Pub Date : 2022-07-03DOI: 10.1177/18681034221111176
P. Chachavalpongpun
This article examines royal governance under King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) for the light it sheds on Thailand's recent political development. It is argued that the existence of “fear” defines Vajiralongkorn's relationship with the people. For members of the ruling class, fear keeps them in check. Within the palace, promotion and demotion are vital for control. The Royal Gazette (Rachakitjanubeksa) has become a platform for public humiliation that operates to inculcate fear. For the public, fear proliferates through a variety of means, including employing laws to punish critics of the monarchy, particularly the exploitation of lèse-majesté law, with the state's keen cooperation. But the 2020 protests, which demanded immediate monarchical reform, seriously challenged Vajiralongkorn's fear-based royal governance. The Thai case demonstrates that fear, a centuries-old form of governance used by many rulers to control their subjects, is no longer an effective tool of governance in modern, middle-class-driven, capitalist societies, like Thailand. Fear has a tendency to backfire on a sovereign if overused.
{"title":"Kingdom of Fear: Royal Governance under Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn","authors":"P. Chachavalpongpun","doi":"10.1177/18681034221111176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221111176","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines royal governance under King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) for the light it sheds on Thailand's recent political development. It is argued that the existence of “fear” defines Vajiralongkorn's relationship with the people. For members of the ruling class, fear keeps them in check. Within the palace, promotion and demotion are vital for control. The Royal Gazette (Rachakitjanubeksa) has become a platform for public humiliation that operates to inculcate fear. For the public, fear proliferates through a variety of means, including employing laws to punish critics of the monarchy, particularly the exploitation of lèse-majesté law, with the state's keen cooperation. But the 2020 protests, which demanded immediate monarchical reform, seriously challenged Vajiralongkorn's fear-based royal governance. The Thai case demonstrates that fear, a centuries-old form of governance used by many rulers to control their subjects, is no longer an effective tool of governance in modern, middle-class-driven, capitalist societies, like Thailand. Fear has a tendency to backfire on a sovereign if overused.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"359 - 377"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44780040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-27DOI: 10.1177/18681034221108748
Phạm Quỳnh Phương
Since 2008, non-governmental organisations and other civil society organisations have helped to transform the image of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Vietnam. Their efforts reached a peak in 2014 when Vietnam became the first country in Asia to debate the issue of same-sex marriage in the national parliament. Yet, the outcome of the debate remained was ambiguous, with same-sex marriage being neither illegal nor recognised by the state. This paper explores the tactics and strategies of LGBT activists as they campaigned for recognition of same-sex marriage. It argues that a key factor in the “in-between” outcome was their lack of attention to the redistributive implications of recognition. Together with attention to the fractured nature of the Vietnamese state, engaging directly with issues of redistribution may allow LGBT activists to further advance the politics of recognition at the same time as they redefine the contours of civil society and activism in contemporary Vietnam.
{"title":"From “Social Evils” to “Human Beings”: Vietnam's LGBT Movement and the Politics of Recognition","authors":"Phạm Quỳnh Phương","doi":"10.1177/18681034221108748","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221108748","url":null,"abstract":"Since 2008, non-governmental organisations and other civil society organisations have helped to transform the image of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Vietnam. Their efforts reached a peak in 2014 when Vietnam became the first country in Asia to debate the issue of same-sex marriage in the national parliament. Yet, the outcome of the debate remained was ambiguous, with same-sex marriage being neither illegal nor recognised by the state. This paper explores the tactics and strategies of LGBT activists as they campaigned for recognition of same-sex marriage. It argues that a key factor in the “in-between” outcome was their lack of attention to the redistributive implications of recognition. Together with attention to the fractured nature of the Vietnamese state, engaging directly with issues of redistribution may allow LGBT activists to further advance the politics of recognition at the same time as they redefine the contours of civil society and activism in contemporary Vietnam.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"422 - 439"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47613204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-09DOI: 10.1177/18681034221099303
Alyssa Gosteli Dela Cruz, Ta-Wei Chu, S. J. Lee, Chuenthip Nithimasarad
We examine the Thai government's politicised COVID-19 containment strategies, which have been challenged by Thai protesters. Although we use securitisation theory as an explanatory framework, we argue that researchers using this theory can explain the issues only if they simultaneously use social-conflict theory to explain the interactions between securitising actors and their audiences. By supplementing securitisation theory with social-conflict theory, we have found that the roles of securitising actors and audiences are not fixed. In our case study of Thailand, the Thai government and protesters have played two roles simultaneously: the role of a securitising actor and the role of an audience. This finding suggests that successful securitisation is impermanent; that is, it is subject to change over time. Securitisation may be successful, but the success can only be temporary because as new actors or resources enter the picture, the previously successful securitisation will, at some point, diminish.
