New Security Dimensions in the Asia–Pacific

The rise of China provides a major challenge to the United States, the undisputed hegemon in the Asia-Pacific region since the second world war. This development provides regional states with an opportunity to shape the regional security architecture by adopting an inclusive approach to China. The role of the Association of Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) tends to be under-estimated by Western scholars who often see the European model as the only approach to regional integration. This paper discusses the significant achievements of ASEAN in serving as a catalyst for the establishment of regional institutions. Such institutions could serve as instruments for the management of China's relations with Japan and India. It is contended that the emergence of Asian powers, especially China, will result in a challenge to the Washington Consensus of Western norms and values focusing on individual rights which have governed international institutions. The rise of China is likely to see the application of a Beijing Consensus emphasising the balance between individual rights and social obligations, which would resonate positively in the region. In the twenty-first century, global institutions will need to reflect the norms, values and practices of global society and not just Atlantic perspectives.     

From Pariah State to Global Protagonist: Argentina and the Struggle for International Human Rights

Democratizing states began in the 1980s to hold individuals, including past heads of state, accountable for human rights violations. The 1984 Argentine truth commission report (Nunca Más) and the 1985 trials of the juntas helped to initiate this trend. Argentina also developed other justice‐seeking mechanisms, including the first groups of mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared, the first human rights forensic anthropology team, and the first truth trials. Argentines helped to define the very term forced disappearance and to develop regional and international instruments to end the practice. Argentina thus illustrates the potential for global human rights protagonism and diffusion of ideas from a country outside the wealthy North. This article surveys Argentina's innovations and proposes possible explanations, drawing on theoretical studies from transitional justice, social movements, and norms cascades in international relations.     

The Commonwealth,Apartheid, and the Role of Micro-states

In the 1980s, the debate surrounding South Africa apartheid consumed the Commonwealth. While superficially this discussion might appear to have had little relevance to the interests of micro and small state members of the Commonwealth, the behemothic nature of apartheid presented significant challenges to such states. This article attempts to assess the varied ways in which South African apartheid affected the diplomatic strategies of micro-states within the political landscape of the Commonwealth, and how it could be perceived as both a hindrance to their agendas, as well a potential tool in the fight to amplify their voices. Micro-states used the egalitarian structure of the Commonwealth and combined it with the prominence of apartheid in international debate to both elevate their status and even to garner support for their own personal concerns. Apartheid’s reframing of the international conversation had broad reverberations which affected Commonwealth responses to a variety of seemingly disparate issues. This culminated in the ejection of Fiji from the Commonwealth in the aftermath of the 1987 coup due to concerns over racial discrimination, emblematising the all-pervasive nature of the apartheid debate within the Commonwealth.     

Singapore: Recent developments in terrorism and Japan's role

The threat of terrorism to Singapore remains serious, given the spread of radical ideology in Southeast Asia. Aware that it is a prime terrorist target, Singapore's response has been the most vigorous of all the states in the region. It has instituted a comprehensive homeland security structure, stepped up security cooperation with the USA and has been at the forefront of many US-led counter-terrorism initiatives in the region. Japan's regional role is important as Japan cannot opt out of the global war on terrorism given its huge stake in the security of the Straits of Malacca and the stability of the littoral states. Japan's contribution lies in capacity building, in helping states build up their indigenous counter-terrorism capabilities. Japan also needs to take a much more proactive, strategic role in the Malay archipelago in regional “hearts and minds” strategies to counter radical ideology, as well as develop functional security linkages.     

论美国《外国人侵权法令》诉讼中的管辖权

建国初期,美国国会制定《外国人侵权法令》,授予联邦法院对违反国际法或美国缔结的条约的侵权诉讼行使管辖权,希望新生的美国赢得外交尊重。20世纪60年代,美国民权运动蓬勃发展,涉及外国的国际民事纠纷成倍增长。在人权利益团体的努力下,加上美国法律制度中方便原告起诉的具体规则等因素,《外国人侵权法令》引起美国学界和司法界的广泛讨论。总体而言,《外国人侵权法令》对人管辖权和事项管辖权的范围一直不断扩张,美国联邦法院愿意执行国际法尤其是国际强制规范,但联邦法院倾向于非自动执行条约理论而不执行大多数国际人权公约或条约。     

