Political Geography: Asia / Publication Year: within 25 Years

5901. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 28

Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The Chechen rebels on July 19 capped an upsurge in activity with an attack in the village of Znameskoe in Chechnya's Nadterechny district that killed 14 people, eleven of them police and security personnel. According to the Associated Press, the attackers opened fire on a UAZ minibus and then detonated a bomb when a second vehicle came to help. Vremya novostei reported on July 20 that ten policemen and a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer died in the attack. On July 19, Interfax quoted Akhmed Dakaev of the Chechen Interior Ministry as saying that three civilians, including teenagers aged 13 and 14, were among those killed, and that 19 civilians and five policemen were wounded. One of the youths was reportedly killed while riding a bicycle past the scene of the attack. The head of Grozny's Center for Disaster Medicine, Umar Akhyadov, later told Interfax that 34 people had been injured in the attack, 20 of them seriously, with shrapnel wounds in vital organs and severed limbs. Kommersant on July 20 quoted an official with Nadterechny district Interior Ministry directorate as saying that the head of directorate's criminal investigation department, Aslanbek Elmurzaev, and the head of its passport office Khazir Meitsaev, were killed in the bombing.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

5902. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 27

Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The Sharia Jamaat on July 12 officially confirmed the death of its leader Rasul Makasharipov. “Praise Allah, on July 6 in the city of Shamilkal (formerly Makhachkala), during the defense of a mujahideen base in the course of a violent battle, the Emir of the Islamic Jamaat of Dagestan 'Sharia' Rasul Makasharipov (call sign 'Muslim'), Shamil Korodinsky (call sign 'Vakkas') and Zeid Korodinsky became shahids [martyrs-CW],” the group said in a statement posted on the separatist Kavkazcenter website. “The two remaining mujahideen broke the encirclement by the infidels and are alive and unharmed and are safely located at an operational base. No one was taken prisoner. During the course of the battle four infidels were annihilated and three wounded. Allahu Akbar!”
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Islam
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

5903. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 26

Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The level of terrorist violence in Dagestan, which was already high, increased precipitously over the last week with a series of large-scale bombings and assassinations. The authorities, however, scored an apparent success on July 6, when security forces reportedly killed the leader of the republic's armed Islamist insurgency.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Terrorism
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

5904. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 21

Author:: John B. Dunlop
Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Kavkazky Uzel reported on May 30 that six people had been kidnapped or otherwise disappeared in Chechnya over the previous several days. The website quoted a Chechen law-enforcement source as saying that a local resident of the town of Samashki was abducted by an armed group the previous day and that a young man had been taken from his home in the northern Chechen town of Shelkovskaya on May 28. The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (ORChD) on May 31 identified the kidnapped Samashki resident as Aslan Said Aldamov. According to the society's website (friendly.narod.ru), a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks stopped the car that Aldamov and three other local residents were driving through Samaskhi on May 29, forcing them out of the vehicle and severely beating them before driving off with Aldamov.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5905. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 19

Author:: Emil Pain
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) issued a statement on May 10 calling on the leadership of the separatist Chechen government “to take steps toward peace, even in the absence of a reciprocal effort by the Russian Federation, and reaffirm its commitment to a political solution.” The group stated that the murder of former Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov confirmed that Moscow “is unwilling to change the status quo in Chechnya, but rather unequivocally committed to forestalling a peace process, particularly that initiated by the Russian Soldiers' Mothers Committee earlier this year.” Still, the statement quoted ACPC Co-Chairman Zbigniew Brzezinski as saying that Maskhadov's successor, Abdul- Khalim Sadulaev, “has been offered the opportunity to continue his predecessor's work of constructively seeking a negotiated settlement to the war” and that despite Russia's rejection of Maskhadov's overtures, the new leadership should “explicitly and demonstratively follow in his footsteps in the hope that the international community will intensify its efforts to mediate an end to this ongoing tragedy.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5906. Chechnya Weekly:Putin Paints Rosy Picture Of Chechnya