{"title":"Explaining Thailand's Politicised COVID-19 Containment Strategies: Securitisation, Counter-Securitisation, and Re-Securitisation","authors":"Alyssa Gosteli Dela Cruz, Ta-Wei Chu, S. J. Lee, Chuenthip Nithimasarad","doi":"10.1177/18681034221099303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221099303","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the Thai government's politicised COVID-19 containment strategies, which have been challenged by Thai protesters. Although we use securitisation theory as an explanatory framework, we argue that researchers using this theory can explain the issues only if they simultaneously use social-conflict theory to explain the interactions between securitising actors and their audiences. By supplementing securitisation theory with social-conflict theory, we have found that the roles of securitising actors and audiences are not fixed. In our case study of Thailand, the Thai government and protesters have played two roles simultaneously: the role of a securitising actor and the role of an audience. This finding suggests that successful securitisation is impermanent; that is, it is subject to change over time. Securitisation may be successful, but the success can only be temporary because as new actors or resources enter the picture, the previously successful securitisation will, at some point, diminish.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"378 - 398"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48538860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1177/18681034221092453
M. Thompson
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed enormous governance deficits globally. Several populist strongmen practiced “medical populism” – ignoring scientific advice, proffering denials, and blaming others. More technocratic leaders recognised its severity, implementing strict lockdowns. But some failed to adopt more flexible restrictions once testing improved due to local enforcement difficulties, termed “blunt force regulation.” Although neither a pandemic denialist nor an obtuse technocrat, Philippine president Rodrigo R. Duterte's response combined aspects of both approaches with blame shifting and one-size-fits-all lockdowns while also securitising the crisis. Utilising methods developed during his bloody “war on drugs,” Duterte imposed a heavily militarised approach, scapegoated supposedly disobedient Filipinos (pasaway) and bullied local politicians. While the Philippines has been among the worst pandemic performers globally, Duterte's approval ratings remained robust. It is argued “brute force governance” undermined the dynamics of accountability, enabling him to win public approval despite policy failure.
{"title":"Brute Force Governance: Public Approval Despite Policy Failure During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines","authors":"M. Thompson","doi":"10.1177/18681034221092453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221092453","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed enormous governance deficits globally. Several populist strongmen practiced “medical populism” – ignoring scientific advice, proffering denials, and blaming others. More technocratic leaders recognised its severity, implementing strict lockdowns. But some failed to adopt more flexible restrictions once testing improved due to local enforcement difficulties, termed “blunt force regulation.” Although neither a pandemic denialist nor an obtuse technocrat, Philippine president Rodrigo R. Duterte's response combined aspects of both approaches with blame shifting and one-size-fits-all lockdowns while also securitising the crisis. Utilising methods developed during his bloody “war on drugs,” Duterte imposed a heavily militarised approach, scapegoated supposedly disobedient Filipinos (pasaway) and bullied local politicians. While the Philippines has been among the worst pandemic performers globally, Duterte's approval ratings remained robust. It is argued “brute force governance” undermined the dynamics of accountability, enabling him to win public approval despite policy failure.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"399 - 421"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48685088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-04DOI: 10.1177/18681034221087288
P. Soe, C. D. Crumpton, Eva Bialobrzeski
International stakeholders working with domestic entities to co-produce new institutions of economic governance are common in developing settings such as Myanmar. This is exhibited in the case of Myanmar's nascent securities exchange regime, the formation and operation of which has been dominated by extra-national interests in the form of Japanese public, quasi-public, and private entities. Researchers and international organisations involved in developing nations argue that the creation of effective public institutions, including those that comprise national economic governance approaches, is essential to the promotion of sustainable development goals and promotion of the good/sound governance principles of responsiveness and accountability necessary to build effective institutions. The new securities exchange regime is an important component of economic governance required to promote Myanmar's development objectives and the integration of the nation into the international economic community. However, the existing international discourse has not applied concepts such as co-production from the New Public Governance perspective of public administration to consider the implications of external actors guiding the development of securities exchange regime in developing settings such as Myanmar. The current study considers the influence of Japanese interests as they have co-produced Myanmar's securities exchange regime as part of the nation's economic governance. To do this, it utilizes a conceptual and analytic approach that reveals the good governance consequentiality of multiple external organisational interests applied in the co-production and operation of new organisational forms such as securities exchange regime.