State,bureaucracy and polity in modern Thai politics

We test the comparative foreign labor policies of Korea and Japan within a vein of international relations literature addressing the effects of international norms on changes in state policies. Building on the efforts to emphasize a state's domestic structure as a source of variations in the impact of international norms, this study enriches this debate further by demonstrating the role of the Korean state in developing international human rights norms domestically. In contrast to the previous studies that tend to dichotomize between states and human rights activists, which result in focusing their empirical studies on the question of whether states are constrained in developing immigration policies under the influence of international human rights norms, we demonstrate that state actors in coalition with human rights activists were actively involved in the process of enacting the Employment of Foreign Workers Act (EFWA) in Korea. More precisely, by offering a detailed account of how Korea finally suc ceeded in adopting the EFWA in 2003 after two failed attempts in 1997 and 2000, we attribute the success to the more extensive, organized pro-foreign workers coalition of state actors and human rights activists over the course of actions. When this observation is applied to Japan, the absence of an active role of the state accounts for Japan's relative silence on the EFWA.     

Still a Beacon of Human Rights? Considerations on the EU Response to the Refugee Crisis in the Mediterranean

The European Union is a political union of democracies which protects human rights and presents itself as a beacon of human rights on the global scene. This Profile reviews the measures the EU has introduced in response to the crisis and highlights the problems they pose from a human rights perspective. Overall, a set of five measures were adopted: (1) improving search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean and the Aegean in order to prevent loss of human lives at sea; (2) initiating military intervention to tackle networks of smugglers; (3) introducing resettlement and relocation quotas to alleviate pressure on the EU member states which serve as entry points (Italy, Greece and Hungary) and from the countries neighbouring Syria (primarily Turkey); (4) creating a common list of safe countries to facilitate and speed up the return of failed asylum seekers and undocumented migrants; and finally (5) strengthening cooperation with countries of origin and transit to readmit migrants and to tighten border controls. Whether the EU will be able to respond to the unfolding crisis by providing international protection to those in need while simultaneously securing its external borders will be a yardstick by which to judge its human rights commitment.     

The Commonwealth in contemporary international relations

The Commonwealth functions in contemporary international relations as a ‘mini’ version of multilateralism, encompassing issues of geopolitics, the global economy, climate change, and human rights and democracy. While essentially an organisation of developing countries, it also includes the United Kingdom and the ‘old Dominions’. There is a particular focus on the role of small states, even though the Commonwealth also includes some very large developing countries. Apart from its global role, the Commonwealth can be significant in regional contexts where there is some concentration of Commonwealth members. The Commonwealth also has a role as a context for civil society organisations. The article provides an assessment of the role of the Commonwealth within these various settings.     

State Sovereignty and Private Military and Security Companies in Australia

Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) as active participants within global security environments has increased in the last two decades exponentially. States have progressively incorporated PMSCs in their security functions, both domestically and internationally. Since the conflict in Iraq in the early 2000s, there have been numerous plausible reports of PMSCs violating international humanitarian law. Despite this, only a few have ever been prosecuted, suggesting a fundamental challenge to understandings regarding state control and monopoly over violence. Utilising a historical case study of an Australian PMSC in Operation Iraqi Freedom, this article argues that PMSCs undermine Australian sovereign legitimacy. It demonstrates how Australian oversight and accountability regarding its use of PMSCs is significantly fractured and current regulatory mechanisms concerning PMSCs are deficient. Thus, the Australian government's ability to provide control over the actions of PMSCs is diminished, affecting its sovereign legitimacy and ability to monopolise violence. The article overall conveys the dubious position states come into when the use-of-force is wielded by actors for distinct material incentives.     

改变与延续:奥巴马政府的东亚政策与东亚一体化

本文旨在探讨奥巴马政府的东亚政策及其对东亚一体化的影响.作者认为:奥巴马政府的东亚政策可以用"安全"、"繁荣"、"人权"和"环保"四个词来概括,在安全和经贸方面大体会延续前任政府的政策,在环保和人权方面会进行一定的变革,在经贸方面也会和以往有所不同.总体而言,奥巴马的东亚政策对东亚一体化既有积极的一面,但也必须认识到其消极的一面.最后,针对美国的关注与担忧及如何推动东亚一体化,本文提出了一些政策建议.     

构建“东北亚人类安全共同体”中的人类安全议题和国际机制探索

韩国朴槿惠总统自从2009年以来提倡"东北亚和平合作构想",并向美中等国家寻求支持。"东北亚和平合作构想"就是以韩国和朝鲜为主,包括美国、中国、日本、俄罗斯和蒙古等亚太国家和非国家行动主体,培养非传统安全或是软性安全热点问题合作。但该构想存在许多问题,如美国是否作为参与国加入,议题是否包含传统安全和制度化水平问题。如果美国加入,那么,东北亚区域固有的人类安全议题的选择混乱或将引起东北亚的认同性危机;议题的最终目标如果是传统安全,那么非传统安全或软性安全的重要性将被削弱;在制度化水平方面,习惯和惯例的制约性和实效性将成为问题。本文提出了作为东北亚区域内国家间的和平合作体,形成针对人类安全议题的"东北亚人类安全共同体"的方案,研究人类安全理论和国际机制并验证了其合理性。由此,确认了仅限于东北亚国家之间的人类安全范围内形成共同体的合理性。     

The paradox of petrodollar development: Chad’s military diplomacy in regional and global security

This paper examines the Chadian government’s overwhelming preoccupation with state security, rather than individual security, as evidenced by its huge expenditure on arms rather than on poverty-alleviating development projects following the unprecedented influx of petrodollars in the years since production began in 2003. This overemphasis on state security demonstrates a mismatch between the availability of natural resource wealth and ongoing low levels of socioeconomic development in Chad. The country has instead used its enormous oil wealth to boost its standing in the turbulent Central African and Sahelian regions where terrorism is rife. The country’s international diplomacy, which consists of deploying its well-equipped military in international peacekeeping missions and in the fight against terrorism, is a strategy of achieving international recognition while simultaneously diverting the international community’s attention from the country’s democracy deficit and poor human rights record. Internally, authoritarianism and political instability are accompanied by conflict, poverty and underdevelopment, which in turn perpetuate the challenges facing the country.     

欧盟战略自主与欧版“印太战略”

为提高国际社会影响力,实现“新安全战略”,应对“美国优先”、英国“脱欧”等危机和挑战,欧盟强化战略自主并培育安全力量建设。随着印太地区地缘战略重要性的增强,欧盟及其成员国不断加强与印太的联系,力求成为该地区新的战略参与者。欧版“印太战略”,以日欧贸易协定为蓝本,优先发展对日关系,联合介入印太,通过与印太国家签订双边或多边自由贸易协定,探索在这一地区建立多边自由贸易体系;强调经济与安全并重发展;法英在欧盟介入印太过程中充当先遣队。它以维护自由与开放、繁荣和稳定的印太秩序为切入点,使欧盟成为这一地区解决传统与非传统安全问题的利益攸关方,谋求与中美在印太地区实现战略平衡。     

美国与新大国协调机制的构建:以七国集团为视角

新大国协调继承了传统大国协调通过外交会议、协商来决策的方式,治理领域由传统的军事安全扩展到经济、政治、社会和环境等多个领域。从新大国协调的起源看,美国作为西方世界最强大的国家开始起领导作用。本文通过考察"七国集团"的治理结构,发现美国领导下的多国合作是新大国协调最有意义的制度创新。这种一国领导、多国合作的特点不同于历史上的传统大国协调的治理体制,是一种新型的国际多边安全治理机制。由于这种领导的存在,新大国协调产生了明显的治理效果,主要包括:形成美国意志主导下的大国共同立场、应对国际危机的大国集体反应、其他大国对美国身份的认可以及美国对其他大国分配治理任务。     

Towards political integration in Europe: the involvement of national parliaments in European Union politics and policy-making

This article provides an overview of the life of the European Union over a period that has witnessed a number of historical international and institutional developments, and provides a politico-juridico-historical perspective on its growth. The article aims to examine the role of national parliaments in relation to increasing European legislative powers. The European Union is using these powers to ensure that non-European-Union states accept its rules as universal standards. At the same time, European foreign policy has expanded remarkably, reflecting its more prominent international role. The European Parliament is the world's first directly elected transnational parliament. In recent decades, the principles of human rights, peace, and democracy have reflected the deeply embedded values at the core of European integration since its inception, determining the evolution of the European Union from international actor to a model of democratization: a model promoting not only respect for human rights, but also democracy and peace, which have become concrete goals steering the European Union foreign policy.     

Defining the limits of the North Korean Human Rights Act: A security and legal perspective

The introduction of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (HR 4011 or the Act) was hailed by many in the U.S. Congress as a significant and much-needed legislative effort that would substantially improve the human rights conditions of North Korea, considered to be one of the most unpredictable and undemocratic regimes in the world today. The passage of HR 4011 effectively marked a new and notable phase within U.S. foreign policy, in which the issue of human rights was directly linked to the issue of North Korean nuclear non-proliferation in a Helsinki-style framework. Relating to the Act, this paper argues from cross-cultural, security, and legal perspectives that HR 4011 may encounter specific limitations, which may hinder the Act from reaching its stated objectives of furthering “respect for and protection of fundamental human rights in North Korea” and “to promote a more durable humanitarian solution to the plight of North Korean refugees.” Although improving human rights is a fundamentally important issue, linking human rights with DPRK nuclear non-proliferation through HR 4011’s explicit Helsinki-style approach may exacerbate rather than eradicate North Korean human rights violations as well as the DPRK’s ongoing nuclear standoff with the international community.     

The role of African universities in the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples: A development agenda

Before the emergence of the United Nations at the end of the Second World War, human rights were generally scantily recognised in international law and, even under the UN Charter of 1945, indigenous peoples received merely tacit reference. Since the 1970s, however, several normative instruments have been adopted to give recognition to the rights of indigenous peoples as a distinct component of international human rights law. With the further adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the UN General Assembly in 2007, the subject has assumed new dimensions with the possibilities of new vistas. What, for instance, is the role of African universities in the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples as critical agents in the global human rights and development agenda? The purpose of this article, among others, is to synthesise the strategic approaches to the rights of indigenous peoples and to accentuate a more informed conceptualisation of what the role of African universities on this subject ought to be, and must be, in the light of the dynamic opportunities of the post-2007 era.     

Foreign policy options for a new South Africa

Progress towards the creation of a post‐apartheid South Africa raises questions about future foreign policy. In this article a framework for analysis and forecasting is developed. The basic assumption is that a future foreign policy will be driven by the kind of regime which will emerge in a New South Africa. Such a regime will have to develop foreign policy orientations to deal with its regional and global environments and the manifestation of a variety of foreign policy issues in these environments.

A semi‐democracy is foreseen for a New South Africa which will adopt a regional leadership oreitnation towards its neighbours and a consumer orientation towards the global community. The framework makes provision for regime improvements which will lead to fuller international participation or regime decline which will result in international marginalisation.     

Japan as America’s global partner: Problems and prospects

The concept of global partnership remains a central theme in the conduct of U.S.-Japan relations in the post-Cold War world. This article critically evaluates Japan’s performance and potential as a global partner for the United States. It notes the qualified outcomes to Japan’s extended quest for a world role, its inability to lead by example in world trade and its preference for international status and contributions as a substitute for international political leadership. On the other hand the article recognizes the increasing significance of Japan’s human contribution to international peacekeeping, its willingness to tackle global problems in cooperation with the United States, and its potential to reduce security costs in Asia by means of foreign aid allocations, increased host-nation support for American forces and by promoting regional security dialogue. The article highlights Japan’s emerging identity as an Asian power and the problem of diverging U.S. and Japanese perspectives on democracy in the region. At the same time, it acknowledges the crucial importance Japan attaches to the continued American military presence in Asia and its desire to insulate the U.S.-Japan security relationship from economic and trade friction. The article concludes with the observation that Japan’s ability and willingness to operate as a global partner of the United States is much greater in some areas than in others. She is the co-author ofThe Political Economy of Agricultural Protection in Northeast Asia: East Asia in International Perspective (Allen and Unwin, 1986).     

‘Very Brave or Very Foolish’? ‘Gallant Little’ Botswana’s Defiance of ‘Apartheid’s Golden Age’, 1966–1980

The period from 1966 to 1979 is claimed to have been ‘apartheid’s golden age’ when the anti-apartheid forces were alleged to have largely acquiesced in the well-resourced South African government. However, this paper observes that Botswana, a country of about one million people and almost entirely surrounded by extremely hostile white minority regimes, demonstrated a spirit of defiance to apartheid’s golden age. Botswana defied military intimidation and reprisals from South Africa (an African giant) and its ally Rhodesia by continuing to host large numbers of refugees despite Botswana’s severe budgetary constraints. Botswana did this even though it was landlocked and overwhelmingly dependent on South Africa for economic survival. Botswana felt that it was a moral obligation to make sacrifices for the benefit of the oppressed black people of South Africa. This article attempts to demonstrate that despite being defenceless and dependent on South Africa for economic survival, Botswana did not yield in its principled stand against apartheid, a stand which won international acclaim during the period from 1966 to 1980 – apartheid’s golden age. It concludes that in its own small way Botswana demonstrated that apartheid was not entirely invincible.