Fostering a Security Concept for a New Asia

Though it displays tremendous development vitality and potential, Asia also faces challenges - namely, interwoven new and old security problems, an increase in non-traditional security threats and weak security mechanisms. To address these challenges,     

Bangladesh: where there's a pill there's a way

In exchange for the substantial foreign aid provided to it by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the government of Bangladesh has agreed to accept the Agency's population package. The government has agreed to accept AID-provided contraceptives and has set revolutionary fertility rate targets for the year 1985. To meet the scarcity of contraceptive clinics in rural areas, AID and Population Services International (PSI) have instituted social marketing in Bangladesh. This involves use of commercial distributors, e.g., cigarette dealers and local shopkeepers, for the distribution of condoms and oral contraceptives. The distributors are willing to participate because they make small but significant profits from the arrangement. It is feared that shopkeepers do not have the expertise to screen women who should not be given pills or to give counseling for prospective pill customers. This type of pill distribution could lead to dangers.     

Globalisation as a Problem of Political Analysis: Restoring Agents to a 'Process without a Subject' and Politics to a Logic of Economic Compulsion*

Globalisation, in both the popular and academic vernacular, is presented as a non-negotiable external economic constraint, which must simply be accommodated. Consequently, it is a process whose content, nature and consequences are not amenable--either in practice or in principle--to political, far less democratic, deliberation. It is not at all surprising, then, that the invocation of globalisation should be associated with the logic of economic compulsion and the absence of political choice. This paper argues that the perception of the non-negotiable character of globalisation is both misleading and, at the same time, intimately connected to its depiction as a causal 'process without a subject'. For it is only by failing to specify the mechanisms of complex change, in which agents are necessarily implicated, that generic and agentless processes such as globalisation acquire their necessitarian, non-negotiable and apolitical character. Restoring subjects to the process of globalisation and assessing the extent to which their behaviour is informed by constructions of globalisation are urgent challenges for critical political analysts. They are crucial to the broader task of demystifying globalisation, of holding it open to democratic political scrutiny and, in so doing, of challenging its perceived logic of no alternative. If we are to do this, we must develop an account of globalisation capable of acknowledging and incorporating a dynamic understanding of the relationship between conduct and context, and the material and the ideational. In short, if the character, content and consequences of the process of globalisation are to be held to account, we must first restore agents to this process without a subject and politics to this logic of economic compulsion.     

A market-based solution to a sanitation issue in a marginalised area

Neo-liberal ideology, as an abstract technique of self-governance and population management, is often viewed as tolerant of extreme inequality within a market economy. However, the range of policy proposals that flow from the ideology are not necessarily insensitive to development projects in marginalised areas. Sensitivity to market mechanisms may inject pragmatism in contexts where states are unable or unwilling to supply capability enhancing public goods. Through an analysis of the Center for Urban and Regional Excellence’s proof-of-concept development project in India, this article argues that a market-oriented framework can be useful in mitigating collective action problems.     

Towards security governance as a critical tool: a conceptual outline

This article argues that security governance can and should be reframed as a critical tool that enables us to understand and reappraise concrete practices of security provision. Security governance needs to move beyond the functional mapping of different governing arrangements and the presumption that security governance leads to effective and legitimate problem-solving in a quasi-automatic manner. In this article, we propose a framework that identifies the essential characteristics of security governance and turns them into critical questions with the aim to reveal persisting frictions and dilemmas. First, we trace the rise of security governance as concept and practice over the past decade and identify its central characteristics with regard to prerequisites, structures and consequences. Second, we reframe the core characteristics of security governance into critical questions and thereby develop an understanding of security governance as a critical tool. Finally, we illustrate the relevance of this approach with examples from EU security governance.     

