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| 1 |
ID:
111157
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The conflict in Afghanistan is arguably now ripe for a negotiated peace. The reintegration and demobilisation of insurgents has been attempted in Afghanistan before, with limited success. However, the current Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program (APRP) commands a lot of political will and is much more holistic in its approach to long-term stability than previous programs have been. Afghans on the whole approve of the idea of reintegration and reconciliation, but do not necessarily believe it can be achieved. Their fears are well founded, but the failure of the APRP is not inevitable.
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| 2 |
ID:
111159
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Many scholars have mounted convincing cases that the engagement of Australia and the European Union (EU) has been characterised by skirmishes regarding the Common Agricultural Policy and its distortion of world markets, and lack of Australian access to EU markets. This article illustrates that agricultural and agri-food trade constitutes a relatively small portion of Australia-EU trade flows; that Australia exports more goods to the EU than in the past; and that, in some agri-food sectors, it exports more goods to the EU than the EU does to Australia. Further, it argues that conflict and competition regarding the Common Agricultural Policy need to be understood in the broader context of world trade and in the context of a new and deeper engagement between the two interlocutors.
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| 3 |
ID:
111154
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article explains the heightened aggressiveness that North Korea has shown since late 2009. It argues that a combination of militarism and frustration amplified by precarious leadership transition caused Pyongyang's astonishing belligerence. Simultaneously, it calls into question common alternative accounts pointing to either excessive or insufficient engagement or a presumably uncontrolled military as the primary cause for North Korean hostility. In addition, the article argues that North Korean aggressiveness is channelled towards South Korea (rather than the United States) and particularly its western maritime frontier, because there are especially acute grievances in that region and safer grounds for implementing militaristic policy.
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| 4 |
ID:
111161
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article explores the cooperative endeavours of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the area of investment liberalisation. Investment liberalisation is variously associated with net positive effects on inflows of investment capital, technology transfer, employment, export generation, economic growth and development. As a net historical beneficiary of investment flows, the article hypothesises that ASEAN's stated commitment to investment liberalisation should by now be realising progress in each of four areas: (1) absolute reductions in national autonomy in relation to investment screening and conditionality provisions; (2) increased transparency in respect of member states' national investment regimes; (3) enhanced standardisation and codification of regulatory standards governing investment-related provisions across member states; and (4) enhanced centralised coordination and decision-making in respect of investment governance. Each of these areas is investigated in relation to ASEAN's three primary investment agreements and the ensuing regimes that govern investment provisions and policy practices among member states.
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| 5 |
ID:
111158
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| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The governance of Muslims in Singapore has been strongly shaped by the secular authoritarian state's commanding influence over Islamic institutions, such as the main religious bureaucracy Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (the Islamic Religious Council), and reliance on draconian legislation, such as the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA), the Sedition Act and the Internal Security Act. Inter alia, these laws attempt to inoculate religion against politics, regulate religious activity and restrain the development of an autonomous Muslim civil society. The contradictions associated with the MRHA and no-tudung ('headscarf') policy are analysed within the framework of the authoritarian state's assertive secularism. The significance of localised socio-economic and political grievances in motivating a small number of Singaporean Muslims in supporting radical Islamist ideology is also considered.
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| 6 |
ID:
111155
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
International sanctions, which commonly seek to engineer target state compliance with human rights norms, often fail to deliver on their objectives. In recent years, however, a fresh approach has emerged through the rise of international justice, which can act as either a complement or an alternative to sanctions. In this article, the authors develop three hypotheses. Political change will be facilitated by: (1) lifting sanctions; (2) guarantees of non-prosecution; or (3) lifting sanctions combined with guarantees of non-prosecution. The authors test the hypotheses on Myanmar, a country that has long been subject to international sanctions, but that has rarely complied with human rights norms. Myanmar is also situated in a region where international justice is currently being applied through prosecution of former Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia. The authors' test was undertaken in June 2010 through a vignette-based expert survey that manipulated international sanctions, international justice and their absence in a 2 x 2 factorial design. The findings point to the need for a consistent approach. Lifting sanctions and guarantees of non-prosecution, when applied in tandem, are thought likely to promote political change. At the other extreme, imposing sanctions and prosecuting state leaders, when done together, are also viewed as facilitators of political change, though support is considerably smaller.
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| 7 |
ID:
111160
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
A powerful orthodoxy exists in the academic literature devoted to the history of Australia's post-1945 international relations. It maintains that suspicion and condescension permeated the attitude of the Menzies government (1949-66) towards Asia. Accordingly, Menzies' regional policies not only prevented Australia from engaging meaningfully with its Asian neighbours, but they also ended up antagonising them. This article critiques this view and instead contends that the assumptions that inform the contemporary construction of Menzies' regional policy are overdetermined by an anachronistic disregard for the diplomatic dynamics, political challenges and economic realities of cold war Asia.
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| 8 |
ID:
111156
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The 2010 devastating floods in Pakistan have starkly reminded the world of the two critical, interrelated challenges confronting Pakistan: economic development and security. And whilst the Pakistan government's capacity to deal with these two issues before the flood was already shaky at best, its position now is even more precarious given the enormity of the task of rebuilding the infrastructure that has been destroyed in this latest natural disaster. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is a large and strategically important country, critically located on one of the world's most important geopolitical crossroads. It is a pivotal player in a region-covering the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia-which has much potential, but which also has unresolved conflicts and various degrees of instability. Accordingly, because Pakistan is so important to the stability of the region and the world at large, it is vital that it be able to address successfully these twin challenges.
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