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India's "Look East" policy was launched in the early 1990s as part of a concerted effort to elevate the strategic importance of Southeast Asia in the country's foreign policy agenda. The policy has been described as going through various phases, with an accelerated pace and process of interaction in moving from one phase to the next, marked by a broadening and deepening of India's interaction with the region. This has culminated in the most recent "phase" under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has rebranded the policy as "Act East" to signify a more pro-active and action-oriented approach towards the region. However, has there been any real and substantive change in India's engagement with Southeast Asia in moving from one "phase" to the next? Does this narrative of phases in India's post-Cold War engagement with Southeast Asia hold any substance? This article deconstructs the narrative of phases in India's Look East and now Act East policy and argues that India's eastward engagement has not been a process of simple linear progression. As such, while the concept of phases in India's Look East policy serves as a useful narrative device, it does not capture the nuances of India's post-Cold War re-engagement with Southeast Asia, which has been far more complex than this narrative suggests. (Contemp Southeast Asia/GIGA)

"This book follows the trade winds, the trade routes, and the port cities across the East Indies and the Orient. High finance, piracy, greed, ambition, double dealing, exploitation all is here. Driven by the search for spices, silks, gold, silver, porcelains and other oriental goods the Portuguese trading monopoly was challenged by the Dutch East India Company and then the English East India Company, the worlds first joint stock and multi-national trading companies. The struggle for supremacy between the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English ranged across the Eastern Seas and in the settlements of Goa, Malacca, Ambon, Macao, Canton, Nagasaki, Solor, Batavia, Macassar, Johor and Singapore for 250 years. Visitors to these destination will be interested in this book. The story is told by the history of these port cities, beginning with Malacca -- one of the worlds largest trading ports in 16th century and ending with the founding of Singapore and Hong Kong." --Publisher description

Book Review: A.A. Mikaelyan, V.M. Morozov. 2023. The Evolution of Israeli-Chinese and IsraeliIndian Relations. Moscow: MGIMO-University. 213 p.

Aus osteuropäischer Sicht

East Germany's transition, while exceptionally swift, efficient, & thorough (as well as facilitated by integration into the FRG), nonetheless presents a useful model for the transitions of other postcommunist states & indeed, for the integration of Eastern European countries with Western Europe. The article explicates three pertinent consequences of East Germany's transition that may prove instructive for East-West European integration: (1) the revitalization of Eastern identity due to Western pressures to conform politically & culturally; (2) renewed identification of the postcommunist party with distinctly Eastern values & interests; & (3) a resurgence of regional diversity. The East German transition demonstrates the temporal lag between institutional change & broad democratization, with the pace of cultural change influenced by the degree of confidence gained through experience with the new institutional mechanisms. EU integration policy should attend carefully to the complexities of sociocultural adaptation & not harbor expectations of a tidy transposition of Western institutions & values onto the East; the goal should be integration rather than assimilation. 2 Tables. K. Coddon