Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies最新文献

This article introduces a dataset on ministerial tenure in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The dataset, which spans from 1972 to 2017 and covers 15 governments and 321 ministers, is used to study ministerial duration and stability. To do this, two measures of ministerial duration and two stability indicators have been developed. These measures show that ministerial instability is high in PNG but it has not become worse over time. They also show, however, that instability has varied considerably between governments. Drawing on PNGʼs political history, this article provides a discussion of this variation by examining the circumstances of particular governments.

Meeting global and national malaria elimination targets requires identifying challenges as early as possible so that strategies can be modified to stay on track. This qualitative study of stakeholders who have a major influence on malaria programs across the Southeast Asian region, including those at a state level in India and at a national level in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, shows that most believe Plasmodium falciparum malaria elimination targets are attainable, but are less optimistic for meeting Plasmodium vivax targets. Across these countries, stakeholders reported large variations in access to malaria diagnosis and treatment; the effectiveness of strategies for reaching migrants and hard-to-serve populations; and securing sufficient numbers of skilled workers for both diagnosis and compliance with artemisinin-combination treatments and the need to optimise use of insecticides. Additionally, there was optimism about coordinated surveillance and response, but this was counterbalanced with a sense that national and regional collaboration opportunities have been missed. Climate change impacts were seen as a potential threat by all stakeholders in this study and in need of further research.

This purpose of this article is to demonstrate (1) how growing seaweed in the central Philippines is affected by multifaceted local dynamics and (2) how it is also dependent on the complementary livelihood strategies of in situ and ex situ diversification. This article explores the livelihood trajectories of 45 households that were all engaged in growing seaweed in 2015. Surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted with households and key informants in two municipalities. Results reveal a process of livelihood divergence. While in one municipality growing seaweed has become a relative success, virtually all households in the other municipality have had to stop growing seaweed, returned to fishing, and remained poor. The reasons for this divergence can be found in the spheres of environmental challenges, value chain governance dynamics, and local coastal governance. Three implications are put forward that could improve the inclusiveness of coastal development in the Philippines and beyond.

Since the early 2000s, the Chinese Government has undertaken a series of recentralisation efforts. In social policy areas, such efforts are targeted at greater equalisation and inclusiveness. These developments raise a critical question: has recentralisation improved equality? This study explores this question through the lens of primary care infrastructure development, an essential aspect of healthcare reforms that has received limited attention in the academic literature. Based on an analysis of health yearbooks (2004–2016), other government documents and fieldwork interviews, we find that, despite recentralisation efforts, the financing for primary care infrastructure development has remained highly decentralised. Provincial governments act as important intermediaries, reflected by their discretionary power in managing central targets and fundraising behaviour to leverage available resources for outcomes that align with local priorities. Despite an overall capacity increase in primary care infrastructure, significant inequality has remained, which contradicts the central governmentʼs intent to improve equality through recentralisation.

Initiated in 2017 and formally established in 2020, the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) is the latest addition to the development finance landscape in Asia. This article provides an in-depth analysis of MCDFʼs potential to offer additionality in development finance and its political legitimacy by comparing it to 18 development finance and capacity-building organisations. The article finds that while the MCDF contributes to closing the substantial infrastructure financing gap in Asia, it risks overlapping with existing initiatives to such a degree that it may become an inefficient use of resources while lacking legitimacy as a multilateral organisation due to its unclear relationship with Chinaʼs Belt and Road Initiative. From this outset, and given the climate mandates of its multilateral development bank members, this article finds that if the MCDF focuses specifically on green and climate finance, it could carve out an area where it can become a much-needed new platform for project development and coordination.

