scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers in "Global Change, Peace & Security in 2004"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The symbiotic relationship between refugees and the police is increasing around key zones of global exclusion: the US/Mexico border, the European Union and the Southeast Asian/Australasian rim as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The symbiotic relationship between refugees and the police is increasing around key zones of global exclusion: the US/Mexico border, the European Union and the Southeast Asian/Australasian rim.1 Examining these relationships uncovers the contradictory yet stunted deployment of sovereignty‐led responses of the Global North to refugees, particularly those responses that cluster around the frontier, marking and patrolling the border. Moreover, the police/refugee relationship and the discourses underpinning it have prepared the way for problematic constructions of, and responses to, terrorism as it is patrolled at the border. Refugees are not just a problem, but a policing problem. Terrorism is not a problem, but a counter‐terrorism policing problem. Increasingly the securitisation of borders explicitly and implicitly conflates these two ‘policing’ problems. This article will examine the discursive resources underpinning border‐policing efforts against refugees and terrorism, and the repercussions for the law...

41 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The case of the Canadian government's policy towards the crisis in Timor in September 1999 as discussed by the authors explores the difficulty that policy makers have had in moving human security from the rhetorical realm to the level of concrete policy that makes a difference to the safety of people whose security is threatened.
Abstract: Enthusiasts of human security argue that what is needed in the post‐Cold‐War period is a foreign policy agenda that is more ‘people‐centred’ than the state‐centred focus of security policy during the Cold War period. Among the most enthusiastic proponents of the human security paradigm in the 1990s was the Canadian government, which, in partnership with a number of other like‐minded governments, sought to press the human security agenda, taking a number of human security initiatives. However, since the late 1990s, we have seen a paradox: the concept has attracted increased attention from scholars while its salience among policy‐makers appears to be declining. Using the case of the Canadian government's policy towards the crisis in Timor in September 1999, we explore the difficulty that policy‐makers have had in moving human security from the rhetorical realm to the level of concrete policy that makes a difference to the safety of people whose security is threatened. We conclude that there was a significan...

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The origins and spread of one Malay Islamic movement, Al Arqam, inspired by a rare mix of global Sufi and strict Shari'ah traditions, many of whose members were organized into residential communes and institutions promoting economic independence, mutual support, social service and extensive mission as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the prevailing political world order, sovereign nation‐states and secular political authority widely face competition from transnational religious communities, whose authority and agendas derive from different principles. This is particularly evident in Islam, where ulama may acquire political power, while governments appropriate religious interpretations to their own purposes, and even determine who is orthodox or heretical in their domain. This article focuses on the origins and spread of one Malay Islamic movement, Al Arqam, inspired by a rare mix of global Sufi and strict Shari'ah traditions, many of whose members were organized into residential communes and institutions promoting economic independence, mutual support, social service and extensive mission. With their schools, clinics, farms and factories, this amounted to an experiment in alternative development and governance, although not explicitly as an Islamic state. Arqam's moral example and its success in recruiting technically skilled, high...

16 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the engagement of Muslim women's groups with political Islam in Malaysia has been explored and it is argued that a political Islam that has been seen to be broadly inimical to women's status and interest has been ameliorated by such an engagement.
Abstract: This essay delves into the engagement of Muslim women's groups with political Islam in Malaysia. It argues that a political Islam that has been seen to be broadly inimical to women's status and interest has been ameliorated by such an engagement. Furthermore, the plurality of Islamic engagement by women, ranging from pragmatists, communitarians to liberal‐feminists, has arguably led to a less than hegemonic Islamic order in Malaysia. Such engagement by Muslim women has concomitantly also contributed to a blunting of Malay‐Muslim dominance by exploding the myth of Malay consensus in the multiethnic political system.

11 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors of Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue as mentioned in this paper argue that the action of the OECD is as much an action against globalisation as are street protests against World Trade Organisation (WTO) meetings.
Abstract: With publication of Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) initiated a campaign to eliminate income tax competition. The OECD characterised income tax rate competition between states as ‘harmful’. The advancement of communication technologies has broadened and deepened opportunities for citizens to utilise this gap within international relations to avoid taxes. Using technological features of globalisation to avoid tax, it is suggested these citizens are engaged in civil disobedience against income redistribution. Thus the action of the OECD is as much an action against globalisation as are street protests against World Trade Organisation (WTO) meetings. The argument here introduces the concept of harmful tax competition and describes the nature of the offshore financial centre. This is followed by a discussion exploring the interplay of taxation, technology, and the myriad small ways citizens avoid paying tax. The conclusion find...

