Reviews

The expansion of the global economy and the governance deficit it has generated raise questions about the possibilities for regulating the practices of participants in global production networks. This paper focuses on the regulation of industrial relations in Cambodia's textile and garment industry – a unique ensemble of state, trade union, private sector and international institutions that is promoted as a “fair model of globalisation.” We track the trajectory of Cambodia's industrialisation and insertion into the global economy over three interrelated phases: first, the beginnings of export-orientated garment production in the mid- to late 1990s; secondly, the promotion of Cambodia as an “ethical producer” from 1999; and, thirdly, privileging “competitiveness” in global production networks over labour compliance for its advantage. In doing so we centre our analysis on the complex intertwining of global production, the genesis of the unique ensemble of actors in Cambodia and the anomaly of Cambodia's labour movement.     

“Neo-Sultanistic Tendencies:” The Trajectory of Civil-Military Relations in Cambodia

Abstract

This study examines the evolution of civilian control in Cambodia and its impact upon that country’s security sector reform efforts. It argues that Cambodia has witnessed a historically entrenched path dependence of civil-military relations, whereby ruling personalities and parties have consecutively dominated subservient, authoritarian militaries. Today security forces appear as a partisan, corporate arm of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). While this has ensured civilian control, it is not an institutionalized form of control. Instead Prime Minister Hun Sen has personalized supremacy over security forces through what might be termed “neo-sultanistic tendencies.” Yet how have Cambodia’s civil-military relations evolved? What is the current state of civilian control and security sector reform efforts? What is the future of civil-military relations? This analysis addresses these questions.     

Is Irrigationalism a Dominant Ideology in Securing Hydrotopia in Mekong Nation States?

ABSTRACT

For over six decades, grandiose proposals calling for significant expansion of public irrigation schemes have been commonplace throughout the Mekong region, irrespective of the political configuration or developmental stage of each state. From Pol Pot’s Democratic Kampuchea to Thailand’s military and quasi-democratic regimes, irrigation has figured prominently on development agendas. Mainstream narratives around irrigation are embedded in a technocentric, developmental and nationalistic discourse, incorporating socially pre-conditioned beliefs and values that closely reflect the rhetoric of state-linked elites. This article critically examines some of the narratives employed by key actors and groups to justify ongoing practices and processes of irrigation development, focusing on Thailand and Cambodia. It seeks to look beyond conventional econometric and instrumental drivers, to consider other socio-political factors that may account for irrigation’s critical role as a “technology of control,” but which are rarely examined across comparative national contexts. Further, it proposes a dominant ideology of irrigation developmentalism or “irrigationalism” as a useful concept in explaining certain aspects of contemporary social power in these nations. State-led irrigation may be perceived as a utopian intervention that aids in the emergence of an effective monopolistic authority and control by bureaucracies and other powerful groups over development decision-making processes and silencing opposition.     

Non-government Organizations,Villagers, Political Culture and the Lower Sesan 2 Dam in Northeastern Cambodia

The Lower Sesan 2 (LS2) Hydropower Project in northeastern Cambodia is presently under construction. As the largest dam to ever be built in Cambodia, it is expected to cause serious and widespread environmental and social impacts. This article analyzes, on the one hand, the relationships between Cambodian non-government organizations (NGOs) and villagers who will be negatively impacted by LS2, and on the other, NGO relations with the Cambodian state. While development actors frequently attempt to construct particular narratives in order to control development trajectories, this research demonstrates that such attempts can meet with serious resistance from local people, even when facing powerful opponents, including in this case NGOs that prefer to advocate for better resettlement and compensation conditions rather than for the cancellation of projects. Focusing on interactions, positioning, local agency, and the particular political culture of Cambodia, this article highlights the importance of particular types of patronage relations in Cambodia between NGOs and villagers, NGOs and the state, and associated territorialization.     

柬埔寨艾滋病治理成效及其原因评析

作为典型的弱小国家,柬埔寨在艾滋病治理上为世界树立了一个重要的榜样。经过20多年的努力,柬埔寨的艾滋病治理取得了显著的成效,主要表现在:艾滋病感染率大大降低,每年新增艾滋病感染人数大幅减少,艾滋病患者接受治疗的比例不断提升。取得这种成效的原因首先是柬埔寨政府对于艾滋病的安全化定位与实践,树立了政府治理的决心与魄力;其次是非政府组织对艾滋病治理的积极参与,奠定了艾滋病治理的社会基础;最后是国际社会的援助为柬埔寨艾滋病治理提供了强大的动力。这三个因素构成了柬埔寨艾滋病治理取得显著成效的三驾马车。     

Logging in Muddy Waters: The Politics of Forest Exploitation in Cambodia

“Logging in Muddy Waters” analyzes the boom in forest exploitation that characterized the 1990s in Cambodia, focusing on the instrumentalization of disorder and violence as a mode of control of forest access and timber-trading channels. The article examines tensions existing between the aspirations of Cambodians for a better life, the power politics of elites, and the hope of some in the international community for a green and democratic peace. These tensions have produced both an interlocking pattern of “illegal logging” from the highest levels of the state to self-demobilized soldiers and peasants and sustained criticism that was only temporarily resolved through a legalization of the forest sector that benefited large-scale companies to the prejudice of the poor.     

