Suchergebnisse

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: International Security in the Asia-Pacific: Transcending ASEAN Towards Transitional Polycentrism-An Introduction -- Great Power Rivalries and ASEAN: The Challenge of Managing Territorial Disputes and the Rising Temptation of Unilateralism and Bilateralism -- Neo-realist Defence Diplomacy Stretching Towards Counter-Terrorism -- Non-traditional Security Threats: An Emerging Front for International Rivalry, Institutional Governance and Manoeuvres Among Non-state Actors -- Organizing the Study of Asia-Pacific Security: Acknowledging Polycentrism in Theory and Praxis -- ASEAN's Centrality and Crossroads -- Part 1: The Great Powers: Going Their Own Way or Tempering Rivalry with Some Reference to ASEAN? -- Part 2: Defence Diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific -- Part 3: Non-Traditional Security Threats as Security Interdependence and the Challenge to Military Missions in East Asia -- The Security Implications of Transitional Polycentrism -- References -- Chapter 2: Southeast Asia: No Longer Peripheral to Global Events -- Introduction -- New Nations Seeking Peaceful Neighbours -- Regionalism to Fill a Power Vacuum -- Geopolitical Isolation -- Historical Schisms -- Non-traditional Security -- Masters of Their Own Fate -- References -- Chapter 3: Defence and Security Cooperation in East Asia: Whither ASEAN Centrality? -- Defence Regionalization in Southeast Asia -- Defence Regionalization in East Asia -- Whither ASEAN Centrality? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 4: ASEAN's Limitations in Conflict Resolution -- ASEAN's Limits -- Formal Mechanism for Conflict Resolution in the Region -- Formal Mechanisms in the Form of Treaties -- The Mechanism of ASEAN Meetings on Different Levels -- Consensus -- Non-interference -- The Haze Crisis.

The subject of economic security has always been bandied about in academic discourse since the emergence of an interconnected world economy. With ASEAN states getting increasingly enmeshed in free trade agreements, and common market like arrangements, it is imperative to explore what economic security means for national governments today. The shocks of the 2017-20 Donald Trump presidency of the USA and the COVID-19 pandemic impart timely momentum for inquiring after economic security. If the USA currently embodies the idea of zero-sum economic logics as the way forward into the twenty first century, it becomes even more urgent that Asians re-examine the degrees of openness needed to sustain growth and prosperity. Contributors to this Special Section will not only examine government-to-government trade interactions, the prospects of Islamic Finance and gender inequalities will also be analysed in terms of how they can make or break conventional notions of economic security.

Malta and Singapore attained full independence nearly a year apart: 21 September 1964 and 9 August 1965 respectively. Yet today, despite being self-classified as small states, Singapore has been treated as a developed economy by the OECD and is widely acknowledged to be a 'behind the scenes' helmsman of the regional security architecture in the Asia-Pacific. Malta, in contrast, appears to be a relative diplomatic bystander enunciating its own principles of sovereign difference, calling for EU and Mediterranean regional forums to address non- traditional security issues, and focussing heavily on growing a service economy in finance, tourism, electronics and freight transhipment. Singapore's growth trajectory takes on these areas as well, but also experiments with designs to establish itself as a transportation and communications hub for Asia. This preliminary comparison of Malta and Singapore as small states will proceed through three categories of examination: stabilising the geopolitical environment for growth; experiments in integration into a global economy; and the idea of a globally branded small state. ; peer-reviewed

According to Munshi Abdullah, the author of the Hikayat Abdullah (Annals of Abdullah), 'knowledge and skill are the ladder to riches, and riches lead to greatness. Of a truth, all things created by Allah in this world have their value which can be reckoned in terms of money; learning alone commands a price which no man can determine' (Abdullah, 1970: 40). This empowerment of ethical behaviour through the disciplining of the mind in the practice of principles frames the Hikayat's approach to the practice of mercantilism and good government in the service of commerce. This article interprets the dimensions of this 19th-century Asian vision and uncovers three themes related to the maritime Silk Road: impartial administration of law and order, beneficent autocracy and the proper prioritization of wealth and good manners.

Developmental railpolitics advances Chinese geostrategic ambitions without the overt opprobrium commonly generated by such issues as China's militarization of the South China Sea, military modernization, border conflicts and trade disputes. This article examines the implications of planned Chinese high-speed rail (HSR) investments in Thailand and Indonesia. The HSR project in Thailand represents an important advance in China's geopolitical influence through the larger design of the Singapore–Kunming Rail Link (SKRL), while the one in Indonesia is aimed at forging better economic ties with the largest country in Southeast Asia. It also assesses the room for political manoeuvre by those two countries vis-à-vis China's developmental railpolitics. Thailand considers the Chinese HSR project as only its first step to achieve its ambitious goal of becoming a land transportation hub in Indochina. Moreover, the Kingdom is still practising a strategy of balancing foreign powers. The HSR project in Indonesia also reflects changing political considerations on contracting foreign partners to build infrastructure. The conclusions suggest that China can be outmanoeuvred in railway bargaining by the recipient states, depending on geopolitical positioning and the nature of their domestic political and economic conditions. (Contemp Southeast Asia/GIGA)