The international politics of air disasters: lessons for aviation disaster governance from Asia, 2014–2015
In: Cambridge review of international affairs, Band 31, Heft 3-4, S. 249-271
ISSN: 1474-449X
In: Cambridge review of international affairs, Band 31, Heft 3-4, S. 249-271
ISSN: 1474-449X
In: Contemporary Southeast Asia, Band 40, Heft 3, S. 503-526
In: Review of international studies: RIS, Band 43, Heft 4, S. 637-653
ISSN: 1469-9044
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.
"In many ways, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) is a microcosm of the Singapore brand of government. The DNA of Singapore's policymaking is its forward-looking nature. S. Rajaratnam's trademark is taking the long view while Lee Kuan Yew articulated his wish for leadership foresight and the admiration for 'helicopter quality' candidates in policymaking. This was how RSIS' mission began under the stewardship of the late President S. R. Nathan. RSIS began (as IDSS — i.e., the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies) in 1996 as a form of policymakers' clairvoyant on security matters. To date, it is Singapore's 'frontline' think tank on Asia-Pacific security, counter-terrorism, inter-religious dialogue and non-traditional security threats. The contributors in this edited volume, Forward Engagement: RSIS as a Think Tank of International Studies and Security in the Asia-Pacific, are the stalwarts of the RSIS mission for the past 20 years and the leading lights for the RSIS of the 21st century. These are their reflections for posterity as well as their forward projections for their quasi-diplomatic and intellectual roles in the service of Singapore's national security."--Publisher's website
In: [& Alan Chong] Politics, Religion & Ideology 12, no. 3 (2011), 335-354.
SSRN
In: The Pacific review, Band 30, Heft 3, S. 365-384
ISSN: 0951-2748
The Singaporean polity has created the 'militarized civilian'. This policy phenomenon beckons the question: How is this cross-fertilization carried out in Singapore's civil-military relations? Militarization is in the first sense meant to inculcate a calibrated dual personality within the civilian whereby being an effective soldier requires indulging in simulated military suffering as a badge of pride; at the same time, the citizen soldier has to believe that military and civilian values are perfectly interchangeable and contribute equally to the maintenance of peace. In a second sense, militarization is equally about permanently ritualizing sacrifices for a communitarian defence. We argue that while mostly successful, militarization also produces the tension arising from the need to appear pugnaciously vigilant while avoiding the casualties that must logically arise from heightened simulated combat. This tension is explained through two dimensions of ongoing crises: the parameters of a politically dramatized National Service ritual; and the constant propaganda of geopolitical dangers threatening the Republic. (Pac Rev/GIGA)
World Affairs Online
In: Review of international studies: RIS, Band 43, Heft 4, S. 581-719
ISSN: 1469-9044
World Affairs Online
In: Diplomatic Strategies of Nations in the Global South, S. 393-424
In: Japanese journal of political science, Band 17, Heft 2, S. 208-231
ISSN: 1474-0060
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.
In: The Pacific review, Band 30, Heft 3, S. 365-384
ISSN: 1470-1332
In: The Pacific review, Band 29, Heft 2, S. 235-258
ISSN: 0951-2748
This article attempts to engage in a preliminary twinned study of the foreign policy styles of Mahathir bin Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew within the framework of 'modernizing Southeast Asian foreign policies'. Modernization is a process of immense multidimensional displacement in economy, society, political system, attitudes towards politicians, identities, work, and consumption. As such the onus falls upon their leaders to either mitigate change or productively awaken their followers to embrace a new mode of thought. Both Lee and Mahathir have however chosen to engage in the foreign policy of intellectual iconoclasm featuring the narrative of 'productive shock', manufactured nationalist logics, elitist policy-making and elaborate self-propaganda. (Pac Rev/GIGA)
World Affairs Online
World Affairs Online
In: The journal of strategic studies 38.2015,3
In: The journal of strategic studies, Band 38, Heft 3, S. 233-244
ISSN: 0140-2390