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2. Migration governance and the migration industry in Asia: moving domestic workers from Indonesia to Singapore
- Author:
- Charmian Goh, Kellynn Wee, and Brenda S. A. Yeoh
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- In the context of Asia, understanding migration governance needs to transcend statism to encompass the ‘middle space’ of migration. Unlike migration linked to settlement in liberal democratic states of the West, a large part of low-skilled migration in Asia – predominantly circular, feminized, and contractual—is brokered by private recruitment agencies. In adopting migration brokers as a methodological starting point, we make the case for bringing the migration industry into the fold of global migration governance analysis. Based on interviews with employment agencies deploying Indonesian domestic workers to Singapore from 2015 to 2016, we argue that migrant-destination states in Asia devolve responsibility for workers to the migration industry to order migration flows and circumvent formal cooperation with origin countries. Comprehending migration governance in Asia requires grappling with the co-constitutive governance of the state and migration industry and its interdependent dynamics, which we illuminate through the theory of strategic action fields.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Migration, Governance, Political Science, and State
- Political Geography:
- Indonesia, Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia
3. Japan as an ‘Emerging Migration State’
- Author:
- James F. Hollifield and Michael Orlando Sharpe
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- International migration and mobility raise a host of economic and security concerns for states in the Global North and the South. The garrison state linked with the trading state in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The 20th and 21st centuries have seen the emergence of the migration state, where managing migration is vital for national security and development. Despite a reputation for social, political, and legal closure and a reticence about admitting immigrants, Japan is making halting moves toward a national immigration policy, what could be a ‘Meiji moment’ with policy innovation and potential transformation of Japanese society. The Japanese case is instructive for the study of migration policy as the only liberal state that has resisted immigration and paid the costs in terms of sociodemographic, economic, and political challenges. This article lays out a framework for analysis of Japan as an emerging migration state and explores the extent to which Japan has made the transition to a country of immigration.
- Topic:
- Migration, History, Immigration, Governance, and Economic Policy
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia-Pacific
4. 'The Loud Dissenter and its Cautious Partner' – Russia, China, global governance and humanitarian intervention
- Author:
- Marc Lanteigne and Aglaya Snetkov
- Publication Date:
- 02-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- The global issue of humanitarian intervention has become more pronounced and complicated in recent years due to increasingly diverging views on addressing security crises between the West on one side and Russia and China on the other. Despite their support for the principles of 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P), both Russia and China are wary of Western intervention in internal conflicts after the Cold War and have become increasingly critical of Western-led armed intervention in humanitarian conflicts. Unease in Beijing and Moscow over the multilateral intervention in the 2011 Libyan conflict and their ongoing opposition to Western policies in the Syrian Civil War since 2011 would seem to point to ever more coincidence in their negative views of American and Western intervention policies. A conventional wisdom has thus emerged that there is something akin to a Sino–Russian 'bloc', with near-identical policies of discouraging armed intervention within state borders under the aegis of humanitarian intervention or the R2P doctrine, signed in 2005 (2005 World Summit). However, closer examination of Russian and Chinese positions on the Libyan and Syrian conflicts, drawing on normative and identity perspectives, reveals significant differences in how both states address intervention in civil conflicts involving human rights emergencies. Indeed, the Libyan and Syrian cases suggest that the distance between the two states on 'acceptable' policies toward international intervention in civil conflicts may actually be increasing. While Russia has assumed the role of the 'loud dissenter' in global dialogs on humanitarian intervention, China has opted for the position of a 'cautious partner'.
- Topic:
- Cold War and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, and Syria
5. Better a good neighbor than a distant friend: the scope and impact of regional security organizations
- Author:
- Han Dorussen and Emil J. Kirchner
- Publication Date:
- 01-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- Under what conditions do regional security organizations (RSOs) take up a broader agenda or scope in security governance? Further, does broader scope matter for regional security? These questions are addressed using a quantitative comparative analysis of 25 RSOs over the period 1990–2009. Similarity among members in their capacities and political systems are identiï¬ed as two central conditions for increased scope. In contrast, hegemony is not a signiï¬cant factor. Institutionalization also seems to matter: RSOs that have been around longer and encompass more members are more successful in expanding their security agenda. There is only weak empirical support for the idea that RSOs with a broader scope have a stronger pacifying effect on regional security. The implications of these ï¬ndings are discussed in greater detail for Asian RSOs, which have only limited scope and operate in comparatively high levels of insecurity. However, except from the legacy of conflict, variables identiï¬ed in the general models apply similarly to Asia.
- Topic:
- Security, Cold War, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Asia
6. Governing Finance: East Asia's Adoption of International Standards
- Author:
- Saori N. Katada
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- More than a decade has passed since the East Asian economies were marred by the massive financial crisis, which some assessed as the best thing that could have happened to the region (Kristopf and WuDunn, 2000). This 'blessing in disguise' allegedly comes from the fact that the governments of the crisis-hit countries 'responded by launching one of the most ambitious governance reform projects in living memory' (p. 1). Such reform is implemented by the East Asian governments' active compliance to international standards of transparency, finance, and corporate governance. The influence of this so-called 'regulatory neoliberalism' has been credited as the source of convergence of East Asian economies to international norms.
- Topic:
- Government and Governance
- Political Geography:
- East Asia
7. Legitimacy and effectiveness in Thailand, 2003–2007: perceived quality of governance and its consequences on political beliefs
- Author:
- Takashi Inoguchi and Satoru Mikami
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- On the night of September 19, 2006, the Thai military leaders, who were to call themselves 'the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy', staged a coup, interrupting the already started re-equilibration process toward democracy under the aegis of the Constitutional Court. At the time of writing (July 10, 2008) the general election set for December 23 under the military-drafted constitution is supposed to bring the country back into the camp of democracy.
- Topic:
- Governance