El optimismo que rodeó el retorno parcial de la democracia a Myanmar tras décadas de régimen militar, que culminó con la toma del poder de Aung San Suu Kyi y la Liga Nacional para la Democracia (LND) en 2015, se vio frenado posteriormente por dos crisis generadas por el ejército birmano: la represión de 2017 contra la minoría musulmana rohinyá en el estado de Rakáin y el golpe militar del 1 de febrero de 2021, liderado por el general Min Aung Hlaing. El golpe ha trastocado el progreso político, económico y de desarrollo, y Myanmar se ha reducido por encima del nivel de producción económica de la pandemia como consecuencia de las sanciones y un entorno operativo que supone un riesgo significativo para sus socios. En este número especial, exploramos tres temas cruciales en las relaciones bilaterales entre Myanmar y sus vecinos: seguridad, pragmatismo y oportunidades. Esta introducción anticipa estas tres áreas clave y presenta cada artículo de investigación original tal como se sitúa en un entorno regional cada vez más impredecible y austero.
然而, 缅甸军方制造的两场危机却打破了这种乐观情绪:2017年对若开邦罗兴亚穆斯林少数民族的镇压, 以及2021年2月1日由敏昂莱将军领导的军事政变。这场政变颠覆了缅甸的政治、经济和发展进程, 由于制裁以及对其合作伙伴构成重大风险的经营环境, 缅甸的经济产出已萎缩至疫情期间的水平以下。在本期特刊中, 我们将探讨缅甸与邻国双边关系中的三个关键主题:安全、实用主义和机遇。本篇导论将概述这三个关键领域, 并根据日益不可预测且严峻的地区环境, 对每篇原创研究文章进行介绍。El optimismo que rodeó el retorno parcial de la democracia a Myanmar tras décadas de régimen militar, que culminó con la toma del poder de Aung San Suu Kyi y la Liga Nacional para la Democracia (LND) en 2015, se vio frenado posteriormente por dos crisis generadas por el ejército birmano: la represión de 2017 contra la minoría musulmana rohinyá en el estado de Rakáin y el golpe militar del 1 de febrero de 2021, liderado por el general Min Aung Hlaing. El golpe ha trastocado el progreso político, económico y de desarrollo, y Myanmar se ha reducido por encima del nivel de producción económica de la pandemia como consecuencia de las sanciones y un entorno operativo que supone un riesgo significativo para sus socios. En este número especial, exploramos tres temas cruciales en las relaciones bilaterales entre Myanmar y sus vecinos: seguridad, pragmatismo y oportunidades. Esta introducción anticipa estas tres áreas clave y presenta cada artículo de investigación original tal como se sitúa en un entorno regional cada vez más impredecible y austero.
{"title":"Introduction: Security, Pragmatism, and Opportunity: Understanding the Myanmar Crisis Through Its Neighbors","authors":"Mark S. Cogan","doi":"10.1111/aspp.70054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.70054","url":null,"abstract":"<p>缅甸经历了数十年的军事统治, 2015年昂山素季和全国民主联盟(NLD)上台执政后, 出现了对“缅甸部分恢复民主”的乐观情绪。然而, 缅甸军方制造的两场危机却打破了这种乐观情绪:2017年对若开邦罗兴亚穆斯林少数民族的镇压, 以及2021年2月1日由敏昂莱将军领导的军事政变。这场政变颠覆了缅甸的政治、经济和发展进程, 由于制裁以及对其合作伙伴构成重大风险的经营环境, 缅甸的经济产出已萎缩至疫情期间的水平以下。在本期特刊中, 我们将探讨缅甸与邻国双边关系中的三个关键主题:安全、实用主义和机遇。本篇导论将概述这三个关键领域, 并根据日益不可预测且严峻的地区环境, 对每篇原创研究文章进行介绍。</p><p>El optimismo que rodeó el retorno parcial de la democracia a Myanmar tras décadas de régimen militar, que culminó con la toma del poder de Aung San Suu Kyi y la Liga Nacional para la Democracia (LND) en 2015, se vio frenado posteriormente por dos crisis generadas por el ejército birmano: la represión de 2017 contra la minoría musulmana rohinyá en el estado de Rakáin y el golpe militar del 1 de febrero de 2021, liderado por el general Min Aung Hlaing. El golpe ha trastocado el progreso político, económico y de desarrollo, y Myanmar se ha reducido por encima del nivel de producción económica de la pandemia como consecuencia de las sanciones y un entorno operativo que supone un riesgo significativo para sus socios. En este número especial, exploramos tres temas cruciales en las relaciones bilaterales entre Myanmar y sus vecinos: seguridad, pragmatismo y oportunidades. Esta introducción anticipa estas tres áreas clave y presenta cada artículo de investigación original tal como se sitúa en un entorno regional cada vez más impredecible y austero.</p>","PeriodicalId":44747,"journal":{"name":"Asian Politics & Policy","volume":"17 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145366291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Five-Point Consensus (5PC) of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted after the 2021 military takeover in Myanmar is generally understood as a failure given its objectives have not been achieved. Meanwhile, existing debate about the 5PC's origins, the reasons for its lack of effectiveness, and controversies surrounding its implementation have produced competing arguments. The article engages these arguments by reassessing the 5PC with reference to the literature on ASEAN's evolving principles and practices, the grouping's substantial implementation efforts, and responses to the 5PC by Myanmar's key stakeholders. This analytical and empirical contextualisation allows for a more balanced evaluation of ASEAN's 5PC. Significantly, the 5PC has involved an important shift in how far ASEAN's legitimate diplomatic involvement in Myanmar affairs now extends and represents unprecedented conflict management. At the same time, intramural contestation arising from 5PC implementation has focused on ASEAN's recent practice of the consensus principle.