{"title":"Economic Governance Building: Assessing the Securities Exchange Regime from a Co-Production Perspective in 2021 Pre-Coup Myanmar","authors":"P. Soe, C. D. Crumpton, Eva Bialobrzeski","doi":"10.1177/18681034221087288","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221087288","url":null,"abstract":"International stakeholders working with domestic entities to co-produce new institutions of economic governance are common in developing settings such as Myanmar. This is exhibited in the case of Myanmar's nascent securities exchange regime, the formation and operation of which has been dominated by extra-national interests in the form of Japanese public, quasi-public, and private entities. Researchers and international organisations involved in developing nations argue that the creation of effective public institutions, including those that comprise national economic governance approaches, is essential to the promotion of sustainable development goals and promotion of the good/sound governance principles of responsiveness and accountability necessary to build effective institutions. The new securities exchange regime is an important component of economic governance required to promote Myanmar's development objectives and the integration of the nation into the international economic community. However, the existing international discourse has not applied concepts such as co-production from the New Public Governance perspective of public administration to consider the implications of external actors guiding the development of securities exchange regime in developing settings such as Myanmar. The current study considers the influence of Japanese interests as they have co-produced Myanmar's securities exchange regime as part of the nation's economic governance. To do this, it utilizes a conceptual and analytic approach that reveals the good governance consequentiality of multiple external organisational interests applied in the co-production and operation of new organisational forms such as securities exchange regime.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"169 - 187"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48546418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-21DOI: 10.1177/18681034221086291
M. Raymond, David A. Welch
Most analysts and commentators portray China's conduct in the South China Sea as a series of aggressive norm violations by an emerging peer competitor to the United States. We argue that this narrative misreads both the substance and dynamics of recent Chinese policy. Since 2016, China has strenuously sought – and largely managed – not to be in technical violation of the Philippines Arbitration Tribunal ruling despite having publicly disavowed it and has attempted to position itself as a champion of win–win co-operation. This stands in stark contrast to the previous four years in which China rather shockingly began asserting itself with little regard for either legality or diplomatic nicety – the period in which the “aggressive China” narrative gelled. What explains China's whiplash behaviour? Why has the international community largely failed to notice recent changes and adjust the narrative accordingly? We argue that the answers to these questions lie in an eclectic appeal to bureaucratic struggles, the regime's two-level game balancing domestic and international pressures, and psychological considerations. These do not, however, provide satisfactory accounts either of China's behaviour or of the international response in the absence of recognising the crucial importance of second-order rules for making, interpreting, and applying first-order rules in the international system. Social practices of rule-making, in short, provide vital context. Our analysis suggests a series of takeaways both for International Relations theory and for managing relations with China.
{"title":"What’s Really Going On in the South China Sea?","authors":"M. Raymond, David A. Welch","doi":"10.1177/18681034221086291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221086291","url":null,"abstract":"Most analysts and commentators portray China's conduct in the South China Sea as a series of aggressive norm violations by an emerging peer competitor to the United States. We argue that this narrative misreads both the substance and dynamics of recent Chinese policy. Since 2016, China has strenuously sought – and largely managed – not to be in technical violation of the Philippines Arbitration Tribunal ruling despite having publicly disavowed it and has attempted to position itself as a champion of win–win co-operation. This stands in stark contrast to the previous four years in which China rather shockingly began asserting itself with little regard for either legality or diplomatic nicety – the period in which the “aggressive China” narrative gelled. What explains China's whiplash behaviour? Why has the international community largely failed to notice recent changes and adjust the narrative accordingly? We argue that the answers to these questions lie in an eclectic appeal to bureaucratic struggles, the regime's two-level game balancing domestic and international pressures, and psychological considerations. These do not, however, provide satisfactory accounts either of China's behaviour or of the international response in the absence of recognising the crucial importance of second-order rules for making, interpreting, and applying first-order rules in the international system. Social practices of rule-making, in short, provide vital context. Our analysis suggests a series of takeaways both for International Relations theory and for managing relations with China.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"214 - 239"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48493897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-09DOI: 10.1177/18681034211063629
Hong Kong To Nguyen