构建海洋命运共同体的法治路径

海洋命运共同体理念的提出为海洋法治建设指明了方向,而海洋法治建设则为海洋命运共同体的实现提供了重要保障。进入新时代以来,中国通过海洋立法、修订已有涉海法律、积极参与国际海洋法律与规则的制定、坚决捍卫国际海洋法治等举措,推动了全球海洋治理和海洋命运共同体建设。面对百年未有之大变局,中国应在习近平法治思想和海洋命运共同体理念指导下,进一步完善海洋法治体系,切实提高海洋治理能力,从而为全球海洋秩序变革做出自身贡献。     

Evaluating international social-change networks: a conceptual framework for a participatory approach

International networks for social change are growing in number and influence. While they need to be able to assess the extent to which they achieve their purpose and determine ways in which to be more effective, conventional evaluation methods are not designed for such complex organisational forms, or for the diverse kinds of activity to which they are characteristically dedicated. Building on an earlier version of their paper, the authors present a set of principles and participatory approaches that are more appropriate to the task of evaluating such networks.     

Researching counterterrorism: a personal perspective from a former undercover police officer

Written by an academic and former undercover police officer, this article consists of an initial response to Basia Spalek and Mary O’Rawe’s article “Researching Counter-terrorism: A Critical Perspective from the Field in Light of Allegations and Findings of Covert Activities by Undercover Police Officers”. It acknowledges the importance of concerns raised by Spalek and O’Rawe in regard to undercover policing and seeks to identify areas for constructive debate both in the immediate future and in the long term. Mike German’s book Thinking Like a Terrorist is referenced to illustrate a potential model of best practice when police officers are tasked to infiltrate groups or cells carrying out acts of terrorism and political violence. Likewise, Rachel Monaghan’s article “Terrorism in the Name of Animal Rights” is referenced to suggest that German’s model might apply in respect of acts of terrorism and political violence committed in support of animal rights no less than when committed in support of far right politics. German’s book also serves to illustrate an argument that prior employment as an undercover police officer might not necessarily undermine trust in that officer's subsequent work of a different nature. Crucial here, is the author’s claim that his subsequent police partnership work with Muslim groups in London was based on reciprocal trust and did not employ deception, axiomatic to undercover policing, in any respect. Although the author is presently restricted by ongoing investigations and legal proceedings, the article outlines a basis on which he might contribute his experience of undercover policing to future discussions.     

No visible difference: a women's empowerment process in a Cambodian NGO

The lives of female Cambodian NGO staff are characterised by the contradictions of apparent freedom and multiple invisible constraints on their behaviour and choices. An empowerment process facilitated by an expatriate did not produce the expected responses of sisterhood and group action. Through a series of workshops, learning emerged about the context-dependent nature of concepts of empowerment, and the irrelevance of many Western models for other cultures. Fear and mistrust, rooted in both traditional culture and the post-conflict context, are powerful and profound blocks to change in women's lives. No visible difference in workplace behaviours appeared after the empowerment process. However, the women responded to new insights about their lives, beliefs, and culture in ways that had meaning for them; and they reported significant benefits for family and social relationships.     

Toward a negotiated order

Book reviews in this article:
Barbara Gray . Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems.
Louise Nieuwmeijer . Negotiation: Methodology and Training.
Linda R. Singer . Settling Disputes: Conflict Resolution in Business, Families, and the Legal System.     

Development as a buzzword

Despite its widespread usage, the meaning of the term ‘development’ remains vague, tending to refer to a set of beliefs and assumptions about the nature of social progress rather than to anything more precise. After presenting a brief history of the term, the author argues that not only will development fail to address poverty or to narrow the gap between rich and poor, but in fact it both widens and deepens this division and ultimately creates poverty, as natural resources and human beings alike are increasingly harnessed to the pursuit of consumption and profit. The survival of the planet will depend upon abandoning the deep-rooted belief that economic growth can deliver social justice, the rational use of environment, or human well-being, and embracing the notion that there would be a better life for all if we moved beyond ‘development’.     

Feeling a Real Tibet

<正>When I visited China last year as a delegation member from Japan-China Friendship Association, I expressed to the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU) that I wish I