Author:: Mayrbek Vachagaev and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: President Putin touched on the North Caucasus generally and Chechnya specifically in his annual State of the Nation address, which he delivered to the Russian parliament on April 25. “I hope for energetic work to strengthen security in the southern part of Russia and firmly establish the values of freedom and justice there,” Putin said in the speech, a transcript of which was posted on the Kremlin's website, kremlin.ru. “Developing the economy, creating new jobs and building social and production infrastructure are prerequisites for this work. I support the idea of holding parliamentary elections in the Republic of Chechnya this year. These elections should lay the foundation for stability and for developing democracy in this region. I want to note that the North Caucasus region already has good conditions for achieving rapid economic growth. The region has one of Russia's best-developed transport infrastructures, a qualified labor force, and surveys show that the number of people in this region wanting to start up their own business is higher than the national average. At the same time, however, the shadow economy accounts for a bigger share in this region and there is criminalization of economic relations in general. In this respect, the authorities should not only work on strengthening the law enforcement and court systems in the region, but should also help develop business activity among the population.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5907. Chechnya Weekly: Rebels And Spetsnaz Shoot It Out

Author:: John B. Dunlop and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Russian special forces carried out an operation on April 15 against rebels holed up in an apartment building in Grozny. While six militants were killed in the ensuing battle – which lasted between seven and nine hours, depending on the press report – five Federal Security Service (FSB) commandos also died. According to unconfirmed reports, another two commandos were seriously wounded. It was the largest loss of life for FSB commandos in a shootout with insurgents since last September's school siege in Beslan, North Ossetia, during which ten FSB spetsnaz commandos were killed and 26 were left wounded. Kommersant reported on April 20 that the rebels killed in the battle had been identified as Muslim Gakaev (a.k.a. Dungo), a rebel commander from the village of Elistanzhi in the Chechnya's Vedeno district, along with five of his bodyguards.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5908. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 12

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: A roundtable on Chechnya was held in Strasbourg under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on March 21. The meeting, which was organized by Swiss parliamentarian Andreas Gross—with, according to Kommersant, “active help” from Russia's State Duma and presidential administration—went off “according to the Russian scenario,” Kommersant correspondent Alla Barakhova reported in the newspaper's March 22 edition.
Topic:: Security, Ethnic Conflict, Human Rights, Islam, and Terrorism
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

5909. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 11

Author:: Mayrbek Vachagaev, Paul Tumelty, and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Press reports and official statements concerning the circumstances of Aslan Maskhadov's death, far from clearing things up, made them even murkier. In his May 8, Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus, said the rebel leader had been killed when security forces used explosives to penetrate the bunker beneath a house in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt in which Maskhadov was hiding with three associates. Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, meanwhile, claimed that Maskhadov was killed when a bodyguard who was next to him in the cramped bunker “carelessly handled his gun.” Kadyrov also claimed that those who took part in the operation against Maskhadov had planned to take him prisoner, not to kill him. The following day, however, Kommersant quoted Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov as saying that Maskahdov was killed when commandos tossed grenades into the bunker after Maskhadov refused to surrender. On March 10, Izvestia quoted Kadyrov as saying that he had been “joking” when he said that Maskhadov was accidentally shot and killed by his own bodyguard. Kadyrov, however, refused to discuss exactly how Maskhadov was killed. Meanwhile, the Rossia state television on March 13 broadcast an interview with a Federal Security Service (FSB) commando who participated in the operation against Maskhadov, who said that commandos did not negotiate with the rebel leader before blowing up his bunker because he was wearing a suicide bomber's belt and they assumed he would not surrender.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, Chechnya, Georgia, and North Caucasus

5910. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 10

Author:: John B. Dunlop and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Aslan Maskhadov was killed on March 8. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the federal forces in the North Caucasus, reported that members of the Alfa and Vympel special force units of the Federal Security Service (FSB) had killed the rebel leader during a special operation in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt. FSB Chairman Nikolai Patrushev was shown on Russian television informing President Vladimir Putin about Maskhadov's death. The Russian president said that those involved in the special operation should be decorated. Footage of Maskhadov's body was shown on NTV television.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

5911. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 9

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: President Vladimir Putin praised staff members of the Federal Security Service (FSB) on February 28 for “successful special operations” in the North Caucasus this year, stating that that more than 200 rebels have been killed so far in 2005, RIA Novosti reported. “The operational capabilities of this department that have been improved recently should result in better performance,” Putin told FSB officers, who were part of a group of senior officials from different agencies meeting with the president in the Kremlin. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov evinced similar confidence on March 1, telling German and Italian reporters in Moscow that there is “no enemy” for the Russian army to fight in Chechnya nowadays, Itar-Tass reported. “The Defense Ministry has only 30,000 servicemen in the combined federal forces in the North Caucasus,” Ivanov said. “These are servicemen of the Main Intelligence Department of the General Staff [GRU], the 42nd motorized infantry division and two battalions staffed with local residents.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5912. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 6, Issue 8

