Suchergebnisse

The US Lower Mekong Initiative is a mechanism to support the Mekong countries in their struggle against hunger and poverty. The initiative is also a part of the "US Pivot to Southeast Asia" strategy to rebalance the influence and strategic competition among big countries in the subregion, especially between the United States and China.

The main objective of this study is to elucidate great power politics in the Mekong region by exploring how China and the United States have committed to the development of Mekong countries and what characteristics are found in the commitments. The argument that this study advances is three-fold. First, China's pragmatic policies and close linkages with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have contributed to raising economic linkages and political leverage in the Mekong region. Second, the US commitments to Mekong development were characterized by advanced-nation-centered and ideal-oriented, which did not necessarily lead to strengthening political and economic linkages between the United States and Mekong countries. Third, while the US Mekong policies have gradually become more practical by paying attention to infrastructure development with strengthened linkages with ASEAN, the United States needs to advance policy harmonization with Japan and search for dialogue with China in pursuing combined objectives of governance and geopolitics. (Asian Aff/GIGA)

Der Human-Development-Report von 2006 konstatiert eine "stillschweigende", globale Wasserkrise, die durch die weltweite Verknappung und Verschmutzung der Ressource Wasser gekennzeichnet ist. Ihre Auswirkungen machen sich insbesondere in Entwicklungsländern bemerkbar. Mehr als 700 Millionen Menschen in 43 Ländern sind bisher von Wasserknappheit betroffen. Ein bedeutender Themenkomplex in der Diskussion um die Ursachen des globalen Wasserproblems ist der der grenzüberschreitenden Flüsse der Welt. Verbunden damit ist die Schwierigkeit der Länder, die sich einen Flusslauf teilen (müssen), beim Management des Flusses zusammenzuarbeiten. Die Kooperation zwischen den Anrainern eines Flusses ist aber insbesondere in weniger integrierten Regionen der Welt oftmals problematisch. Das Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die regionale Kooperation um Wasser mit besonderem Augenmerk auf Entwicklungsländerregionen. Die Autorin geht von der Annahme aus, dass in Entwicklungsländerregionen die tatsächliche regionale Kooperation um Wasser einen geringen Grad aufweist. Jedoch finden sich auch hier Unterschiede in der Ausprägung des Kooperationsgrades. In dieser Arbeit soll nach Faktoren gesucht werden, die bedingen, ob Staaten um einen geteilten Flusslauf kooperieren oder nicht. Dazu wird folgende Fragestellung formuliert: Warum kooperieren in einigen Entwicklungsländerregionen die Anrainerstaaten beim Management eines geteilten Flusslaufes, in anderen hingegen nicht? Die Fragestellung überprüft die Autorin mit der Methode des Vergleichs an zwei Fallbeispielen - dem Syrdarja in Zentralasien sowie dem Mekong in China und Südostasien anhand dreier Ansätze, dem neorealistischen Ansatz, dem Ansatz hegemonialer Stabilität sowie dem neo-institutionalistischen Ansatz. Untersucht werden die Fälle im Zeitraum von 1990 bis 2008. (ICD2)

The Lancang–Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism, in which China plays a leading role, was officially launched in March 2016 as a result of China's need for an enhanced neighbourhood diplomacy, and the development needs of the five ASEAN Mekong countries and ASEAN integration. China makes great efforts to promote LMC in order to nurture it into a "golden brand" for building a community of a shared future with the neighbouring countries and for the whole of Asia. However, in the face of challenges from within and outside of the cooperation mechanism, China has much to accomplish in building LMC as the platform to achieve its neighbourhood diplomacy goal. (China/GIGA)

The forest landscapes of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are changing dramatically, with a multitude of impacts from local to global levels. These changes invariably have their foundations in forest governance. The aim of this paper is to assess perceptions of key stakeholders regarding the state of forest governance in the countries of the GMS. The work is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the perceptions of forest governance in the five GMS countries, involving 762 representatives from government, civil society, news media, and rural communities. The work identified many challenges to good forest governance in the countries in the region, as well as noting reasons for optimism. Generally speaking, there was a feeling that the policies, legislation, and institutional frameworks were supportive, but there are numerous challenges in terms of implementation, enforcement, and compliance. The work also presents a program of activities recommended by the research participants to address governance challenges and opportunities in the GMS countries. These include the development of a forest governance monitoring system, and initiatives that support informed decision-making by forest product consumers in the region as well as the implementation of a capacity development program for non-state actors (e.g., civil society, news media) to ensure they are more able to support the diverse, and often demanding, forest governance initiatives.