Showing papers in "Journal of Contemporary Asia in 2015"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the trade policy choice posed by these mega-regional trade negotiations, reviewing the evolution of the Asia-Pacific trade system, the recent emergence of the TPP and RCEP, and the competitive dynamics inherent in the development of the two proposals.
Abstract: The emergence of “mega-regional” trade agreements has recently become the most significant trade policy issue in the Asia-Pacific. Since 2010, governments in the region have launched negotiations for two new trade agreements: the United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Differentiated by their membership, scope and level of ambition, the TPP and RCEP embody competing visions for how the Asia-Pacific trade system should evolve, and regional governments must now make choices over which initiative better serves their economic and political interests. This article explores the trade policy choice posed by these mega-regional trade negotiations, reviewing the evolution of the Asia-Pacific trade system, the recent emergence of the TPP and RCEP, and the competitive dynamics inherent in the development of the two proposals. It argues that four key considerations (trade policy ambition, the role of ASEAN, US-China geopolitical r...
78 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that resistance can be reconceptualised as the negotiation rather than negation of social power, which helps us understand and critique existing structures of social domination in order to pursue emancipatory goals.
Abstract: This special issue seeks to rethink “resistance” as a critical social science concept in the light of a range of critiques since the 1980s. The five articles in this issue draw their empirical materials from contemporary India, but their arguments have significant implications for those working on other parts of Asia and the world. The articles acknowledge the inherent ambiguities and ambivalences of subaltern resistance in the face of hegemonic social formations, yet, shorn of exoticising and homogenising tendencies, resistance can be reconceptualised as the negotiation rather than negation of social power. Such a reconceptualisation is useful to study a wide range of contentious politics from foot-dragging through protests to social revolutions under a single analytic umbrella. Resistance, in this sense, ought to be recognised as a vital part of a critical realist ontology of society, which helps us understand and critique existing structures of social domination in order to pursue emancipatory ...
46 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the promotion of financial intermediaries as a key component within the push to establish and extend capitalist social relations in the underdeveloped world has been discussed, and the approach must be seen as emanating not out of some (re)discovery of key methods that foster the substantive and sustainable improvement of material conditions but rather the material and ideological interests attending late capitalism.
Abstract: This article details and dissects the promotion by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation of financial intermediaries – entities such as wholesale and retail micro-finance organisations and deposit-taking banks – as a key component within the push to establish and extend capitalist social relations in the underdeveloped world. It argues that the approach must be seen as emanating not out of some (re)discovery of key methods that foster the substantive and sustainable improvement of material conditions but rather the material and ideological interests attending late capitalism. Focusing on financial intermediary support in the Asia-Pacific, this article begins by outlining the new politics of development driving financial intermediary support and the broader agenda to which it belongs. The second section of the article details some “working examples” of the International Finance Corporation’s support of financial intermediaries in the Asia-Pacific, fleshing out the precise form that fin...
36 citations
TL;DR: This article identified five problems that have contributed to the deterioration in South Korea's civil liberties: abuse of criminal defamation, the rules governing election campaigns, national security limitations on free speech, restrictions related to the internet and partisan use of state power to control the media.
Abstract: South Korea is widely considered a consolidated democracy, but there is growing evidence that freedom of expression in South Korea has lagged behind that of comparable Asian countries and that it has deteriorated since 2008. Freedom House downgraded South Korea’s “freedom of the press” status from “free” to “partly free” in 2010 and other international reports also raised concerns on the status of freedom of expression in the country. We identify five problems that have contributed to the deterioration in South Korea’s rankings with respect to civil liberties: abuse of criminal defamation, the rules governing election campaigns, national security limitations on free speech, restrictions related to the internet and partisan use of state power to control the media. We close by considering possible explanations of the phenomenon, ranging from more distant cultural factors and the influence of the Japanese legal systems through the enduring impact of the Cold War. However, the main problems appear pol...
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the politics of awarding and receiving the oknha title as an expression of the reciprocal relationship between the Cambodian business elite and the CPP leadership, the so-called elite pact.