The importance of the South China Sea in the maritime security of Southeast Asia as well as the geopolitical stability of the Asia Pacific region has generated an extensive literature in the past decade. In adding to this volume of work, Anisa Heritage and Pak K. Lee spare no time to make clear what their book, titled “Order, Contestation and Ontological Security-Seeking in the South China Sea”, is and is not about. The book does not study the transformation of the territorial and maritime disputes among claimant states, but rather examines the South China Sea as a site of confrontation between two major powers—China and the United States. While this focus echoes a host of recent studies on power politics in the South China Sea disputes, its approach through the lens of international order-building and ontological security-seeking offers some noteworthy insights into state behaviors in the international system. The first two chapters lay out the main argument and theoretical framework, particularly explicating some key concepts and their interrelationships. Here, the setting of international order, defined as a hierarchical political formation by member states of unequal power and status, hinges on the creation, social recognition and institutionalization of rules and arrangements. The concept of “ontological security,” drawn from an emerging literature in both political science and psychology, refers to “the security of self or identity—the subjective sense that enables and motivates action” (p. 12). A state’s ontological security is derived and sustained from its “autobiographical narrative” (e.g., historical memories/myths, predictable routines), and “the perceptions of the social community of which the state is a part of” (p. 36). Based on this theoretical ground, from Chapter Three to Chapter Six, the authors trace the construction of regional order in the Asia Pacific, the formation of national identities, and the legitimation and de-legitimation processes for the post-1945 order-building projects of the U.S. and China. This approach somewhat diverges from conventional accounts of the South China Sea disputes in which the economic and geopolitical significance of the area is often seen as the driving factor for the growing Chinese assertiveness
{"title":"Book Review: Order, Contestation and Ontological Security-Seeking in the South China Sea","authors":"Hong Kong To Nguyen","doi":"10.1177/18681034211063629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034211063629","url":null,"abstract":"The importance of the South China Sea in the maritime security of Southeast Asia as well as the geopolitical stability of the Asia Pacific region has generated an extensive literature in the past decade. In adding to this volume of work, Anisa Heritage and Pak K. Lee spare no time to make clear what their book, titled “Order, Contestation and Ontological Security-Seeking in the South China Sea”, is and is not about. The book does not study the transformation of the territorial and maritime disputes among claimant states, but rather examines the South China Sea as a site of confrontation between two major powers—China and the United States. While this focus echoes a host of recent studies on power politics in the South China Sea disputes, its approach through the lens of international order-building and ontological security-seeking offers some noteworthy insights into state behaviors in the international system. The first two chapters lay out the main argument and theoretical framework, particularly explicating some key concepts and their interrelationships. Here, the setting of international order, defined as a hierarchical political formation by member states of unequal power and status, hinges on the creation, social recognition and institutionalization of rules and arrangements. The concept of “ontological security,” drawn from an emerging literature in both political science and psychology, refers to “the security of self or identity—the subjective sense that enables and motivates action” (p. 12). A state’s ontological security is derived and sustained from its “autobiographical narrative” (e.g., historical memories/myths, predictable routines), and “the perceptions of the social community of which the state is a part of” (p. 36). Based on this theoretical ground, from Chapter Three to Chapter Six, the authors trace the construction of regional order in the Asia Pacific, the formation of national identities, and the legitimation and de-legitimation processes for the post-1945 order-building projects of the U.S. and China. This approach somewhat diverges from conventional accounts of the South China Sea disputes in which the economic and geopolitical significance of the area is often seen as the driving factor for the growing Chinese assertiveness","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"326 - 328"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45828021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-09DOI: 10.1177/18681034221084320
Eunike M. Himawan, A. Pohlman, W. Louis
This paper examines the recollections of civilians about the May 1998 riots in Indonesia, as told in an anonymous online survey. These riots caused the deaths of an estimated 1000 people and saw targeted attacks on Indonesia's ethnic Chinese community, including state-led mass sexual violence against Chinese-Indonesian women and girls. Despite their scale, there has never been any official redress for these riots and they remain a taboo topic in Indonesia, rarely discussed publicly. Little is known about how Indonesians remember these events, with research into the personal or collective memories about the riots challenging, given the public silencing by the government. Here, we present findings from an anonymous survey completed by 235 Indonesians in which they revealed sometimes deeply personal memories about the riots. Examined thematically, these memories both confirm general understandings of the riots and reveal novel information about how communities coped during the violence.