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Chechnya was put on a “reinforced security regime” on February 21 with the approach of the end of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's unilateral ceasefire on February 23. Mosokovsky komsomolets in its February 21 edition quoted a spokesman for the regional operational headquarters of Russia's military operation in Chechnya as saying that the likelihood of renewed attacks was enhanced by the fact that February 23 is the 61st anniversary of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, Asia, and Kuala Lumpur

5913. Chechnya Weekly: Rebels And Feds Battle Over Ceasefire

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and Marc Brody
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Gen.-Major Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian military operation in the North Caucasus, claimed on February 14 that Federal Security Service (FSB) and Interior Ministry forces had carried out a special operation to destroy a group of rebels, Interfax reported. Shabalkin said the rebel group numbered up to 15 and was located along the administrative border between the Shali and Groznensky rural districts near the villages of Starye Atagi and Novye Atagi. Six of the rebels were reportedly killed and ten escaped. Shabalkin said the security forces launched the operation after receiving intelligence that a large rebel group was planning attacks on federal military installations. “An ambush was set up on the route along which the bandits were likely to move,” he said. “Around 00:30 on Monday, a group of fighters were spotted. Federal forces went into action against them. The band was dispersed. According to preliminary information, around five militants were killed.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5914. Chechnya Weekly: Basaev Denies Rumors Of His Death

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Chechen warlord Shamil Basaev appeared in a four-minute video posted on the separatist Kavkazcenter website on February 8 aimed at dispelling speculation that he had been killed. On February 2, the head of the Abkhazia's State Security Service, Mikhail Tarba, referred to rumors that Basaev had been killed, noting that according to one of them, Basaev was killed as a result of disputes with “Arab mercenaries,” while according to another, he died as a result of “kidney problems.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5915. Chechnya Weekly: Charges Filed Related To Maskhadov's Missing Relatives

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and Andrew McGregor
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Vladimir Kravchenko, the Chechen Republic's Prosecutor, announced on January 31 that his office had on January 27 opened eight criminal cases related to the kidnapping of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov's relatives, Interfax reported. Kravchenko stressed that the cases were launched by the law-enforcement agencies in connection with the wide “public interest” in – and numerous press reports about – the alleged kidnappings. Preliminary findings suggest that all the abductions took place last December, he said. This, it should be noted, is what Memorial reported earlier this month after conducting its own investigation. The human rights group listed the relatives of Maskhadov – his sister, two brothers, two nephews and three distant relatives – and detailed the circumstances of their abduction. The Memorial report also cited various eye-witnesses, including GRU commandos, who identified the kidnappers as kadyrovtsy – individuals subordinated to Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov (see Chechnya Weekly, January 26). Kravchenko, however, said that there is no evidence that “power structures” or “law-enforcement” agencies were involved in the kidnappings. There are “many versions” of what happened, he said, including kidnapping for ransom, which has become a “profitable business” in Chechnya.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5916. Chechnya Weekly: Chechen Rights Activist Abducted

Author:: John B. Dunlop and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Makhmut Magomadov, a Chechen human rights activist who previously served as a deputy prosecutor during Aslan Maskhadov's presidency, was abducted in Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district on January 20. Since 2000, he has worked as a legal expert for the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), the International Protection Center and the Chechnya Committee of National Salvation, helping victims of human rights abuses bring their cases before the European Court on Human Rights. According to the IHF, in 1992, following a long career with the police in Donskoi, Tula Oblast, Magomadov became an investigator for the Chechen Ministry of Interior. From 1994 to 1996 he worked in the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Interim Administration of Chechnya and later as the republic's Assistant Prosecutor General for criminal investigations. He also headed a task force set up to fight kidnappings in Chechnya that was, according to the IHF, “instrumental in freeing hundreds of kidnapped persons.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5917. Chechnya Weekly: Security Forces Battle Militants In Dagestan

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Nikolai Gryaznov, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) directorate in Dagestan, said on January 17 that the body of Rasul Makasharipov, a.k.a. “Muslim,” was among the remains of five militants recovered in the ruins of a house in a village located on the outskirts of the republican capital of Makhachkala, where a shoot-out with security forces lasting more than 15 hours took place on January 15-16, Itar-Tass reported.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5918. Chechnya Weekly:Ramzan Frees His Sister

