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1. ASEAN: Creating the Rules-Based Architecture in Asia

Author:
Nina Hachigan
Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Ambassadors Review
Abstract:
In my second week on the job as the second United States Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), I headed to Naypyidaw, Burma to meet President Obama at the East Asia Summit. There I witnessed one of the many reasons the United States has increased its engagement with ASEAN: ASEAN convenes Asia. In 1967, leaders of five nations formed ASEAN, renouncing the violence that had characterized their relationships and dedicating themselves to furthering the prosperity of the region. Five more countries joined in the intervening decades and now ASEAN’s Member States, with a total population of some 625 million, are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ASEAN has delivered well on its primary mission: to keep the peace among a group of member states with huge diversity in levels of economic development, political systems, cultures, religions, and size. This foundation of geopolitical stability has allowed the economies in Southeast Asia to take off and lift tens of millions out of poverty. As a whole, ASEAN has enjoyed the third highest growth rate in the world over the past decade.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Human Welfare, Poverty, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Asia

2. Costing a Data Revolution

Author:
Gabriel Demombynes and Justin Sandefur
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The lack of reliable development statistics for many poor countries has led the U.N. to call for a “data revolution” (United Nations, 2013). One fairly narrow but widespread interpretation of this revolution is for international aid donors to fund a coordinated wave of household surveys across the developing world, tracking progress on a new round of post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. We use data from the International Household Survey Network (IHSN) to show (i) the supply of household surveys has accelerated dramatically over the past 30 years and that (ii) demand for survey data appears to be higher in democracies and more aid-dependent countries. We also show that given existing international survey programs, the cost to international aid donors of filling remaining survey gaps is manageable--on the order of $300 million per year. We argue that any aid-financed expansion of household surveys should be complemented with (a) increased access to data through open data protocols, and (b) simultaneous support for the broader statistical system, including routine administrative data systems.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Asia and United Nations

3. People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea

Author:
Katharina Zellweger
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
"People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea" details the situation that people with disabilities face in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK). Despite its reputation as a repressive, closed society where human rights are routinely abused, there are in fact institutions in the DPRK that work to address the needs of the disabled, and a number of non-governmental organizations providing aid to disabled people are active in the country. In this paper, Katharina Zellweger attempts to provide "an informed and balanced view of what it means to live with disabilities in North Korea and current work to assist the disabled."
Topic:
Health, Human Welfare, and Governance
Political Geography:
Asia and North Korea

4. What Future for Human Rights?

Author:
James W. Nickel
Publication Date:
08-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
Like people born shortly after World War II, the international human rights movement recently had its sixty-fifth birthday. This could mean that retirement is at hand and that death will come in a few decades. After all, the formulations of human rights that activists, lawyers, and politicians use today mostly derive from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the world in 1948 was very different from our world today: the cold war was about to break out, communism was a strong and optimistic political force in an expansionist phase, and Western Europe was still recovering from the war. The struggle against entrenched racism and sexism had only just begun, decolonization was in its early stages, and Asia was still poor (Japan was under military reconstruction, and Mao's heavy-handed revolution in China was still in the future). Labor unions were strong in the industrialized world, and the movement of women into work outside the home and farm was in its early stages. Farming was less technological and usually on a smaller scale, the environmental movement had not yet flowered, and human-caused climate change was present but unrecognized. Personal computers and social networking were decades away, and Earth's human population was well under three billion.
Topic:
Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, China, Europe, Asia, and United Nations

5. Policy Roundtable on Asian Non-Traditional Security

Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
On 30–31 July 2012, a Policy Roundtable on Asian Non-Traditional Security was held at the Hotel Novotel Beijing Peace, China, with the aim of sharing the research findings of participating institutions. The Roundtable was organised by the Center for Regional Security Studies (CRSS), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS); the National Institute of International Strategy (NIIS), CASS; and the Center for Non-Traditional Security and Peaceful Development Studies (NTS-PD), Zhejiang University.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Environment, Human Rights, Human Welfare, Political Economy, Natural Disasters, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Israel, Asia, and Australia/Pacific

