Suchergebnisse

This book explores civil–military relations in Asia. With chapters on individual countries in the region, it provides a comprehensive account of the range of contemporary Asian practices under conditions of abridged democracy, soft authoritarianism or complete totalitarianism. Through its analysis, the book argues that civil–military relations in Asia ought to be examined under the concept of 'Asian military evolutions'. It demonstrates that while Asian militaries have tried to incorporate standard, Western-derived frameworks of civil–military relations, it has been necessary to adapt such frameworks to suit local circumstances. The book reveals how this has in turn led to creative fusions and novel changes in making civil–military relations an asset to furthering national security objectives.

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.

Abstract
The ancient Silk Roads are reputed for demonstrating a more tolerant Asia–Europe interaction than is believed possible today among modern nation-states. What is the Silk Roads' contribution to global thought? Along the original Silk Roads, a cosmopolitan ethic of hospitality to foreigners emerged from a confluence of hostile secular attitudes as well as accommodation of differences within each religion's conception of ecumenism and standardization. This is manifest in the writings of Marco Polo, a quintessential traveller along the ancient overland Silk Road, assorted Christian monks serving as Papal representatives to the Mongols, and two Buddhist pilgrims, Fa-Hsien and I-Tsing of China. In treating these underappreciated writings as contributions to global thought from Asia, the author identifies three indelible elements that add up to an amorphous cosmopolitanism in progress: the role of violence in managing social order, piety through ritual, and the custom of travellers and hosts exchanging gifts.

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.

AbstractAndrew Linklater'sViolence and Civilization in the Western States-Systemis to be both praised and critiqued for opening spaces for discussing civilisational standards in the era of a globalising world. It offers a healthy provocation for inquiry into how non-Western states ought to comprehend the legacies of Western political evolution colouring existing 'IR' as a discipline. Linklater's book inspires three thematic reactions: globalisation does bring harm; the notion of a universal civilisation remains open to debate; and the possibilities of civilising patterns in premodern Southeast Asia serving as supplementary mirrors and extensions of the relationship between violence and civilisation. It is suggested that Linklater's sequel must consider the trajectory of non-Western sociologies of IR.

AbstractAsian diplomatic practices consistently frustrate western policymakers. This, I argue, is due in large part to cultural factors and the differences in interpreting political modernization. I will identify the features that contribute to a 'diplomacy of encounter' by, firstly, performing a historical reading of early indigenous annals that treat diplomacy in Asia, as well as of Jesuit and Portuguese encounters with Asia in the 1500s and 1600s; secondly, by reading a sample of nationalist tracts from Asia between the late 1800s and 1960s; and, thirdly, by reading the practices of ASEAN and wider Asia-Pacific regionalism between the 1990s and 2000s. It is only through discourse analysis of the Foucaultian variety that one can tease out the cultural and modernization-related road bumps in so-called 'modern Asian diplomacy'. This study hopes to contribute to enhancing appreciation of the ongoing procedural and substantive tensions between Asian states and their western, and mostly developed, dialogue partners.