Abstract: Since the early 1990s in Cambodia, the title of “oknha” has been bestowed upon business people who make substantial financial contributions to national development projects. Recipients of this honour are identified by the leadership of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), in particular Prime Minister Hun Sen. This article addresses the politics of awarding and receiving the oknha title as an expression of the reciprocal relationship between the Cambodian business elite and the CPP leadership, the so-called “elite pact.” This pact revolves around the tacit agreement that the oknha receive protection and privileges in their business ventures in return for loyalty and financial contributions to the CPP. Building on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, this article reveals the unequal albeit reciprocal patronage relationships that cement the interdependencies between business and state actors. In terms of theoretical contribution, this article proposes that oknha, ...
35 citations
TL;DR: Vietnam has witnessed more strikes than any other Asian country in the past decade, despite its vibrant economy However, this regular industrial action has not deterred foreign investors from setting up manufacturing facilities in the country, as wages are about half those of China Beneath the wildcat strike culture lies a deterioration in living standards to the extent that some Vietnamese workers have to conserve energy due to inadequate food and malnutrition.
Abstract: Vietnam has witnessed more strikes than any other Asian country in the past decade, despite its vibrant economy However, this regular industrial action has not deterred foreign investors from setting up manufacturing facilities in the country, as wages are about half those of China Beneath the wildcat strike culture lies a deterioration in living standards to the extent that some Vietnamese workers have to conserve energy due to inadequate food and malnutrition The article presents an analysis of more than a decade of strikes in Vietnam, moving from a period of relative industrial peace to a strike wave Using statistical data, it argues that the Vietnamese state’s macroeconomic policy and inability to control inflation are partly responsible for the country’s deteriorating conditions, as is capital exploitation Foreign investors are increasing impatience with these labour disturbances and are relentlessly pressuring the Vietnamese government to suppress strikes, but thus far the Vietnamese go
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the conditions and terms of the 1995 Labour Law and how the 2008 Labour Contract Law changes these, particularly for global buyers sourcing from China and for workers and enterprises in China.
Abstract: In 2007/2008 the Labour Contract Law was introduced and enacted in China. Responses to the law have varied enormously. For many, it represented a major change in the conditions under which workers and employers can enter into contracts and, as a result, it has been seen as an important step in empowering workers to shape their conditions of work. For others, the law lacked teeth and was not implemented. In practice, the law has had different effects within and among different types of firms depending on their ownership structure, product mix, market orientation, size and geographical location. The differences are particularly clear among private sector firms and between and among private and public sector enterprises. This article outlines the conditions and terms of the 1995 Labour Law and how the 2008 Labour Contract Law changes these, particularly for global buyers sourcing from China and for workers and enterprises in China. In particular, it assesses the differential impacts of the new law on...
31 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the concept of autonomous political networks is proposed to describe a collection of people who share strong value commitments and political goals and who operate in the space between the country's dominant political institutions.
Abstract: Recent scholarship examining political contestation in Thailand has emphasised concepts such as “network monarchy,” while pointing to the populism and enduring political influence of Thaksin Shinawatra. While this descriptive work has helped shed light on the architecture of governance in Thailand, it has not been embedded in a broader theoretical approach that might help to train our attention on other powerful actors that play important roles in shaping Thailand’s political and institutional landscape. In this article, I outline one such approach and advance the term “autonomous political networks,” to refer to collections of people who share strong value commitments and political goals and who operate in the space between the country’s dominant political institutions – often straddling positions in the state and civil society simultaneously. This theoretical discussion is grounded empirically in a description of one such network whose power is derived from sources other than electoral legitimac...
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse nuclear policy-making in Japan in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, with the aim to identify key theoretical, institutional and organisational drivers and constraints to future change in Japan's nuclear energy policy.
Abstract: The aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, has seen a public debate emerge over the future desirability of nuclear power in Japan. While Japanese citizens’ suspicion of nuclear power has grown, the nuclear industry and electricity utilities have called on the central government to recommission the country’s reactors amid warnings of devastation for the Japanese economy. This article analyses nuclear policy-making in Japan in the aftermath of Fukushima, with the aim to identify key theoretical, institutional and organisational drivers and constraints to future change in Japan’s nuclear energy policy. Despite the growing anti-nuclear sentiment and concerns about the environmental risks of nuclear power, we contend that the continuing power of vested interests will make it difficult for Japan to completely abandon nuclear power during the course of the next decade. However, given the independence of the newly established nuclear regulator and the fact that an...