Author:: Lawrence Uzzell and John Reuter
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: Tensions between Chechnya and Dagestan escalated this week after police in the Dagestani city of Khasavyurt detained Zulai Kadyorva, sister of Chechnya's first deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. Son of assassinated pro-Moscow Chechen president, Akhmed Kadyrov, Ramzan heads the republic's infamous presidential security service. According to the version of events published by the Gazeta newspaper's website, Gzt.ru, on January 11, OMON police officers on January 10 stopped a car carrying Ms. Kadyrova on the federal highway leading into Khasavyurt, after which Ms. Kadyrova identified herself and explained that she was traveling to the city for medical treatment. With her were two members of her brother's security service but only one of them was carrying his security service I.D. The three were taken to Khasavyurt's Interior Ministry office, or GOVD – that is, the Khasavyurt city police headquarters – after which Ms. Kadyrova reportedly became ill and, according to one police officer who was present, fainted.
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5919. Chechnya Weekly: Hero Of Russia

Author:: Andrei Smirnov and Lawrence Uzzell
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:: On December 29, President Vladimir Putin conferred Russia's highest award, the Hero of the Russian Federation, on Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow Chechen government's first deputy prime minister and son of the late Chechen president. According to the corresponding presidential decree, the younger Kadyrov was awarded “for courage and heroism displayed during the discharge of official duties,” Newsru.com reported on December 29. Ramzan's father, Akhmad Kadyrov, was awarded a “Hero of the Russian Federation” on May 11, two days after he was killed by a bomb detonated beneath the VIP stands in Grozny's Dinamo Stadium. Ramzan said that the award “above all recognizes as heroes the whole long-suffering Chechen people. And we will continue…an uncompromising struggle against terrorism, extremism and banditry, and thereby protect the interests of the whole Russian people.”
Topic:: Security and Ethnic Conflict
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5920. Emerging Trends in India's Foreign Trade Under the Globalised Regime

Author:: Irfan Ahmad
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:: According to IMF, 'Globalisation may be defined as the growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide through increasing volume and variety of cross border transactions in goods and services and of capital inflow and also through the more rapid and wide spread diffusion of technology'. The world economy has been emerging as a global or transnational economy. A global economy is one which transcends the national borders unhindered by artificial restrictions like government restrictions on trade and factor movements. Globalisation is a process of development of the world into a single integrated economic unit. This process is a move towards a borderless regime of free trade based on competition. The globalisation has four parameters, that is, (i) Reduction of trade barriers so as to permit free flow of goods and services across national frontiers. (ii) Creation of an environment in which free flow of capital can take place. (iii) Creation of environment, permitting free flow of technology, and (iv) Creation of an environment in which free movement of labour can take place in different countries of the world.
Topic:: Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Asia

5921. Origins and Growth of the Software Industry in India

Author:: Rafiq Dossani
Publication Date:: 09-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:: The paper explains the evolution of India's software industry. Domestic entrepreneurship emerges as the key factor for origination, survival and innovation in a hostile industrial policy environment. The maturing of the industry required a shift to a supportive government policy; maturation was also critically enabled by the modularization of the programming function through new technologies. These changes favored domestic firms that provided programming services. Later policy and technological changes induced transnational entry and led to higher value-added output. The paper shows that technologically sophisticated industries can develop even when many conditions typically present elsewhere are missing. We provide conditions under which this may happen and show their effect on subsequent developments.
Topic:: Industrial Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:: India and Asia

5922. Democracy, History, and Migrant Labor in South Korea

Author:: Hyun Park
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:: This paper concerns the paradox of democratization in South Korea, whose progression has been entwined with neoliberal capitalism beginning in the 1990s. There have been critical moments of democratization since the military rulers gave in to popular pressure for democratization. These moments range from the recommencement of the popular electoral system in the Presidential election in 1987 to the transfer of the state power to civilian leaders, and the participation of former dissidents in the parliament and the administration. A particular form of democratization addressed in this paper is not electoral state politics but the broad-reaching initiatives to transform the relationship between the state and society. Specifically, I examine the initiative to rewrite colonial and cold-war history. This particular initiative is part of an effort to correct a longstanding tendency of previous military regimes that suppressed the resolution of colonial legacies and framed Korean national history within an ideological confrontation of capitalist South Korea and communist North Korea.
Topic:: International Relations and Globalization
Political Geography:: United States, Asia, South Korea, and North Korea

5923. What Do the Blind-sided See? Reapproaching Regionalism in Southeast Asia

Author:: Donald K. Emmerson
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:: The late Michael Leifer's association with an insecurity-focused realist approach to international affairs and his work on Southeast Asian regionalism inspire this question: How have the Asian financial crisis and the 'war on terror' affected the plausibility of insecurity-concerned realism compared with other ways of approaching regionalism in Southeast Asia?
Topic:: Security, Politics, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: Asia and Southeast Asia

