bush administration's subsequent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, many have argued that international perceptions of the United States are growing more negative and that 'anti-Americanism' is going to be a problem for American foreign policy in the decades to come. We examine the debate over anti-Americanism by using survey data collected in more than 26 countries that span East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia, with a focus on two empirical questions. First, to what extent do citizens in Asia believe that the United States has a negative (or positive) influence on their country? Second, what factors, at both the individual and national level, shape the perceptions of American influence? Although we uncover little evidence of pervasive anti-Americanism, the results of our multilevel model generally confirm the theoretical importance of three explanations for international perceptions of the United States—interest theories, cultural and political similarities, and increased information and contacts.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, America, South Asia, Central Asia, and Asia

47. Malaysia's 2005–2006 refugee stand-off with Thailand: a security culture analysis

Author:
Peter Hourdequin
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
In September of 2005, Malaysia–Thailand relations were stressed by an incident in which 131 Thai Muslims fled across the Southern Thai border to seek refuge in Malaysia. The Malaysian government initially refused to return these 'asylum seekers,' and eventually chose to internationalize the situation by calling on the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). Malaysia's decision to internationalize the issue points to potential instability in Malaysia-Thailand bilateral relations and reflects several internal political problems faced by United Malays National Organization (UMNO) central decisions makers. This paper seeks to explain the Malaysian central government's security perspective on the northern border region. To do this, I employ Muthiah Alagappa's framework for security culture analysis in an attempt to understand Malaysian security culture from the perspective of that culture's central decision makers themselves. (Alagappa, M ed., (1998) Asian Security Practice: Material and Ideational Influences. Stanford: Stanford University Press.)
Topic:
Security and Government
Political Geography:
Malaysia, Asia, and Thailand

48. Japanese Strategic Thought toward Asia

Author:
Hiroshi Kimura
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
This well-constructed work starts from a rather lengthy, detailed 'Overview' written by three editors to enable readers to clearly understand the purpose and structure of the volume. This part includes a summary of the four periods of Japanese strategic thinking that comprise the main body of the book: the 1980s, the first half of the 1990s, the second half of the 1990s, and the Koizumi era. The volume, published in 2007, even covers the first few months of Abe Shinzo in office. In Part 1, 'Chronology', the afore-mentioned four periods are examined. Part 2, 'Geography', focuses on Japan's strategic thought toward five countries/areas in Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Russia, and Central Asia. The final chapter deals with Japan's strategic thinking on regionalism. The chronological and geographical approaches taken in the book give readers a complete picture of the topic. Editors and contributors consist of ten leading experts in Asian studies residing in the United States and other major Asian countries. Most of the contributors are university professors, but there was also a significant contribution from some people with a background in diplomatic services.
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, Asia, and Korea

49. Monetary and financial cooperation in Asia: taking stock of recent ongoings

Author:
Ramkishen S. Rajan
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Ever since the currency crisis of 1997–98, there has been a great deal of interest in enhancing regional economic cooperation in Asia. It is important to keep in mind that economic regionalism is of multidimensional nature. The focus of this paper is on policy initiatives underway in Asia to enhance monetary and financial regionalism and the analytical bases for these initiatives, rather than on examining the de facto level of financial and monetary links that already exists (which may or may not have been facilitated via regional policy mechanisms). There are many gradations of monetary and financial regionalism, ranging from the weak form involving regional policy dialog and surveillance, on the one hand, to exchange rate and monetary coordination, on the other. To maintain focus, this paper concentrates more narrowly on 'medium forms' of monetary and financial regionalism, broadly defined as the development of regional liquidity arrangements and regional financial markets.
Topic:
Markets
Political Geography:
Asia

50. Indonesia's foreign policy after Soeharto: international pressure, democratization, and policy change

Author:
Kai He
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Indonesian politics opened a new phase of democratization after Soeharto stepped down from his 32 years of authoritarian rule. In this paper, Indonesia's foreign policy changes after Soeharto are systematically examined through an 'international pressure–political legitimacy' model derived from neoclassical realism. This model specifies that Indonesia's foreign policy during democratization is mainly influenced by two factors: international pressure and the political legitimacy of the new democratic government. Four cases of foreign policy decision-making from three post-Soeharto presidencies are examined: (i) Indonesia's East Timor policy under Habibie; (ii) Indonesia's 'silence response' toward China's protest on the anti-Chinese riots under Habibie; (iii) Wahid's 'looking towards Asia' proposal; and (iv) Megawati's anti-terrorism and Aceh military operation. The results show that political legitimacy shapes the nature of state behavior, i.e. balancing or compromising, whereas international pressure determines the pattern of state behavior, i.e. external/internal balancing or compromising in words/in deeds.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Democratization
Political Geography:
China, Indonesia, and Asia