30 citations
TL;DR: Based on ethnographic field research conducted in Jakarta, the authors argued that there is a new ideology of development in Indonesia that is cosmopolitan, nostalgic and individualist, which is focused on individual integrity to redress Indonesia's problems with corruption.
Abstract: Based on ethnographic field research conducted in Jakarta, this article argues that there is a new ideology of development in Indonesia that is cosmopolitan, nostalgic and individualist. To understand the new ideology, a historical sociological perspective is taken to examine the nationalist period of anti-colonial struggle, the state developmentalist period of Soeharto’s New Order, and the neoliberal period since 1998. Two interrelated arguments are made. First, the ideology of development in Indonesia has changed from earlier nationalist understandings of Pancasila to a cosmopolitan neoliberal ideology based in a nostalgic nationalism. Second, a modernist Islamic perspective on secularism and Islam both supports and is supported by this ideological shift. These arguments are illuminated through two examples of the advance of cosmopolitan neoliberal ideology: optimism and education. Optimism is focused on individual integrity to redress Indonesia’s problems with corruption. Education is offered b...
29 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the production politics between migrant workers and their employers as crucial in influencing the extent to which labour advocates can influence the outcomes of organised contention. But, the limitations of advocacy are emphasised and explained in terms of the illiberal nature of the People's Action Party-state and the strategies deployed by non-governmental organisations.
Abstract: Since 2005, NGO activism, calling for greater legal protection for contract migrant workers has been the most concerted challenge to Singapore’s migrant labour regime. Despite a severely restricted civil society space, migrant labour advocacy has delivered small but significant reforms to laws covering migrant labour. The existing literature on migrant labour advocacy focuses on the importance of civil society space in determining the outcomes of organised contention. In the Singapore context, the limitations of advocacy are emphasised and explained in terms of the illiberal nature of the People’s Action Party-state and the strategies deployed by non-governmental organisations. Such an approach is limited in its explanatory potential as it only states what political spaces are not available without examining how spaces for contention are created. In contrast, this article identifies the production politics between migrant workers and their employers as crucial in influencing the extent to which sp...
TL;DR: In this article, protest and corruption theories are integrated with political interpretations of liminality in the context of land resistance in liberalising India, where the lines between public and private are blurred.
Abstract: The context for land resistance in liberalising India is dynamic. As the state promotes capital investment, lines between public and private are blurred. Land is central to these efforts, as new industries, mines, large-scale agricultural projects and infrastructure initiatives all require vast amounts of land. The introduction of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the Indian state of Goa highlight land deal tensions. Following protests rallying thousands and widespread public mistrust of land and regional planning processes, the state’s chief minister halted the zones. This action mollified public unrest and temporarily appeased anti-SEZ social movements. However, scepticism arose as the chief minister failed to legally de-register the zones and return SEZ lands to original owners or collectives. Amidst state inaction, movement members sought judicial justice. Protest and corruption theories are integrated with political interpretations of liminality in this article to frame how social movements shi...
TL;DR: The concept of human security is sometimes dismissed in China as an irrelevant and alien "Western" concept as mentioned in this paper, but it has been the subject of serious academic debate, particularly in the mid-2000s, when a series of crises led to a rethinking of the nature of security in and for China.
Abstract: While the concept of human security is sometimes dismissed in China as an irrelevant and alien "Western" concept, it has been the subject of serious academic debate – particularly in the mid-2000s, when a series of crises led to a rethinking of the nature of security in and for China. But like other theories and concepts which have been largely developed outside China, human security has been "Sinicised" to reflect Chinese contexts and preferences. In the process, the emphasis on the individual human being that is normally at the heart of human security discourses is typically replaced by a focus on the collective humankind, and Chinese analyses are often packaged together with broader understandings of non-traditional security. This results in a Chinese version of the concept where the state remains a key referent point and actor – indeed, the state is the key guarantor of human security, not a threat to it. And it is this Chinese definition, so the argument goes, that Chinese practices should be judged against, and not supposed universal definitions that in reality only reflect the history and values (and interests) of Western states.
TL;DR: Neo-liberalism is capitalism without leftist illusions (i.e., illusions that there can be such a thing as humane capitalism on a long-term basis).