5924. Economic Effects of Free Trade between the EU and Russia

Author:: Pekka Sulamaa and Mika Widgrén
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: This study simulates the economic effects of eastern enlargement of the EU and an EU-Russian free trade area. The main emphasis of the paper is on the effect this would have on the Russian economy. The simulations were carried out with a GTAP computable general equilibrium model, using the most recent GTAP database 6.0 beta, which takes the former Europe agreements between the EU-15 and the eight new Central and Eastern European member states into account. The results confirm the earlier findings that a free trade agreement with the EU is beneficial for Russia in terms of total output but not necessarily in terms of economic welfare when measured by equivalent variation. The main reason behind this is the deterioration that would occur in Russia's terms of trade. Improved productivity in Russia would, however, make the free trade agreement with the EU advantageous.
Topic:: Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5925. The Rise of China with Special Reference to Arms Supplies

Author:: Peter Brookes, Bruno Tertrais, and Alexei D. Voskressenski
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: Like the rest of the world, Europe has been fascinated by the emergence of China for a long time, and there has been an official relationship between the EU and the People's Republic of China for 30 years now. This relationship was upgraded in 1998. It now takes the form of a China-EU summit every year, the latest having taken place in December 2004. The EU became China's main trading partner in 2004, with trade between the two parties soaring to €160 billion.
Topic:: Arms Control and Proliferation and Development
Political Geography:: China, Europe, and Asia

5926. Is the IMF business model still valid?

Author:: Ángel Ubide
Publication Date:: 09-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: Since the Asian crisis, the IMF has undergone a deep process of soul searching, trying to extract lessons from the experience. External criticism has been abundant, and basically all three of the IMF's main areas of work – surveillance, crisis prevention and resolution, and poverty reduction – have been called into question. Several years later, there is a feeling that not much has been achieved, and key questions remain unanswered. As the world business cycle matures, and thus the likelihood of further crises slowly increases, it is critical for the stability of the world financial system to discuss what the IMF's business model should look like.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Asia

5927. The Europeanisation of the Transnistrian Conflict

Author:: Marius Vahl
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: To describe the Transnistrian conflict as 'frozen' is becoming less and less appropriate. Although the conflict remains unresolved, there have been a number of significant and at times dramatic developments in recent years, both in the diplomatic efforts to negotiate a settlement, and in the underlying geopolitical alignments and political and economic structures sustaining the conflict. It is argued here that these changes are primarily because of the European Union.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution and International Relations
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5928. EU-Russia - Four Common Spaces and the Proliferation of the Fuzzy

Author:: Michael Emerson
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: On the 10th of May the EU and Russia signed four 'roadmap' documents at summit level in Moscow, on the Common Economic Space, the Common Space of Freedom, Security and Justice, the Common Space of External Security and the Common Space on Research, Education and Culture. This was the culmination of two year's work since the May 2003 summit that decided in principle to create the four spaces as a long-term project. It was intended also to give new momentum to the relationship, after seeing that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement of 1994 had not become a motor for anything very substantial, while the subsequent phase (in 1999) of swapping common strategy documents also led nowhere in particular.
Topic:: International Relations and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

5929. Oxfam Publishing: Back to work: how people are recovering their livelihoods 12 months after the tsunami

Author:: Steve Jennings
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: A year has passed since the tsunami, and it is time to remember the many who lost their lives. It is also time to assess the effectiveness of the relief and reconstruction operations so far. This report is intended to outline the work that has been undertaken to restore and improve the livelihoods of tsunami-affected people. It recognises the poverty in which many people were living before the tsunami. It describes how the tsunami destroyed what meagre livelihoods these people had, and how it threatened to plunge millions more into poverty.
Topic:: International Relations, Disaster Relief, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:: Asia

5930. Oxfam Publishing: A place to stay, a place to live: challenges in providing shelter in India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka after the tsunami

Author:: Alex Renton and Robin Palmer
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: On 26 December 2004, an earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that hit the coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia, Burma, the Seychelles, and Somalia.
Topic:: Disaster Relief, Humanitarian Aid, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:: Malaysia, India, Asia, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, and Somalia

5931. Oxfam Publishing: No Soft Landing: As China opens its markets, US subsidies are making life hard for cotton farmers

