Suchergebnisse

Over the past decade, the concepts of border have gained resonance in several disciplines within social sciences. While critical theory of borders has made tremendous advancements, scarcity of the scholarship in border studies is still evident. Borders are, in general, cultural, social, territorial, geographical, political, sexual and racial separators. This article deals with geographical borders in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region. Most countries in SEA share borders with each other. Under a range of circumstances and relationships such as trade, security and migration flows take place. Southeast Asia's heterogeneity—politically, ethnically, religiously, economically, demographically and spatially—has crucial implications for neighbourly relationships, trade, border constructions, migration and refugee flows for all the countries. This article delves into the interplay between borders and heterogeneity in SEA and their outcomes. We argue that borders type determine the level of relationship between neighbouring countries and security outcome, trade and population mobility.

The initial policy of the countries that developed vaccines has been to lock the vaccine by patent. This has been due to the fact that domestic demand for vaccine was mounting. Since only a few countries could invest in it, manufacturing and export remained at the behest of those few resulting in deep inequity in the global rollout. Pandemics are global health crises. Hence, calls for the patent waiver for the COVID-19 vaccine are growing to access the vaccine. The vaccine and its production, marketing and distribution have been politicized driven by the hegemonic aspiration. Both manufacturing and import-dependent countries are racing to win the diplomatic battle: the former has to win to gain hegemony and the latter to get the vaccine. Hence, the vaccine distribution has been marked with deep discrimination, and as a result, the migrant community is less likely to get their vaccine on time. This article engages in the decades-long debate over intellectual property rights and patenting life-saving vaccines. We argue that exemption of COVID-19 vaccines from intellectual property rights would improve global access and equity.