{"title":"Revisiting the May 1998 Riots in Indonesia: Civilians and Their Untold Memories","authors":"Eunike M. Himawan, A. Pohlman, W. Louis","doi":"10.1177/18681034221084320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221084320","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the recollections of civilians about the May 1998 riots in Indonesia, as told in an anonymous online survey. These riots caused the deaths of an estimated 1000 people and saw targeted attacks on Indonesia's ethnic Chinese community, including state-led mass sexual violence against Chinese-Indonesian women and girls. Despite their scale, there has never been any official redress for these riots and they remain a taboo topic in Indonesia, rarely discussed publicly. Little is known about how Indonesians remember these events, with research into the personal or collective memories about the riots challenging, given the public silencing by the government. Here, we present findings from an anonymous survey completed by 235 Indonesians in which they revealed sometimes deeply personal memories about the riots. Examined thematically, these memories both confirm general understandings of the riots and reveal novel information about how communities coped during the violence.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"240 - 257"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48429033","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-04DOI: 10.1177/18681034221081146
Thuy T. Do
With Asia's current geopolitical rise, International Relations communities in China, Japan and India have attempted to develop indigenous theoretical approaches that attract heated scholarly debates. Little attention, however, is paid to the state of affairs in weaker states. As power today is widely diffused to various actors in the international system beyond the big powers, the power–knowledge literature should be broadened to respond to the growing multiplexity of world order and the call for diversity of International Relations knowledge. As a case in point, this study examines how Vietnam's emerging middle power status has shaped policy and scholarly discourses in the country regarding the trajectory of Vietnam's foreign policy and the burgeoning interest of its International Relations community in a Vietnamese School of Diplomacy. Such scholarly endeavour will help shed light on the heightened agency of middle powers in world politics and the prospects for a Southeast Asian contribution to global International Relations heritage.
{"title":"Vietnam's Emergence as a Middle Power in Asia: Unfolding the Power–Knowledge Nexus","authors":"Thuy T. Do","doi":"10.1177/18681034221081146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221081146","url":null,"abstract":"With Asia's current geopolitical rise, International Relations communities in China, Japan and India have attempted to develop indigenous theoretical approaches that attract heated scholarly debates. Little attention, however, is paid to the state of affairs in weaker states. As power today is widely diffused to various actors in the international system beyond the big powers, the power–knowledge literature should be broadened to respond to the growing multiplexity of world order and the call for diversity of International Relations knowledge. As a case in point, this study examines how Vietnam's emerging middle power status has shaped policy and scholarly discourses in the country regarding the trajectory of Vietnam's foreign policy and the burgeoning interest of its International Relations community in a Vietnamese School of Diplomacy. Such scholarly endeavour will help shed light on the heightened agency of middle powers in world politics and the prospects for a Southeast Asian contribution to global International Relations heritage.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"279 - 302"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49344331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-01DOI: 10.1177/18681034221081858
A. Passeri, Hunter S. Marston
Since independence, Myanmar has prioritised a non-aligned foreign policy to preserve autonomy in the international arena. Yet, it has done so in contrasting and sometimes opposite ways. Historically, Myanmar's great power diplomacy has resembled a pendulum swinging between two ideal types: ‘positive non-alignment’ and ‘negative neutralism’. The former represents a proactive blend of non-aligned behaviour that seeks to assert independence by achieving a diversified range of international partnerships, whereas the latter endeavours to accomplish the same goal through diplomatic disengagement and self-aloofness. This article analyses Myanmar's shifting recourse to opposite archetypes of alignment by examining its foreign policy between 2011 and 2021. Building upon a comprehensive theoretical classification of different forms of non-alignment, the analysis contends that Myanmar's evolving great power diplomacy is ultimately rooted in oscillating degrees of political legitimation held by its leaders, which pushed them to alternatively tilt towards positive non-alignment or negative neutralism.
{"title":"The Pendulum of Non-Alignment: Charting Myanmar's Great Power Diplomacy (2011–2021)","authors":"A. Passeri, Hunter S. Marston","doi":"10.1177/18681034221081858","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034221081858","url":null,"abstract":"Since independence, Myanmar has prioritised a non-aligned foreign policy to preserve autonomy in the international arena. Yet, it has done so in contrasting and sometimes opposite ways. Historically, Myanmar's great power diplomacy has resembled a pendulum swinging between two ideal types: ‘positive non-alignment’ and ‘negative neutralism’. The former represents a proactive blend of non-aligned behaviour that seeks to assert independence by achieving a diversified range of international partnerships, whereas the latter endeavours to accomplish the same goal through diplomatic disengagement and self-aloofness. This article analyses Myanmar's shifting recourse to opposite archetypes of alignment by examining its foreign policy between 2011 and 2021. Building upon a comprehensive theoretical classification of different forms of non-alignment, the analysis contends that Myanmar's evolving great power diplomacy is ultimately rooted in oscillating degrees of political legitimation held by its leaders, which pushed them to alternatively tilt towards positive non-alignment or negative neutralism.","PeriodicalId":15424,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs","volume":"41 1","pages":"188 - 213"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43474448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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