Author:: Phoenix Leung Pui Fung
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Cotton is an important crop for some of the poorest areas of China, and millions of cotton farmers depend on it for their livelihoods. Cotton's high economic returns have helped, and continue to help, bring many farmers in the poor western provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang out of poverty. Cotton production is not only essential to the development of China's textile industry; it is also a labour-intensive crop that demands a large workforce in rural areas. It has thus contributed to easing the pressures of rural underdevelopment in China, at a time when the country is faced with seriously high levels of surplus labour and lack of development potential in rural areas.
Topic:: Globalization and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, China, and Asia

5932. Oxfam Publishing: Mind the Gap: Countdown to Viet Nam's Accession to the WTO

Author:: Mary Kirkbride
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Viet Nam is entering its final stages of accession negotiations. Although it is unlikely that it will achieve the goal of joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the time of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December, negotiators want a swift end to the process. Analysis of progress madebetween the two Working Party meetings of April and September 2005 reveals that Working Party members are continuing to demand further concessions from the Vietnamese negotiators. If agreed to, these concessions could have potentially damaging consequences for Viet Nam's ability to safeguard the livelihoods of its poorest people.
Topic:: Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:: Asia and Vietnam

5933. Oxfam Publishing: A mountain to climb: What needs to be done to prevent further deaths following the Pakistan earthquake and to enable survivors to rebuild their lives and livelihoods

Author:: Ben Phillips
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: The 8 October 2005 earthquake–Pakistan's biggest ever natural disaster–generated sympathy and support from people around the world. The Government of Pakistan reacted swiftly and with remarkable energy. However, major and immediate challenges remain. Six weeks after the earthquake, the response is not yet being organised in a manner that ensures that peoples' rights and needs are being met, according to international humanitarian principles.Donor countries need to provide their fair share of the resources and help required.The international response needs to be co-ordinated and led through a properly resourced, empowered, and staffed UN presence.The continuing relief and reconstruction effort requires civil authority management and civil society participation, and an early handover, where practical, by the military.All those involved in the response have an obligation to ensure not merely the restoration of bearable poverty, but 'reconstruction plus'– to build back better than before. The accountable management of funds and adherence to proper building standards are key to the reconstruction effort.The international community needs to fulfil its obligations not only in the relief phase but in longer-term reconstruction too, through a package of measures on aid and debt.
Topic:: Disaster Relief, Humanitarian Aid, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:: Pakistan and Asia

5934. Nepal: Beyond Royal Rule

Publication Date:: 09-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Nepal is in turmoil and the monarchy is in question. King Gyanendra had calculated that his authoritarian moves since October 2002 would return order to a land wracked by Maoist insurgency and political instability but he has failed. The seven months since the royal coup have seen security degenerate under a royal government with no plans for peace and democracy. The Maoists seized the initiative by announcing a unilateral three month ceasefire on 3 September 2005. The international community needs to recognise that its calls for palace/political party reconciliation as the sole path toward stability are unrealistic. New lines need to be explored, beginning with support for the ceasefire and the tentative dialogue underway between the parties and the Maoists.
Topic:: International Relations, Government, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:: Asia and Nepal

5935. Football diplomacy

Author:: Anthony Bubalo
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:: What is the problem? While Australian governments have successfully built pragmatic ties with Asian leaders, a popular dimension to our engagement with Asia has in many respects been missing. This didn’t matter greatly in the past, but today public opinion is increasingly a factor in foreign policy. Governments must influence individuals as well as elites to address global problems such as terrorism and disease and ‘branding’ has become critical to a state’s ability to attract trade, investment and international political support. But a new opportunity to deepen people-to-people links with Asia has arrived in the form of Australia’s recent admission into the Asian Football Confederation. For the first time, Australia will have a significant sporting relationship with Asia. The question is, how can Australia best use this opportunity to enhance its regional image and engagement?
Topic:: Diplomacy and Government
Political Geography:: Asia and Australia/Pacific

5936. Angels and Dragons: Asia, the UN, reform and the next Secretary-General

Author:: Michael Fullilove
Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:: The relationship between the UN and Asia can seem unfamiliar and distant. Most of New York's energy is consumed by the Middle East and Africa rather than Northeast, South and Southeast Asia; the international organisation can seem Atlanticist in orientation. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean the strict view of state sovereignty adopted by many Asian capitals leads them to keep the UN at arm's length. As always, however, the story is more complex: we need to differentiate between the UN's work in Asia on the one hand, and Asian behaviour at the UN on the other. Since 1945, the UN has contributed to the Asian security order but only at the margins, its security role circumscribed by power politics and Asian approaches to security. By contrast, Asian states have always been keen to exercise their prerogatives in New York, viewing their UN activities as a marker of sovereignty and a source of prestige. The Brief reviews this history and sets out the current stances of the three major regional powers — China, India, and Japan — towards the UN.
Topic:: International Relations, International Organization, and United Nations
Political Geography:: United States, Japan, China, India, and Asia