10 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The appropriate role for the United Nations in international dispute resolution is a matter of high profile discussion and controversy as discussed by the authors, and during the prelude to the war in Iraq, US President George W.
Abstract: The appropriate role for the United Nations in international dispute resolution is a matter of high profile discussion and controversy. During the prelude to the war in Iraq, US President George W....

8 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors suggest that there is much to be learned from studying Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia comparatively to trace their emerging similarities, and they suggest a gradual transformation of the Wahhabi-inspired dakwah-Islam of the late 1970s into new discourses of Islamic civil society undertaken by the emerging middle classes of both countries.
Abstract: This article suggests that there is much to be learnt from studying Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia comparatively to trace their emerging similarities. Various models of an Islamic state, be it by directly involving the shariah as the only source of reference, as it is proposed Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), or by gradually Islamizing the society (shariah haraki), a model that has been applied with considerable success by both ABIM and the Mahathir administration and receives backing from Islamic mass organizations such as the NU and Muhammadiyah. This suggests that there is a gradual transformation of the Wahhabi‐inspired dakwah‐Islam of the late 1970s into new discourses of Islamic civil society undertaken by the emerging middle classes of both countries. However, Wahhabi‐Islam is nevertheless still important and its impact on the future shape of political Islam in the region cannot be underestimated, especially since dakwah‐organizations link up internationally and continue to be generously sponsored by...

7 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the case of the Japan-China relationship at the subnational government level is analyzed in comparative context by considering the worldwide trend among SNGs to pursue international activities.
Abstract: One of the many areas of growing engagement between Japan and China is at the subnational government (SNG) level. Yet this development has received scant attention from analysts and scholars who study Japan's local government and international relations. This article opens the window on the bilateral relationship at the SNG level, focusing on the actions of Japanese SNGs and their incipient role as international actors. The case of the Japan–China relationship at the SNG level is analysed in comparative context by considering the worldwide trend among SNGs to pursue international activities. The analysis focuses on three major types of linkages that Japanese SNGs have developed in China: (1) formalized sister relationships between SNGs; (2) trade promotion; (3) technical and economic cooperation. This development has important implications both for local–national relations in Japan and the way foreign relations are now managed

6 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the anti-war protest on March 26, 2003, in Southern Thailand and suggest the notion of engaged Muslims as a theoretical alternative to political Islam to better reflect both a realistic Muslim perspective and a critical understanding of what constitutes "the political".
Abstract: In this article the author examines the anti‐war protest on March 26, 2003, in Southern Thailand and suggests the notion of engaged Muslims as a theoretical alternative to political Islam to better reflect both a realistic Muslim perspective and a critical understanding of what constitutes ‘the political’. Such an alternative, when it exists, depends on the ways in which a Muslim minority, such as in Thailand, chooses to engage with others in a manner that could reflect a reaffirmation of membership in the imagined community that is the nation‐state, while preserving their identity as those who belong to their distinctive community of faith. In protesting for peace and symbolically ‘praying in the rain’ as both citizens and members of a distinctive community of faith, an alternative role for Muslims in politics as engaged Muslims has been creatively explored.

4 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Thomas Weber1
TL;DR: Galtung is often referred to as the ‘father of modern peace research' as mentioned in this paper and his work on structural violence is very reminiscent of some of Gandhi's key doctrines.
Abstract: Johan Galtung is often referred to as the ‘father of modern peace research’. His writings, especially his work on structural violence, which is now one of the concepts underpinning the discipline, are very reminiscent of some of Gandhi's key doctrines. This may be coincidental or there may be a causal link. While Galtung freely acknowledges the strong influence of Gandhi on his thought, others seem to downplay or miss the Gandhian connection. In comparing the writings of the two in peace‐related areas and by examining Galtung's references to Gandhi, it becomes clear that there is a strong causal Gandhian underpinning to Galtung's peace research. As modern peace research is not understandable without Galtung's contribution, so Galtung's work is not fully understandable without a knowledge of Gandhi's influence to his thought.