Abstract: Neo-liberalism is capitalism without leftist illusions (ie illusions that there can be such a thing as humane capitalism on a long-term basis) The article makes a series of critical comments on India’s neo-liberalism expressed in the form of the so-called New Economic Policy It argues, New Economic Policy is more than a governmental policy It is rather a policy of capital, mediated and implemented by the state Neo-liberalism is a social-spatial project Neo-liberalism in rural areas (agrarian neo-liberalism) is particularly ruthless Neo-liberalism is implemented through, and entails, the transformation of space, and thus produces enormous spatial unevenness Neo-liberalism is also a part of the imperialist project Given New Economic Policy’s adverse impacts, it has inspired massive resistance from below Interestingly, in spite of offering some opposition, the left has been, overall, a conduit through which New Economic Policy has worked The article shows how a critical discussion on neo-
TL;DR: The authors examines the rise of sky protest, a new form of labour resistance in Korea, by focusing on three major labour struggles at Hanjin Heavy Industry, Ssangyong Motors, and Hyundai Motors.
Abstract: This article examines the rise of “sky protest,” a new form of labour resistance in Korea, by focusing on three major labour struggles at Hanjin Heavy Industry, Ssangyong Motors, and Hyundai Motors. Through a close examination of these instances of labour contention, this study argues that the rise to this new form of labour unrest is associated with deepening chasms in neo-liberalised Korean society, such as the division between globalising capital and immobile labour, the division between regular and non-regular workers within the labour market, and the division between the represented and the unrepresented by political institutions and collective organisations. This article ultimately argues that these multiple and severe divisions within Korean society pose a serious strain on its democratic governance.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conclude that the implementation of government policies as a manifestation of political ideology and the quality of public administration have played a defining role in explaining Gujarat's more lopsided and Tamil Nadu's more balanced human development trajectories.
Abstract: Four decades ago the Indian states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu had identical scores on the human development index. Both states have since experienced similar rates of economic growth and Gujarat has received more foreign investment, but Tamil Nadu has witnessed much stronger advances in human development. What explains this divergence? Through comparative historical, statistical and public policy analysis and interviews, we conclude that the implementation of government policies as a manifestation of political ideology and the quality of public administration have played a defining role in explaining Gujarat’s more lopsided and Tamil Nadu’s more balanced human development trajectories. Our findings suggest that a more egalitarian ideology and higher quality of public administration have been crucial to Tamil Nadu’s success in simultaneously improving human and economic development.
TL;DR: The authors examines the dynamics of judicialisation and dejudicialisation of subaltern resistance in the context of a prolonged anti-land acquisition struggle in Singur in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Abstract: This article examines the dynamics of judicialisation and dejudicialisation of subaltern resistance in the context of a prolonged anti-land acquisition struggle in Singur in the Indian state of West Bengal. Taking its point of departure in a detailed, chronological ethnographic account of the Singur movement and its shifting engagement with the language and institutions of law, the article demonstrates how the local resistance to a land acquisition for the purpose of setting up a new automobile factory oscillated strategically back and forth between a multitude of sites of contestation. This strategic oscillation was, in turn, highly sensitive to the broader context in which the movement was carried out, and to the shifting terrain of the local and regional political landscape in particular. The attractiveness of invoking the language and institutions of law as part of their struggle therefore significantly depended on the attractiveness of other modalities of resistance at a given moment. In conc...
TL;DR: This paper analyzed the decline of Japanese labor unions and their struggles for revitalization from a power resources perspective. But they did not consider the role of non-regular and marginalised regular workers.
Abstract: This article analyses the decline of Japanese labour unions and their struggles for revitalisation from a power resources perspective. It demonstrates first that the power resources of labour unions declined in the neo-liberal political process of labour-market deregulation as a result of lower union density, the intensified conflicts of interest among unions and their reduced access to policy-making. Although this situation induced labour unions to change their interest representation to some extent and organise an increasing number of non-regular and marginalised regular workers, the article claims that they are still concerned about protecting the vested interests of regular workers in large companies and their efforts to organise non-regular and marginalised regular workers have been insufficient. In addition, although community unions have aimed to organise these workers extensively, their human and financial resources are too small to do so and revitalise the labour movement.
TL;DR: The authors examines the ways in which ideational and material processes of state transformation have shaped India's international engagement in different periods, and draws on critical scholarship on geo-politics and geoeconomics and "relational" state theories.