{"title":"Reassessing ASEAN's Five-Point Consensus: on Shifting Boundaries of Legitimate Involvement and a Contested Consensus","authors":"Jürgen Haacke","doi":"10.1111/aspp.70050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.70050","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Five-Point Consensus (5PC) of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted after the 2021 military takeover in Myanmar is generally understood as a failure given its objectives have not been achieved. Meanwhile, existing debate about the 5PC's origins, the reasons for its lack of effectiveness, and controversies surrounding its implementation have produced competing arguments. The article engages these arguments by reassessing the 5PC with reference to the literature on ASEAN's evolving principles and practices, the grouping's substantial implementation efforts, and responses to the 5PC by Myanmar's key stakeholders. This analytical and empirical contextualisation allows for a more balanced evaluation of ASEAN's 5PC. Significantly, the 5PC has involved an important shift in how far ASEAN's legitimate diplomatic involvement in Myanmar affairs now extends and represents unprecedented conflict management. At the same time, intramural contestation arising from 5PC implementation has focused on ASEAN's recent practice of the consensus principle.</p>","PeriodicalId":44747,"journal":{"name":"Asian Politics & Policy","volume":"17 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aspp.70050","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145272145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel Chi Fung Yeung, Yu Wai Vic Li, Ka Ki Lawrence Ho, Tsan Yin Peter Cheung
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the governments of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea implemented direct cash disbursements to citizens in 2020 and 2021. This paper assesses whether these near-simultaneous universal cash payout schemes presage a broader transformation in the welfare paradigm of these East Asian economies, traditionally viewed as minimal-welfare developmental states. Our analysis finds that economic stimulus, rather than social protection, was the primary objective in all four cases, even amid the public health crisis. This reflects a strong continuity with the policy responses adopted following the 2007/8 Global Financial Crisis. The underlying “productivist” welfare regimes remained largely unchanged and firmly rooted in the developmentalist, pro-growth paradigm that has shaped these economies for decades. Accordingly, the adoption of universal cash payouts is best understood as a pragmatic policy adjustment to evolving political-economic conditions, rather than evidence of a paradigmatic shift in welfare governance.
{"title":"The Developmental Social Policy Standstill: Cash Payout Schemes Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic in Four East Asian Economies","authors":"Daniel Chi Fung Yeung, Yu Wai Vic Li, Ka Ki Lawrence Ho, Tsan Yin Peter Cheung","doi":"10.1111/aspp.70040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.70040","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the governments of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea implemented direct cash disbursements to citizens in 2020 and 2021. This paper assesses whether these near-simultaneous universal cash payout schemes presage a broader transformation in the welfare paradigm of these East Asian economies, traditionally viewed as minimal-welfare developmental states. Our analysis finds that economic stimulus, rather than social protection, was the primary objective in all four cases, even amid the public health crisis. This reflects a strong continuity with the policy responses adopted following the 2007/8 Global Financial Crisis. The underlying “productivist” welfare regimes remained largely unchanged and firmly rooted in the developmentalist, pro-growth paradigm that has shaped these economies for decades. Accordingly, the adoption of universal cash payouts is best understood as a pragmatic policy adjustment to evolving political-economic conditions, rather than evidence of a paradigmatic shift in welfare governance.</p>","PeriodicalId":44747,"journal":{"name":"Asian Politics & Policy","volume":"17 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aspp.70040","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145272140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Although there has been extensive research about the overseas engagement of China's coastal and border local governments, the participation of inland provinces, which lack geographical advantages, remains underexplored. Specifically, what motivates their selection of targeting regions? How do inland provinces win domestic competition to gain central policy support? And how do they serve the central government's goals while achieving their local interests? This article uses local government-company collaboration to explain the participation of inland local governments in international economic cooperation. It argues that some inland local governments collaborate with local companies to secure central frameworks and become new “bridgeheads.” Besides, by leveraging local companies, inland local governments can also achieve their local economic interests while serving central objectives. This article uses the case of Hunan's Africa strategy initiated around 2015 to provide evidence. It aims to broaden our understanding of how Chinese local governments participate in international economic cooperation.
{"title":"How Do Inland Provinces Participate in China's International Economic Cooperation? A Case Study of Hunan's Approach to Africa","authors":"Jing Xie","doi":"10.1111/aspp.70051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.70051","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although there has been extensive research about the overseas engagement of China's coastal and border local governments, the participation of inland provinces, which lack geographical advantages, remains underexplored. Specifically, what motivates their selection of targeting regions? How do inland provinces win domestic competition to gain central policy support? And how do they serve the central government's goals while achieving their local interests? This article uses local government-company collaboration to explain the participation of inland local governments in international economic cooperation. It argues that some inland local governments collaborate with local companies to secure central frameworks and become new “bridgeheads.” Besides, by leveraging local companies, inland local governments can also achieve their local economic interests while serving central objectives. This article uses the case of Hunan's Africa strategy initiated around 2015 to provide evidence. It aims to broaden our understanding of how Chinese local governments participate in international economic cooperation.</p>","PeriodicalId":44747,"journal":{"name":"Asian Politics & Policy","volume":"17 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aspp.70051","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145272146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}