3 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Weberism has been subject to various interpretations which are not in the present author's interest to discuss as mentioned in this paper but suffice to say that the widespread treatment of Weberism as a deterministic theory of values, i.e., that religious beliefs are directly related to economic life, has had a profound impact on Western scholarship of Islam and the Islamic world.
Abstract: This communication questions the theoretical analysis of the relationship between religion and modernisation, as deriving from ‘Weberism’, by which I mean the body of thought which has evolved, out of the consensus of scholars studying the German sociologist, Max Weber (d. 1920). Western-based post-Second World War modernisation literature demonstrated high expectations that the developing world would toe the line of the secular, rational, industrial and democratic West. Scholars constructed deterministic theories of the global evolution of society which not only rejected the possibility of non-Western religions undergoing positive reformation, but surpassing even Weber, also degraded the overall contribution of religion to the modernisation process. Weberism has been prone to blame Oriental religions as a cause of their stagnation and thereby a barrier to modernisation. At the centre of Weberism is the contrast drawn between the mystical otherworldliness of Oriental religions and the worldly asceticism of Protestantism, particularly Calvinism, whose religious ethic is said to have been conducive to the development of capitalism and economic rationalism among the populace of Western Europe. Weberism has been subject to various interpretations which are not in the present author’s interest to discuss. Suffice it to say that the widespread treatment of Weberism as a deterministic theory of values, i.e., that religious beliefs are directly related to economic life, has had a profound impact on Western scholarship of Islam and the Islamic world. The overwhelming tendency of Western social scientists studying Islamic societies has been to denigrate, even to the point of denying altogether, a positive role of Islam in economic development. Overlooked was the fact that, while Weber was forthright in his condem-

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the series of events leading up to the US invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 from the perspective of theoretical and practical rationality and in the light of The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, the Charter of United Nations (1945) and elements of just war theory.
Abstract: The series of events leading up to the US invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 is examined from the perspective of theoretical and practical rationality and in the light of The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, the Charter of the United Nations (1945) and elements of just war theory. Strikingly, even without assuming the authority of the Charter of the United Nations and the validity of just war theory, the decision to wage war pre‐emptively and outside the bounds of international law proves to be equally unjustifiable on pragmatic grounds alone.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The violent manifestations of political Islam belie the fact that for centuries Muslim or ‘Islamic governance of various guises has been part of the leitmotif and social existence of much of Southeast Asia as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Predictably the imposition of a renewed American hegemony on the global order saw counter-hegemonic reactions of militant political Islam. Significant events in Southeast Asia post-9/11 were the Bali bombings of October 2002, the Davao bombing incidents of 2002 and 2003 and bomb incidents in Southern Thailand in the early part of 2004. It should be evident that political Islam, manifested in its militant and civil forms, represents both a countervailing force to the global political order as well as to existing political regimes of Southeast Asia. However, a myriad of issues and themes based on these questions with respect to political Islam in Southeast Asia today remain poorly studied and vaguely understood. The violent manifestations of political Islam belie the fact that for centuries Muslim or ‘Islamic’ governance of various guises has been part of the leitmotif and social existence of much of Southeast Asia. In the colonial era, Western, foreign administration and control came to replace or supplement many local and indigenous political systems and, in the ensuing post-colonial phase, secular national–state political systems have by and large become the order of the day. It is understandable therefore that, in the post-colonial period, political Islam—defined broadly as the aspiration to political power and the remolding of state/society in accordance to Islamic teachings—has remained an important motive force of Southeast Asian politics. Insurgencies which draw their inspiration from Islam have peppered the region, in particular in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Two striking examples are the Bangsa Moro and the Acehnese struggles for independence or statehood. The Bangsa Moro struggle for statehood in the southern islands of the Philippines dates back more than 300 years to the 16th Century when Muslims first resisted Spanish colonisation and then American imperialism for almost half a century. In the contemporary period, resistance to the Philippine government persisted right through the 1950s till today. The most militant of the Islamic groups, Abu Sayyaf, has been linked to the Al Qaeda and its more recent activities have occasioned American military intervention.