Abstract: With a focus on India, and drawing on critical scholarship on geo-politics and geo-economics and “relational” state theories, this article examines the ways in which ideational and material processes of state transformation have shaped India’s international engagement in different periods. Prior to 1991, geo-political social forms linked to a national developmentalist state project shaped India’s engagement with global and regional multilateralism and the nature of this engagement fluctuated according to shifts in the legitimacy and viability of this state project. The erosion of the developmentalist state project from the 1970s laid the path for a deeper shift in the national social order in the 1990s with the recasting of statehood wherein India’s future was thought to be best secured through policies of economic openness, growth and competitiveness. This shift in India’s state project has given rise to new forms of global and regional engagement that are distinct to older forms of international...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the political role of a group of academic lawyers based at Thammasat University who have been seeking to reform various aspects of the Thai legal and judicial system.
Abstract: This article examines the political role of a group of academic lawyers based at Thammasat University who have been seeking to reform various aspects of the Thai legal and judicial system. The seven-member group started out by criticising the illegality of the 2006 coup. After the 2010 crackdown against redshirt protestors, the group named itself Nitirat and started to hold seminars, draft legal proposals, and campaign to amend various laws. Nitirat has repeatedly challenged the legal and constitutional underpinnings of three key elements of the Thai state: the judiciary, the military, and the monarchy. In doing so, the group has gained a mass following, drawn mainly from those sympathetic to the “redshirt” movement which broadly supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Informally led by scholar Worajet Pakeerat, Nitirat has created a popular branding which is reflected in huge audiences for public events, and the sales of souvenirs. The article aims to answer the following questions: Ho...
TL;DR: In this paper, a study of the impacts of the Great Depression and the Asian Financial Crisis on the Chinese overseas may help to illustrate how such groups, left on their own, coped with such crises.
Abstract: Most studies of financial crises focus on the impact on states, and the states’ responses. Few, if any, have focused on how these crises affect communities within the state which do not have control of the state apparatus. These groups, left out of decision-making processes and calculations by the state, suffer the most. In pre-war British Malaya and Malaysia, these groups were the Chinese overseas, Indians and some Malay minorities. A study of the impacts of the Great Depression and the Asian Financial Crisis on the Chinese overseas may help to illustrate how such groups, left on their own, coped with such crises. A study of the Chinese overseas is not insignificant because the community wielded considerable economic influence in the 1930s and in 1997. This paper argues that despite the obvious differences in circumstances, there are common threads to the narratives of both crises. These include the roles played by exchange rates and banking institutions which the Malayan Chinese helped to establ...
TL;DR: In this paper, contrasting approaches to the same locus of marginalisation, the precariat in the informal sector, are contrasted with the same approach in developed and underdeveloped countries alike.
Abstract: Reviewed here are contrasting approaches to the same locus of marginalisation: the precariat in the informal sector. In developed and underdeveloped countries alike, neo-liberal economic growth is increasingly dependent on insecure, temporary and low-paid employment. Such laissez faire capitalism demonstrates additionally that – contrary to earlier views about the capitalism/unfreedom link – bonded labour is not an obstacle to accumulation, since the free market currently thrives on an unfree workforce. Because, with the exception of Marxist theory, no opposition to this pattern of economic growth argues for transcending the capitalist system, critiques of its labour regime are unable to formulate an adequate political solution.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take stock of social protection policies in Nepal with particular emphasis on the extent of coverage relative to needs, and explore the political economy, demand and political contexts to explain why social protections have developed the way they have in Nepal's modern history.
Abstract: Nepal’s awakening to growing social protection needs occurred only lately with most policies introduced in the 1990s. While comparable by Asian and particularly South Asian standards, these protections are limited and inconsistent. This article takes stock of social protection policies in Nepal with particular emphasis on the extent of coverage relative to needs. It explores the political economy, demand and political contexts to explain why social protections have developed the way they have in Nepal’s modern history. The understanding of Nepal’s struggle with this globally contested issue also helps draw parallels to other low-income countries.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the way that China's search for energy sources and raw materials is changing the face of not only the developing countries, but also the developed countries.
Abstract: As graphically evoked by the title, the work under review focuses upon the way that China’s search for energy sources and raw materials is changing the face of not only the developing countries, bu...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse Partha Chatterjee's recent concepts of civil society and political society, showing that their binary character is derived from a culturalist conflation of capitalism with modernity, precluding any appreciation of how resistance can and does shape the character of the state.