5937. Balancing act: Taiwan's cross-strait challenge

Author:: Malcolm Cook and Craig Meer
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:: Taiwan is in the middle of a deep social transformation that is redefining the way its people identify themselves, how it sees its place in the world and, most urgently, its relationship with China. Taiwan's metamorphosis, and China's reaction to it, are making it more difficult to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait. Washington and its regional allies, including Australia, need to understand these changes better and to incorporate responses to them into their policies.
Topic:: International Relations and Democratization
Political Geography:: China, Washington, Taiwan, Asia, and Australia

5938. Australians speak 2005: public opinion and foreign policy

Author:: Ivan Cook
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:: Australians feel positive and self-confident about Australia's place in the world, but we also have a realistic sense of our limitations and vulnerabilities. A vast majority believe Australia is 'a good international citizen' (82%), 'important in Asia' (82%), and 'well-placed to succeed in a competitive world' (79%), while few agree with the notion that we are 'unimportant in global politics' (37%). But three quarters of respondents also think we are 'vulnerable to external threats' (76%), and while the population is evenly split on whether we are 'independent minded', 65% think we are 'a follower not a leader'.
Topic:: International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:: Asia, Australia, and Australia/Pacific

5939. A Currency Basket for East Asia, Not Just China

Author:: John Williamson
Publication Date:: 08-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:: China recently announced that it is adopting a basket of currencies as the peg for its exchange rate instead of the US dollar. This announcement raises questions of how such a system works, whether other East Asian countries would be advised to follow China in adopting a basket numeraire, and whether it would be advantageous to these countries if they were all to adopt the same basket. This brief answers these questions.
Topic:: Economics, International Cooperation, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

5940. Prospects for Regional Free Trade in Asia

Author:: Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Yee Wong
Publication Date:: 10-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:: Frustrated with lackluster momentum in the WTO Doha Round and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, and mindful of free trade agreement (FTA) networks centered on the United States and Europe, Asian countries have joined the FTA game. By 2005, Asian countries (excluding China) had ratified 14 bilateral and regional FTAs and had negotiated but not implemented another seven. Asian nations are also actively negotiating some 23 bilateral and regional FTAs, many with non-Asian partners, including Australia, Canada, Chile, the European Union, India, and Qatar. China has been particularly active since 2000. It has completed three bilateral FTAs—Thailand in 2003 and Hong Kong and Macao in 2004—and is initiating another 17 bilateral and regional FTAs. However, a regional Asian economic bloc led by China seems distant, even though China accounts for about 30 percent of regional GDP. As in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, many Asian countries are pursuing FTAs with countries outside the region. On present evidence, the FTA process embraced with some enthusiasm in Asia, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere more closely resembles fingers reaching idiosycratically around the globe rather than politico-economic blocs centered respectively on Beijing, Brussels, and Washington.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: United States, China, Europe, Washington, Canada, India, Beijing, Asia, Australia, Qatar, Chile, Hong Kong, Brussels, and Macao

5941. South Korea's Experience with International Capital Flows

Author:: Marcus Noland
Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:: South Korea's experience is unparalleled in its combination of sustained prosperity, capital controls, and financial crisis. Over several decades South Korea experienced rapid sustained growth in the presence of capital controls. These controls and the delinking of domestic and international financial markets were an essential component of the country's state-led development strategy. As the country developed, opportunities for easy technological catch-up eroded, requiring more sophisticated corporate and financial sector decision making. But decades of financial repression had bequeathed a bureaucratized financial system and a formidable constellation of incumbent stakeholders opposed to transition to a more market-oriented development model. Liberalization undertaken in the 1990s was less a product of textbook economic analysis than of parochial politicking. The capital account liberalization program affected the timing, magnitude, and particulars of the 1997-98 crisis. Despite considerable reforms undertaken since the crisis, concerns remain about both South Korea's lending culture and its authorities' capacity to successfully regulate the more complex financial system. The main lesson of the South Korean case appears to be that while the state-led model may deliver impressive initial gains, transitioning out of this approach presents an exceedingly complex political-economy challenge.
Topic:: International Relations, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:: Asia and South Korea

5942. North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004: Issues and Implementation

Author:: Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:: It is an honor to be invited to testify before this committee. We would like to begin our testimony by restating a simple yet compelling point: The absence of human, civil, and political rights in North Korea and the humanitarian disaster that afflicts its population are inextricably linked.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Asia and North Korea

5943. The Chinese Economy: Prospects and Key Policy Issues

Author:: Morris Goldstein
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:: No abstract is available.
Topic:: Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5944. Will Globalization Survive?