This study uses a unique data set of 106 cocoa-growing households in Epi, Vanuatu, to study menʼs and womenʼs participation in decision-making concerning 17 agricultural activities. Women participate in many aspects of the production and postharvest activities of food and cash crops. However, women are disempowered when it comes to participating in, influencing, and having autonomy over decisions about agricultural activities and income from crop sales. This article also presents an index summarising the decision-making data. The findings do not suggest associations between the index and variables expected to correlate with womenʼs empowerment (e.g., education, household assets). The study does find that participation in community activities correlates with the decision-making index for both men and women. The data presented in this article provides useful sex-disaggregated data capturing intra-household agricultural decision-making, and a solid platform for further work on understanding intra-household decision-making processes concerning cash and food crops in Vanuatu.

Donor-led post-conflict interventions often involve the transfer of anti-corruption institutions and approaches. However, some question the sustainability of these efforts. This article examines the sustainability of anti-corruption funding during and after the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) intervention (2003–2017), an international peace- and state-building mission. It focuses on allocations for and spending on Solomon Islands anti-corruption organisations during and after the RAMSI-led intervention for the period 2010 to 2020. It shows that while political elites have occasionally resisted anti-corruption reforms, post-RAMSI governments have maintained levels of funding to key anti-corruption agencies above that of its nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, while passing new anti-corruption legislation. The article argues that while concerns about corruption remain, political elites have, initially at least, maintained their commitment to anti-corruption policy transfer in the post-RAMSI era. The findings have implications for evaluating donor-led anti-corruption efforts in Solomon Islands and other post-conflict situations.

The Chinese Communist Party is consolidating one party rule under the leadership of Xi Jinping. Beijing seeks to rule by central mandate while limiting local autonomy. The central government response to the COVID-19 public health emergency reinforces this view. In January 2020 Beijing established the Central Epidemic Response Leading Group to mobilise a comprehensive nationwide policy effort to contain the virus. The exceptional nature of the COVID-19 national emergency allows the central government to project power over local authorities and leverage over citizens, but we argue that this is a short-term phenomenon because local disease control initiatives remain important, with local authorities adapting national policies to meet constituent needs. There are degrees of policy discretion and divergence at the subnational level that enable context-specific responses to the virus within China’s strict bureaucratic hierarchy. Primary data derives from interviews and observations in Nancun village, Hebei Province, conducted from January to April 2020. Evidence from Nancun explains how local authorities interpret the edicts and mandates of the central government.

Networks play a vital role in the delivery of public services, especially in countries where governments are constrained by capacity and funds. This study develops a framework of governance networks based on two dimensions: at the national and community levels, and within the governmental and non-governmental sectors. Based on the framework, this article analyses the governance networks of the Bougainville Healthy Communities Programme (BHCP) and their nature of integration and collaboration. BHCP mainly operates as a public healthcare advocacy program in Bougainville, an underdeveloped autonomous region of Papua New Guinea. BHCP’s success reveals that the nature of interaction among the various actors is key to making governance networks work. Its experience demonstrates that governance networks are important in the effective delivery of services, particularly in countries where the governments face financial and human resources shortages.

The costs of sending remittances to Pacific small island developing states (SIDS) are among the highest in the world. Tackling this issue is crucial not only for economic and social development, but also for improving financial inclusion. This article analyses fintech adoption in remittance services, namely the adoption of alternative payment methods in transferring money by using the internet or mobile phones, in the Pacific. It introduces an original framework to assess the current landscape of fintech in the remittance sector and draws tailored policy recommendations. The framework is conceptualised through a ladder with five rungs: availability, accessibility, awareness, literacy and trust. Based on the ladder analysis, the authors observe the lack of basic digital infrastructure and digital platforms in many Pacific SIDS. Where the technological landscape is better developed, fintech services have established strong footholds, but there is a need for greater awareness to broaden its appeal and customer base. The benefits of fintech platforms are high, especially in the context of lower remittance costs which constitute an unduly large share of GDP in Pacific SIDS. The basic infrastructure needed to develop fintech services are equally important for the overall sustainable development of Pacific SIDS. The article observes fintech services in the Pacific are a means for financial inclusion of the unbanked, that can accelerate the economic and social development of the SIDS, and countries in the Pacific region are at different stages in their readiness for fintech adoption.