Showing papers in "Journal of Contemporary Asia in 2011"
TL;DR: The authors examines the historical process of Hong Kong-China national unification through a crisis-transformation framework and argues that the Chinese unification process between Hong Kong and mainland China is not a smooth process.
Abstract: This paper examines the historical process of Hong Kong-China national unification through a crisis-transformation framework. This paper argues that the Chinese unification process between Hong Kong and mainland China is not a smooth process. Instead, it has gone through at least four crises during the 1980s and the 1990s. The institution framework for unification – the so-called “One Country, Two Systems” policy – emerged out of the first crisis of negotiation in the early 1980s, and this policy has been hotly contested and transformed during the various crises over the past three decades. Previous studies on Hong Kong-China unification tends to focus solely on the political and legal aspects. However, this paper shows that unification needs to be symmetrical on all aspects (legal, political, economic and socio-cultural) in order to make it work.
56 citations
45 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that public-private partnership policy has been diffused to developing countries like Sri Lanka with coercion from international aid-granting organisations through conditionalities attached to financial assistance, and developed a framework to be used in analysing the issues under investigation.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, public-private partnership policy has been adopted in developing countries to a lesser degree than in industrialised countries. This paper argues that this policy has been diffused to developing countries like Sri Lanka with coercion from international aid-granting organisations through conditionalities attached to financial assistance. It details the country-specific challenges faced by Sri Lanka in responding to conditionalities as it has sought to implement this policy. Drawing on policy diffusion theory the paper develops a framework to be used in analysing the issues under investigation.
42 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a dialectical, Gramscian-Bourdieusian account of the Red Shirt movement in Thailand is presented, showing that the seeds for the destruction of royalist hegemony in Thailand have been sown in the embodied processes of accommodation to ruling class hegemony.
Abstract: Gramsci's notion of “hegemony,” like Bourdieu's concept of “habitus,” seems designed to explain accommodation to existing social structures, rather than resistance. In this paper, however, I draw from the Prison Notebooks some arguments that contribute to a Gramscian understanding of how hegemony may break apart under the weight of the same uneven development processes central to hegemony. Drawing also from Bourdieu, I argue that the conceptions of “hegemony” and “habitus” inscribe the possibility of resistance within the embodied experience of accommodation to class rule. I then elaborate a dialectical, Gramscian-Bourdieusian account of the Red Shirt movement in Thailand, showing that the seeds for the destruction of royalist hegemony in Thailand have been sown in the embodied processes of accommodation to ruling class hegemony. The breadth and depth of challenges to this hegemony, moreover, are evident not only from the activities of the Red Shirt movement and regional discontent in Northern an...
37 citations
TL;DR: The authors assesses the significance of labour protests and the light they throw on the development of a certain mode of engagement with the post-authoritarian state, and suggests that the proliferation of protests among workers may sow the seeds of a movement society.
Abstract: Over the past ten years, Indonesia has seen an interesting trend in political action on the part of labour. Once risky activity, street protests have been decriminalised and become a common sight in many parts of the country, especially in urban areas. Industrial workers take to the streets in large numbers to challenge the state and business interests perceived as hostile to their material and political interests. Interestingly, scholars have largely neglected this phenomenon and instead focused on labour's failure to develop as a meaningful political force. This paper assesses the significance of labour protests and the light they throw on the development of a certain mode of engagement with the post-authoritarian state. It is suggested that the proliferation of protests among workers may sow the seeds of a “movement society.”
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce the putsch and the socialist women's organisation Gerwani, members of which were, at the time, accused of sexual debauchery.
Abstract: Indonesia has been haunted by the “spectre of communism” since the putsch by military officers on 1 October 1965. That event saw the country's top brass murdered and the military attributing this putsch to the Communist Party. The genocide that followed was triggered by a campaign of sexual slander. This led to the real coup and the replacement of President Sukarno by General Suharto. Today, accusations about communism continue to play a major role in public life and state control remains shored up by control over women's bodies. This article introduces the putsch and the socialist women's organisation Gerwani, members of which were, at the time, accused of sexual debauchery. The focus is on the question of how Gerwani was portrayed in the aftermath of the putsch and how this affects the contemporary women's movement. It is found that women's political agency has been restricted, being associated with sexual debauchery and social turmoil. State women's organisations were set up and women's organi...
33 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the relationship between precarity and political mobilisation in migration from Burma to Thailand, focusing both on the climate of unrest found in much of Burma and on Thailand's treatment of migrant workers, its non-participation in core international legislation and its substandard migrant registration system.
Abstract: An estimated 1.5 million citizens of Burma reside as refugees or migrants in Thailand, where harsh treatment, harassment and social stigmas contribute to a climate of precarity. Although one possible course of action for any community under strain is political mobilisation, for migrants from Burma in the northern city of Chiang Mai, high degrees of exploitation and insecurity have generated an overwhelming disinterest in political issues. The article examines this relationship in five main sections. The first presents the two key concepts that structure the analysis: precarity and political mobilisation. The second examines the context of migration from Burma to Thailand, focusing both on the climate of unrest found in much of Burma and on Thailand's treatment of migrant workers, its non-participation in core international legislation and its sub-standard migrant registration system. The third explains how this study of Burmese migrants in Chiang Mai was undertaken and reviews the ethical conside...
30 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that international students tend to identify increasingly as national citizens and to be disinclined to mobilise politically, at least during the course of their studies, and that these findings add to their understanding both of collective identity and action among students, and of the broader implications of globalisation and internationalisation for social and political activism.
Abstract: Despite rapidly increasing global flows of international students, research to date has paid little heed to how students abroad identify and mobilise. Focusing on the experience of Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans in Australia – a primary hub for international education – we explore the ways in which our informants understand their place and potential as students. We find international students to comprise a distinct sort of diaspora. With their liminal status, these – for the most part – only temporary transnationals do internalise new norms and agency in a personal sense. However, they tend to identify increasingly as national citizens and to be disinclined to mobilise politically, at least during the course of their studies. These findings add to our understanding both of collective identity and action among students, and of the broader implications of globalisation and internationalisation for social and political activism.
27 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that the social relations of production generally confined to primitive accumulation interpreted simply as the pre-history of capitalism are, in fact, present also in capitalism proper, and the political implications of this distinction for the direction of capitalist development in India and elsewhere are also considered.
Abstract: Examined here is the view that, as primitive accumulation is characterised by production relations that are not free, and primitive accumulation itself chronologically prefigures capitalism proper, what is on the political agenda is a transition not to socialism but – still – to a “fully-functioning” capitalism. Against this, it is argued that the social relations of production generally confined to primitive accumulation interpreted simply as the pre-history of capitalism are, in fact, present also in capitalism proper. The political implications of this distinction for the direction of capitalist development in India and elsewhere are also considered.
26 citations
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the literature on the use of racism as a corporate tactic, discuss the Chinalco-BHP struggle, and provide a study of how one community reacted when offered the chance to host a large Chinese investment.
Abstract: China's State Council has charged that in 2009 BHP Billiton inflamed Australians' fear of “Chinese colour” in order to undermine Chinalco's (Aluminium Corporation of China) effort to increase its share of the Rio Tinto company. Though unproven, this is a serious charge and the more so because it suggests there is a risk that in the future firms challenged by Chinese competitors may emulate the alleged practice. Given this possibility, anti-racists require a sophisticated understanding of how firms might incorporate Sinophobia into their business strategies and how Chinese foreign direct investment is viewed by national and local communities. To further this response, we review the literature on the use of racism as a corporate tactic, discuss the Chinalco-BHP struggle, and provide a study of how one community reacted when offered the chance to host a large Chinese investment.
26 citations
TL;DR: In 2009, a group of Anglican Pentecostal women took over the Association of Women for Action and Research, a secular women's rights group in Singapore as discussed by the authors, which sparked an intense month-long public debate over a variety of issues which included the increasing aggression of the “Christian Right,” the secular nature of public space in Singapore, sex education and tolerance for gay communities, culminating in state intervention.
Abstract: In March 2009 a group of Anglican Pentecostal women took over the Association of Women for Action and Research, a secular women's rights group in Singapore. This sparked an intense month-long public debate over a variety of issues which included the increasing aggression of the “Christian Right,” the secular nature of public space in Singapore, sex education and tolerance for gay communities, culminating in state intervention. While conventional sociological studies have suggested a variety of explanations for the growing presence of Pentecostal Christians in the public sphere, such as religious stratification or their links to party politics, few have examined it within the framework of nation-building. This paper seeks to understand the recent emergence of the “Christian Right” and its exposition on various moral issues within a historical context – a context from which the People's Action Party government successfully arose, in part, due to its self-construction as a moral state, and argues th...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the influence of foreign direct investment (FDI), financialization, and labour market reform on the bipolarisation of Korean economy following the 1998 economic crisis and found that the increase in FDI inflows has contributed to the economy by overcoming balance of payments difficulties, it has led to increased income inequality.
Abstract: This paper explains the neo-liberal reform measures – foreign direct investment (FDI) policies, financialisation and labour market reform – of the Korean economy following the 1998 economic crisis. It investigates how they have influenced a process identified as the bipolarisation of Korea. Although the increase in FDI inflows has contributed to the economy by overcoming balance of payments difficulties, it has led to increased income inequality. As a result of labour market reforms that targeted labour market flexibility, the number of non-regular/non-standard and part-time workers has increased significantly over the past decade. Labour market reform and financialisation aggravated the bipolarisation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess the nature of competition in the information technology (IT) services sector between India and China using primary and secondary data sources, and compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the IT services sector in the two countries along the main dimensions of Porter's competitive advantage model.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to assess the nature of competition in the information technology (IT) services sector between India and China. Using primary and secondary data sources, we compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the IT services sector in the two countries along the main dimensions of Porter's competitive advantage model. The principal findings indicate that the IT services sectors in the two countries are distinctively different, have developed along different paths and are highly complementary to each other. China has a well- established hardware sector and its IT services sector focuses mostly on servicing its domestic market. India's IT services sector is predominantly export orientated with focus on the US and Western European markets. Contrary to popular beliefs, given the complementary character- istics of the IT services sectors in India and China, it is unlikely for the two countries to compete against each other in the near future and greater strategic co-operation between IT service pro- viders in the two countries is a more likely outcome.
TL;DR: Xin Meng and Chris Manning with Li Shi and Tadjuddin Noer Effendi (eds) (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010) The economic miracle of China with all of its benefits is, at the same time, quite problem.
Abstract: Xin Meng and Chris Manning with Li Shi and Tadjuddin Noer Effendi (eds) (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010) The “economic miracle” of China with all of its benefits is, at the same time, quite problem...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that Thailand's democratic political system features weak linkages between groups in society and political parties, lacks alternative encompassing or brokering institutions in civil society, and that these features account for a tendency for political democracy to fail to deliver on its policy potential in Thailand.
Abstract: Do democratic political regimes facilitate more robust environmental and natural resource regulatory policies? Yes, in many cases. Using detailed cases of natural resource policy making in Thailand, however, we find that neither political parties nor civil society nor state institutions do well in representing diffuse interests, mediating among conflicting ones or defining compromises and securing their acceptance by most key players. Gains in environmental or natural resource policy making have not been dramatically more likely under democratic regimes than under “liberal authoritarian” ones with broad freedoms of speech and association. We argue that Thailand's democratic political system features weak linkages between groups in society and political parties, lacks alternative encompassing or brokering institutions in civil society, and that these features account for a tendency for political democracy to fail to deliver on its policy potential in Thailand.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an interesting case study of China's attempt at regional institution building, where China's increasing interest in Central Asia coincided with its gradual acceptance and rising enthusiasm regarding participation in regional organisations.
Abstract: China's initiative in establishing and promoting the development of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) is an interesting case study of China's attempt at regional institution building. China's increasing interest in Central Asia coincided with its gradual acceptance and rising enthusiasm regarding participation in regional organisations. The “Shanghai Five” mechanism and the SCO were seen as appropriate mechanisms for pursuing China's multiple interests in the region; their development was also in line with the improvement in Sino-Russian relations. Chinese leaders have skilfully developed the SCO's institutional framework, and they seem intent on getting good value for the resources spent. The leaders have also demonstrated considerable patience when the SCO's development encountered setbacks.
TL;DR: The authors explored new contributions to this critical commentary by the authors of the edited collection Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand and identified tensions across the chapters, including different emphases on liberalism and conservatism, and on the symbolic functioning of the monarchy.
Abstract: Although many people date critical commentary on the Thai monarchy to Paul Handley's explosive biography The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, this article demonstrates the existence of a consistently critical body of work, in the English language, that emerged contemporaneously with the king's growing stature from the 1980s. It also considers the conditions that have led to wider and more vocal criticisms since the coup of 2006. The primary focus is an exploration of new contributions to this critical commentary by the authors of the edited collection Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. It identifies tensions across the chapters, including different emphases on liberalism and conservatism, and on the symbolic functioning of the monarchy.
TL;DR: The authors examined patterns of violence in border areas across the Greater Mekong Sub-region and found that integration facilitates the collusion of state actors in the dispossession of the poor in a manner that is deleterious to ethnic minorities, internal migrants and other vulnerable populations.
Abstract: The struggles of poor communities to negotiate development processes have been documented increasingly in recent years. However, recognition of the agency of the poor should not preclude attention to patterns of oppression that may be intensifying in the face of top-down development processes imposed by increasingly well co-ordinated elites. Examination of patterns of violence in border areas across the Greater Mekong Sub-region suggests that integration facilitates the collusion of state actors in the dispossession of the poor in a manner that is deleterious to ethnic minorities, internal migrants and other vulnerable populations. National political processes are not offering mechanisms by which such populations can seek to contest this trend.
TL;DR: Stein Tonnesson (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010) This work by the former director of the Oslo International Peace Research Institute, actually an update of an earlier published Fren...
Abstract: Stein Tonnesson (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010) This work by the former director of the Oslo International Peace Research Institute, actually an update of an earlier published Fren...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors adopt a Marxist framework for examining the class bases of racism against guest workers in Taiwan, focusing on the legislative and administrative mechanisms adopted by the state to racialise and recompose the labour market and to politically repress immigrants, largely for the benefit of capital accumulation.
Abstract: This article adopts a Marxist framework for examining the class bases of racism against guest workers in Taiwan, focusing on the legislative and administrative mechanisms adopted by the state to racialise and recompose the labour market and to politically repress immigrants, largely for the benefit of capital accumulation. It examines the ways in which racism against immigrants has constituted an important element of Taiwan's civic nationalism; an ideology which depicts guest workers' resistance as a source of social instability in the nation-state. The article also considers the ways in which the state has adapted to immigrants' struggles, together with the immigrants' and local workers' efforts to unite in solidarity against wage exploitation and racism. The article brings together evidence supporting the contention that Marxist analysis is the most effective means of explaining both racism and anti-racism.
TL;DR: In this paper, a composite conceptual framework is advanced that draws upon the international analyses of development, adapted the concepts of securitisation and de-politicisation, and argues that a new hegemonic development framework has appeared: the Securitised-Washington consensus.
Abstract: Participatory approaches to development have been implemented increasingly. One form is the World Bank's community-driven development (CDD) programme. Participation has, also, become increasingly securitised since 2001. One instance of these trends was the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) project in the Philippines. This paper examines the implementation of CDD and the problems of its securitisation, using the Philippines as a case study. A composite conceptual framework is advanced that draws upon the international analyses of development. Adapting the concepts of securitisation and de-politicisation, it argues that a new hegemonic-development framework has appeared: the Securitised-Washington consensus. The analysis assesses these trends through the examples of KALAHI and Philippine politics and economics. It suggests that securitised CDD projects result in token efforts at political reform and poverty alleviation that often are contradicted by counter-trends towards development decline ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify two knowledge gaps with respect to the major approaches of state-society relations and Chinese business networks in Southeast Asia, and propose an integrative approach, termed as rhizomatic political economy, which argues that Southeast Asian state formation may hinge on the instrumentalisation of Chinese business network and what is identified as their power/knowledge system.
Abstract: With respect to the major approaches of state-society relations and Chinese business networks in Southeast Asia, two knowledge gaps are identified. First, little is known about how two sets of dualistic conceptual entities may be connected in the often-contentious state formation process between: (1) the ruling minority and ruled majority; and (2) the nationalising state and grain-producing frontiers. Second, very little is known about the role that the Chinese business networks played and how they contributed to the state formation processes. Using a Philippine trans-local grain-trading network as a site of investigation, the paper seeks to fill these knowledge gaps by delineating an integrative approach – designated as rhizomatic political economy – which argues that Southeast Asian state formation may hinge on the instrumentalisation of Chinese business networks and what is identified as their rhizomatic power/knowledge system. They are not just business-brokers in the trans-local grain trade ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce the concept of "socio-material communication" as a way of differentiating among available economic forms and then offer a design for socialist development that is progressive, sustainable and realisable under current “really existing” conditions.