6. Examining Pandemic Responses in Asia

Author:
Li Hongyan and Ong Suan Ee
Publication Date:
10-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
The recent pandemic disease outbreaks which affected many Asian countries underscore the need for appropriate pandemic responses to be developed in order to contain and mitigate the spread of pandemics that emerge in the future. Through an examination of the different responses to SARS and H1N1 in the region, and the effects of those efforts, this NTS Insight seeks to highlight issues which should be considered when developing pandemic response programmes.
Topic:
Health, Human Welfare, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Asia

7. The New ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights: Toothless Tiger or Tentative First Step?

Author:
Michelle Staggs Kelsall
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
In late 2008 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) committed to creating a human rights body, which emerged as the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (ICHR), the terms of reference (TOR) for which have since been adopted. Although the TOR for the commission currently outlines a primarily advisory rather than an enforcement role, the very existence of the ICHR has the potential to act as a trigger to further discussion on human rights issues in member states and open avenues for further action. To take maximum advantage of this opportunity to further the human rights agenda in ASEAN member states, it is essential that critical early decisions are made carefully so as to leave the most latitude for future action. While some observers are concerned that the ICHR lacks teeth, the fact that all ten ASEAN governments have agreed to implement a human rights commission is remarkable and is an essential first step toward ASEAN's stated goal of respecting and protecting human rights.
Topic:
Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Organization, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Israel, Asia, and Southeast Asia

8. Principal-Agent Problems in Health Care: Evidence from Prescribing Patterns of Private Providers in Vietnam

Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
The principal-agent problem in health care asserts that providers, being imperfect agents for patients, will act to maximize their profits at the expense of the patients' interests. This problem applies especially where professional regulations are lacking and incentives exist to directly link providers' actions to their profits, such as a fee-for-service payment system. The current analysis tests for the existence of the principal-agent problem in the private health market in Vietnam by examining the prescribing patterns of the private providers. We show that (1) private providers were able to induce demand by prescribing more drugs than public providers for a similar illness and patient profile; (2) private providers were significantly more likely to prescribe injection drugs to gain trust among the patients; and (3) patients' education as a source of information and empowerment has enabled them to mitigate the demand inducement by the providers. Our hypotheses were supported with evidence from Vietnam National Health Survey 2001 and 2002, the first and, so far, only comprehensive health survey in the country.
Topic:
Health and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Southeast Asia

9. A Human Rights-Oriented Approach to Military Operations

Author:
Federico Sperotto
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
Counterinsurgency is the dominant aspect of US operations in Afghanistan, and since ISAF—the NATO-led security and assistance force—has assumed growing security responsibility throughout the country, it is also a mission for the Europeans. The frame in which military operations are conducted is irregular warfare, a form of conflict which differs from conventional operations in two main aspects. First, it is warfare among and within the people. Second, it is warfare in which insurgents avoid a direct military confrontation, using instead unconventional methods and terrorist tactics.
Topic:
Human Rights, Human Welfare, War, and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Asia

10. The healer or the druggist: Effects of two health care policies in Taiwan on elderly patients' choice between physician and pharmacist services

Author:
Kang-Hung Chang
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
When both physicians and pharmacists in Taiwan prescribed and dispensed drugs, many elderly people considered the two types of health care providers more or less synonymous (i.e., close substitutes). Two policies mandated in the 1990s changed this perception: National Health Insurance (NHI), which provides insurance coverage to all citizens, and a separation policy (SP) that forbids physicians from dispensing and pharmacists from prescribing drugs. The author finds that by providing an economic incentive to the previously uninsured elderly, NHI raised the probability that they would visit physicians, relative to their continuously insured counterparts. In particular, some previously uninsured elderly who once only visited pharmacists were more likely to also visit physicians after NHI was implemented. Following this, the SP made it more likely that all elderly patients would only visit physicians and buy drugs from on-site pharmacists hired by physicians—a result different than its policy goal.
Topic:
Demographics, Health, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Israel, Taiwan, and Asia