Abstract: This article critically analyses Partha Chatterjee’s recent concepts of civil society and political society, showing that their binary character is derived from a culturalist conflation of capitalism with modernity. In turn, modernity becomes equated with a naturalised liberal democratic state, precluding any appreciation of how resistance can and does shape the character of the state. Second, it compares Chatterjee’s categories of civil and political society to those of Gramsci, arguing that a return to classical Gramscian categories, along with an appreciation of the impact of colonialism on state forms, can provide studies of resistance with a richer and more elegant understanding of social change from below in contemporary India.
TL;DR: The Subaltern Studies Collective (SSC) as mentioned in this paper was an important point of departure in Indian history and social sciences by demanding that attention be directed to subalterns (a term adapted from Gramsci's Prison Notebooks) as makers of their own destinies.
Abstract: The Subaltern Studies Collective inaugurated an important point of departure in Indian historiography and social sciences by demanding that attention be directed to subalterns (a term adapted from Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks) as makers of their own destinies. Their scholarship raises three issues, which are discussed in this article. The first of these relates to the empirical observation about subaltern resistance to elites. The second pertains to the analytical dichotomy between elite and subaltern modes of conducting politics. The third centres on the valorisation of a putatively coherent fragment that seeks autonomy from the totality of the state. The fundamental problem with the perspective advanced by the subaltern studies scholars stems from their implicit assumption that utopian ideals centred on reclaiming dignity and asserting social equality are necessarily derivative of European Enlightenment ideals.
TL;DR: The so-called Sunshine Policy of South Korea as mentioned in this paper brought about a significant transformation in its visions of North Korea, and North Korea became an "object of development" through it.
Abstract: The so-called Sunshine Policy launched by the liberal regime of South Korea brought about a significant transformation in its visions of North Korea. Through it, North Korea became an “object of development.” This was something different from the previous idea of North Korea as a politico-military target. However, to conservatives, North Korea remains within the politico-military realm as an object of territorial and ideological absorption. As a result, political conflicts in South Korea in the conception of North Korea – between a geo-economic object and an object of geo-political absorption – entail competitive appropriation of the discourse of “China’s colonisation of North Korea” and affect the way North Korean territory is produced.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a detailed analysis of Adivasi rebellions in colonial western India and argue that these took the form of a contentious negotiation of the incorporation of tribal communities into an emergent "colonized state space".
Abstract: Focusing on recent debates over the ways in which subaltern groups engage with the state in India, the article proposes that it is imperative to historicise our conceptions of subaltern politics in India. More specifically, the argument is made that it is imperative to recognise that subaltern appropriations of the institutions and discourses of the state have a longer historical lineage than what is often proposed in critical work on popular resistance in rural India. The article presents a detailed analysis of Adivasi rebellions in colonial western India and argues that these took the form of a contentious negotiation of the incorporation of tribal communities into an emergent “colonial state space.” The conclusion presents a sketch of a Gramscian approach to the study of how subaltern politics proceeds in and through determinate state–society relations.
TL;DR: A comprehensive and dedicated study of the structures and dynamics of Singapore's ruling elite has long been a conspicuous but understandable absence from the literature on the city-state's political elite as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A comprehensive and dedicated study of the structures and dynamics of Singapore’s ruling elite has long been a conspicuous but understandable absence from the literature on the city-state’s politic...
TL;DR: The failure of land reform in the Philippines can be traced to the application of a development paradigm pursued by Marcos and the technocrats with its inherent bias for elite big business concerns that clashed with the distributive justice and equity-based principles behind agrarian reform as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: During the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos (1972–86), Filipino technocrats played a major role in conceptualising and implementing development programmes, one of which was agrarian reform – billed as the “cornerstone” of a “New Society.” But for all its vaunted expertise, the Philippine technocracy failed to assure the success of land reform and may have even contributed to its dearth of accomplishment after 14 years of lacklustre implementation. This failure can be traced to the application of a development paradigm pursued by Marcos and the technocrats with its inherent bias for elite big business concerns that clashed with the distributive justice and equity-based principles behind agrarian reform. Leading technocrats like Cesar Virata, Prime Minister and concurrent Finance Minister as well as Chairman of the Land Bank of the Philippines, the agrarian programme’s main financing institution, originally came from the academe but honed their skills in the corporate world, from where their m...