Author:: Martin Wolf
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:: Ours is not the first age of globalization. The decades before the First World War were remarkably similar to our own era. Under the aegis of the United Kingdom and stimulated by a host of technological advances, the world enjoyed an era of liberal trade, remarkably free movement of people, and almost entirely free movement of capital. The world also enjoyed an unprecedented rise in prosperity. According to the economic historian, Angus Maddison, real GDP per head rose at a rate of 1.3 percent a year in the world as a whole between 1870 and 1913. This is not far short of the improvement of the past three decades. As table 1 shows, only Asia and Africa, both victims of colonialism, failed to share in the rising prosperity.
Topic:: International Relations, Economics, Globalization, and War
Political Geography:: Africa, United Kingdom, and Asia

5945. China's Role in the Revived Bretton Woods System: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Author:: Nicholas R. Lardy and Morris Goldstein
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:: According to a popular argument put forward by three Deutsche Bank economists (Dooley, Folkerts-Landau, and Garber, here after DFG), one needn't worry about the sustainability of either the large US current account deficit or the undervalued exchange rates of a group of Asian economies (Dooley, Folkerts-Landau, and Garber 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c; Folkerts-Landau 2004). In their view, the United States and the Asian economies have entered into an implicit contract—the so-called revived Bretton Woods system (hereafter BW2)—that can comfortably carry on for another decade or two, with significant net benefits to both parties.
Topic:: Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, China, and Asia

5946. China and the World Economy Workshop. Conference Summary

Author:: Robert Kapp
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Peter Bottelier, the principal presenter of this topic, opened by noting that much discussion now surrounds the evolving “new line” embodied in China's economic plans for the next five years. The three agricultural questions, self-innovation, regional adjustment, opening up of a win-win “harmonious society,” and economizing on energy use: what do these and other much-discussed new terms really mean?
Topic:: Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5947. China as Producer: Chinese Industry After 25 Years of Reform

Author:: Thomas Rawski
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: Beginning with the start of reform in the late 1970s, China's industry has recorded impressive growth of output, labor productivity, and exports as well as dramatic upgrading of the quality and variety of output. These gains have occurred in spite of difficulties arising from lethargic state enterprises, inadequate corporate governance, excessive official intervention, corruption, and weak financial institutions.
Topic:: Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5948. China as Consumer

Author:: Kenneth Lieberthal
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: This article seeks to examine two key issues that will be major drivers of consumption in China over the coming five years: urbanization and environmental amelioration. Whether the issues identified will be the largest factors over this time frame remains unclear, but each of these two areas warrants considerable attention as a very significant contributor to the future of consumer demand in China.
Topic:: Economics, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5949. China as Employer and Consumer: Economic Outlook for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010)

Author:: Arthur R. Kroeber
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: China's impressive economic growth of the past quarter century (9.4 percent average annual real GDP growth between 1980 and 2004, by official figures) is not miraculous; on the contrary, it can largely be explained by conventional models of economic development.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5950. Hu Jintao's Outbox

Author:: Joseph Fewsmith
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Atlantic Council
Abstract:: China has now sustained two and a half decades of high-speed growth. This growth has been even faster with regard to exports and China's role in international trade. Domestically, a capitalist tendency seems to be everywhere, while internationally the rise of China, whether peaceful or not, seems – at least to some – to threaten Western jobs, prosperity, and the international order. The focus of this paper, however, is not this question of whether or how China poses a threat to the West but rather an old (but new) question of how this “capitalist” conversion is compatible with the continued rule of a communist party. This is a question of considerable practical import, as people contemplate what the continued growth of the Chinese economy might mean for the political stability of that country, but it is also a question of considerable theoretical import: Leninist parties that sought to “include” external interests, it was argued, are on the way to collapse. It is only a matter of time. The time frame for China has lasted longer than theoreticians had supposed, though they might yet prove to be right – perhaps the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has lasted longer than people imagined but it might still be on the road to collapse. This point of view would find supporters, both in the West and in China, but even if they prove right, it is important to inquire more deeply about what is going on in China, whether institutions are being created, and if so whether they might provide a foundation for a post-communist China or whether they suggest a more chaotic future.
Topic:: Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS