Kidnap for Ransom in South East Asia

Kidnapping for ransom is not a new phenomenon. According to the Control Risk Group, an international risk consultancy, kidnappings of foreign nationals globally have increased by 275% over the past 10 years. High profile incidents such as the tourist kidnappings in 2000 by the Abu Sayyaf group, operating out of the troubled southern region of the Philippines, show that South East Asia has its own regionalised kidnapping hotspots. It is suspected that a high proportion of kidnappings are perpetrated by economically motivated crime groups but it is not possible to estimate with any degree of accuracy what percentage can be attributed to organised crime. This article will provide an overview of the problem, drawing upon existing literature available in the public domain. A typological discussion will show the critical differences between the various categories of kidnapping. The reliability of existing statistics, categorisation and recording of kidnapping for ransom will also be scrutinised, in particular for their variability across the region, to see whether this presents a barrier to a better understanding of the size and seriousness of the problem. As kidnapping for ransom incidents are becoming increasingly transnational in character, the final section will highlight the desirability of formulating and agreeing upon regional standardised definitions and counting rules for kidnap.     

论中国法、伊斯兰法和印度法对东南亚的影响

东南亚地区是一个具有相当特殊性的法域,古老的习惯法、古代中国法、伊斯兰法、印度法在这一地区混合,其情形十分复杂、混乱。概括起来,有如下特点:中国作为东亚和东南亚文明的轴心,中国古代法对所有东南亚国家均产生了普遍、深远的影响,但越南、新加坡等国受古代中华法系的影响要大一些;马来西亚、印度尼西亚和文莱等以信仰伊斯兰教为主的国家及菲律宾南部地区则受伊斯兰法的影响较大;三是在地理位置上靠近印度的缅甸、柬埔寨、老挝和泰国则受印度法的影响较大。     

Global Britain and the Narrative of Empire

Since 2016, the UK government has outlined plans for ‘Global Britain’ as a framework for post‐Brexit foreign policy. Some criticise the idea as a vision of ‘Empire 2.0’, but it is rarely made clear exactly what form it takes or what its wider political implications are. This article argues that Global Britain constitutes not just an idea or a slogan, but a foreign policy narrative and, more specifically, the narrative of empire. Indeed, to appear reasonable its grand ambitions require pre‐existing knowledges of past imperial ‘successes’ and accepting images of empire among the British public. Yet Global Britain lacks efficacy: as a domestic rather than an international narrative, by being inherently regressive in its worldview, and for contradicting the preferences of international partners on which the UK heavily relies. These narrative flaws, it is argued, make Global Britain an actively problematic, rather than merely ineffective, component of UK foreign policy.     

The deep marketisation of development in Bangladesh

This article introduces the concept of ‘deep marketisation’ as a relatively new, contemporary phase of neoliberal development policy in Bangladesh. By looking into the development strategy of the country’s energy sector, the article shows how an emphasis on marketisation through public-private partnerships (PPPs) and other strategies advances a market fundamentalist agenda to strengthen the private sector and establish a world market. By drawing on interviews with development practitioners from various development organisations in Bangladesh, the article further reveals how development conceptualisations are shaped by the strategy of deep marketisation, leading to the impoverishment of development by constraining its field of actions to measures based on the primacy of economic growth and private sector-led economic development, at the same time leading to a re-legitimisation of flawed neoliberal development policies that result in further inequality, poverty and environmental degradation.     

作为中亚转型国家参考模式的发展型政权

苏联解体20年后,几乎所有的前共产主义国家都程度不同地完成了从计划经济向市场经济的转型.然而,仍然有些转型国家在这一进程中落在后面,其中就有前苏联的5个中亚加盟共和国.对于这些既不同于俄罗斯和东欧,更不同于西方发达国家的国家来说,实现转型没有明显的参照模式.本文的目的就是分析在东亚地区取得成功的"发展型政权"是否也能够为中亚经济体的发展提供一个参考模式.     

民主选举与社会分裂——东亚民主转型国家与地区的政治与政局

东亚民主转型国家和地区发生的社会分裂与其实行的民主制度之间存在较强的关联性。在经济发展不平衡、贫富差距大、民族国家意识淡泊及选举文化有欠成熟的情况下,参与选举的政治势力和社会群体倾向于将投票及相关活动视为扩大自身利益和削弱对方力量的机会,导致不同政治势力和社会群体之间的对立和冲突超出可控范围。     

From British subjects to Australian values: a citizenship-building approach to Australia–Asia relations

Australia–Asia relations are inextricably bound up with the development of notions of statehood and citizenship. The argument advanced here is that the way a state acts within the international community markedly determines how it relates to its own citizens. Here we suggest that the continuing and politically resonant idea of Australia as a ‘middle power’ is a crucial thread that links the international and national dimensions of citizenship building. From the very beginning of Federation, the contingent sovereignty of the new Australian Commonwealth in the imperial order became necessarily entangled with debate over national political institutions and citizenship building. Long after the end of the British Empire, the notion of middle power politics has determined the nature and shape of citizenship building. These statecraft projects of ‘citizenship building’ are profoundly shaped, determined and reinforced by the institutions and policies of regional engagement. We explore this framework through three critical junctures of domestic and external policy: 1. the emergence of dominion status on the basis of a common racial and cultural identity within the empire in the first half of the century;

2. the developing notion of a good international citizen during the Hawke and Keating period;

3. the invocation of Australian values by John Howard.

     

中美学者关于中国在东南亚软实力理解的对比分析

"软实力"逐渐成为了中国一个时髦的话语,它甚至超越了学术的范畴。本文将对比并分析中美两国学者对中国在东南亚"软实力"的理解。     

“美元本位”与东南亚的外汇储备管理

全球经济失衡背景下，美国经常账户持续逆差与东南亚外汇储备迅速扩张引人注目，东南亚将美元作为贸易计价、结算货币和本币钉住的对象。1998年以后，东南亚经常账户由逆差开始转为顺差，导致其外汇储备快速增长，发展成为典型“官方债权国”。泰国的储备资产扩张更多地依托资本和金融账户，新加坡的外汇储备增长则具有坚实的经济基础，通过公积金计划的实施来降低货币当局的购汇压力。     

国际海洋开发大势下东南亚国家的海洋活动

目前,激烈争夺海洋成为各国扩大其生存空间的必然趋势和基本发展战略。1982年4月,联合国第三次海洋法会议通过《联合国海洋法公约》以后,世界各国纷纷宣布建立200海里专属经济区,并加快海洋资源勘探开发的步伐。目前,东南亚国家对海洋权益的要求集中在海洋矿物资源的勘探开发上,并把其勘探开发行动从自己国家的近海向外延伸,程度不同地侵夺本应属于中国的南海主权。我国也应树立海洋国土危机意识,审时度势,掌握主动,有理、有利、有节地开展与别国进行海洋合作的研究与行动实施。