Abstract: Current global economic trends have rekindled interest in development alternatives. Competing socialist and green proposals for these development alternatives raise important questions about crafting institutional vehicles for the simultaneous realisation of popular empowerment, sustainability and poverty alleviation development goals. Much of the debate is about economic scale and the re-localising of production and consumption sundered by globalisation. Yet socialists and greens are fuzzy on principles of economy necessary to achieve their desired goals. To help sort out these issues this article introduces the concept of “socio-material communication” as a way of differentiating among available economic forms. It then offers a design for socialist development that is progressive, sustainable and realisable under current “really existing” conditions. It is concluded that realisation of socialist and green development goals for future human betterment requires the combining of modes of socio-mat...
TL;DR: The New Silk Road Diplomacy: China's Central Asian Foreign Policy since the Cold War by Hasan H. Karrar (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2009).
Abstract: The New Silk Road Diplomacy: China's Central Asian Foreign Policy since the Cold War Hasan H. Karrar (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2009) As a young girl, I watched the fall of t...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors re-examine the operations of the Zenrin kyokkai, both in Inner Mongolia and in Japan, and argue that the relationship between it and the military was more complex than earlier studies have shown.
Abstract: Abstract In studies of Japanese “cultural diplomacy” between 1933 and 1945, the part played by the Zenrin kyōkai (Good Neighbour Association), a semi-official humanitarian organisation that provided medical assistance and educational opportunities to the Mongols and Hui (Han Chinese Muslims) living on the fringe of the Chinese Republic, has been largely overlooked. Dismissed by some as merely a front for intelligence-gathering operations, this article re-examines the operations of the Zenrin kyōkai, both in Inner Mongolia and in Japan, and argues that the relationship between it and the military was more complex than earlier studies have shown. In particular, the humanitarian activities of the Zenrin kyōkai went beyond military control and set the organisation apart from the other main agents of Japanese “cultural diplomacy” active in the region. Although not always successful in its attempts to woo the local population, the Zenrin kyōkai was a crucial instrument of the Japanese imperial project in the region and a reflexion of the complexity of that project.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how a dominant state collaborated with the multinational corporations to reconstitute their accumulation regimes to outlast the business cycles and highlighted the critical role of the state on the subject of restructuring.
Abstract: Free market ideology has continued its hegemonic reign notwithstanding considerable opposition. Under capitalism, the relationship between the political and economic realms is intricate. This inquiry on corporate restructuring in Singapore between the late 1990s and the early 2000s scrutinizes how a dominant state collaborated with the multinational corporations to reconstitute their accumulation regimes to outlast the business cycles. Based on six cases, the findings underscore the critical role of the state on the subject of restructuring. The peculiar configuration of the relations between the state and labour in Singapore shaped how they negotiated the restructuring process with the companies. While those involved reckoned that training, research and technology were pivotal, the foregoing were not the panacea that optimistic consultants had made them out to be. The interactions among capital, labour and the state remained the underpinnings of solutions.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the implications of India's TRIPS-induced Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights (PPVFRs) Act for small producers and argued that the extension of private property rights to plant varieties will lead to higher seed prices and could lead to further erosion of genetic diversity in the country, negatively impacting farmers.
Abstract: The Indian government was obliged to extend private property rights to plant varieties under the World Trade Organisation's Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. This paper analyses the implications of India's TRIPS-induced Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights (PPVFRs) Act for small producers. The Indian Act gives formal recognition to farmers' rights and upholds the principle of benefit sharing. This notwithstanding, it is argued that it will be very difficult for small farmers to benefit from the legislation since the Act is designed to protect the rights of parties that are able to prove that they are innovators in agriculture. The extension of private property rights to plant varieties will lead to higher seed prices and could lead to further erosion of genetic diversity in the country, negatively impacting farmers. Importantly, the Indian government's decision to accede to the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties Convention (UPOV),...