China and Vietnam on the road to the market

Adopting an analytical approach grounded in the literature on the impact of industrial relations (IR) systems on foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions, this article assesses the workplace practices in Hong Kong-invested garment factories in the regulated IR system in Cambodia. Cambodia opened up FDI in 1993. The country has attracted FDI in light manufacturing, mainly in the export-orientated garment and footwear sectors. The USA is the largest trade partner of Cambodia in garment exports because of a unique agreement, US-Cambodia Trade Agreement on Textile and Apparel. The Agreement granted a quota for Cambodian garment export in return for better compliance with international labour standards. The trade agreement and private sector initiatives have combined to bring about a “labour advantage” in Cambodia. This labour advantage will continue to be its competitive edge in a post-Multifibre Agreement world, and other developing countries may well follow Cambodia's model.     

Globalization,education, and the politics of identity in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

This essay examines a resurgent interest in “regionness” as a response to globalization, and it looks at how governments and citizens have participated in the discourse on forging a new Asia-Pacific community that has developed over the past fifteen years. Part one distinguishes between “regionalization” and “regionalism” as competing visions for the construction of a future Asia-Pacific community. Regionalization, the dominant paradigm during the postcolonial period, centers on interstate forums dominated by officially recognized political and economic elites who seek interstate cooperation in order to protect state interests, state power, and national identity from foreign as well as domestic challenges. Regionalism, as an alternative paradigm, envisions the creation of transnational networks inclusive of nonofficial actors, whose identification with a particular state and set of national interests does not preclude the creation of a regional identity (or identities) and support for regional interests. Part two considers the challenges that regionalism poses for the nation-state and its leadership. It does so by highlighting the pressure for reform that globalization has brought to bear upon one particular institution that theorists of nationalism have long identified as central to the perpetuation of national identity, national unity, and state authority: schooling. Part three assesses the current prospects for such reforms by briefly examining recent educational developments in Japan, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore.     

Dualistic Identity, Memory-encoded Norms, and State Emotion: A Social Constructivist Account of Chinese Foreign Relations

By tracing the origin and evolution of Chinese nationalism, this paper finds that the dialectical relationship between the Chinese “self” and the foreign “other” has provided the cultural-institutional context for the construction of its national identity. The positional change of the Chinese actor in the self-other interaction—resulting from the institutional shift from the tianxia order to the Westphalian system—and the consequent national humiliation have been embedded in the Chinese collective memory and given rise to the consensual norms ingrained in the national identity. Viewed through the lens of political sociology and identity politics, China’s tenacious struggle for national rejuvenation can be construed as a social practice guided by these memory-encoded social norms. Due to the protracted and ambivalent nature of the state’s purposive action in attaining great-power status on the international stage, the confidence of the resurgent state is compromised by an acute sense of frustration. This identity predicament has engendered a peculiar Chinese state emotion, which has profoundly influenced the in-group members’ evaluation and perception of out-group entities and their behavior in the antagonistic intergroup relations.     

The Australian Welfare State: Has Federalism Made a Difference?

This paper examines the historical development of the Australian welfare state with a view to identifying the role that Australia's federal constitutional arrangements have played in shaping that development. Theoretical paradigms have been unanimous in their prognoses: that federal states are likely to be slow in developing welfare state programmes and typically spend less on them than unitary states. But recently it has been argued that federal institutions may have a “ratchet effect” of slowing down the pace of change, irrespective of its direction. The purpose of this chronological account of significant stages in the development of the Australian welfare state is to use the unfolding of historical events — far too rich in nuance and detail to be captured in quantitative modelling — as a test‐bed for establishing whether, and, if so, to what extent, federalism has impacted on the trajectory of Australian welfare state development.     

International Intervention and the People's Will: The Demoralization of Democracy in Cambodia

This article examines the deterioration in relations between two Cambodian opposition parties and the “international community” from whom they sought support during the 1998 Cambodian elections. It is suggested that the manipulation, by influential political actors, of internationally promoted political concepts such as “democracy,” “sovereignty,” and “the people's will” is problematic for mutual understanding between international and local political actors. In Cambodia in 1998, liberal views of the “people's will” as an amoral and neutral construct facilitating the delegation of authority were awkwardly but influentially conflated, by the election campaigning of the two parties, with a view of the “people's will” as a moral imperative to liberate the nation from alleged “traitors.” This caused widespread adherence, among the parties' followers, to views of the 1998 elections that were non-liberal and antidemocratic in a number of respects. When sharp differences in understandings of the political situation emerged between local and international actors, following the electoral defeat of those opposition party leaders, the fragile nature of a purported “partnership” between a self-appointed “international community” and the Cambodian people was exposed.     

Lao Wisdom as “Buffer State” in an Emerging Mekong Regional Economy – How a Small Country Behaves among Big Countries –

Lao PDR, located in a geopolitically strategic area of the Mekong region, has served as a “buffer state” without being placed under any one country's influence, contributing to the status quo of regional power balance. The skillful balanced diplomacy of Lao PDR has enabled it to keep this position. Yet, in face of growing Chinese presence, how long will that be the case? With an emerging regional economy across borders in the Mekong region as the background, Lao PDR, a small, land-locked country, has achieved relatively high economic growth rates and has started to attract foreign direct investment in recent years. In this process, Japanese companies have started to invest in manufacturing there, and Japan-Laos business partnership has been taking off. Looking for further development, Lao PDR has been consolidating its position as the “battery of the Mekong,” a net exporter of electricity. By improving its connectivity with neighboring countries, Lao PDR has also been making untiring efforts to become a “land-linked” country, aiming to serve as a “logistic hub” for the region, taking advantage of its geopolitical advantage, Yet, many challenges exist before this goal is achieved.     

Plantation colonialism,capitalism, and critics

Scholars have variously described the development experience of the Indian state of Kerala as a “model” or a “paradox” or an “enigma” and posited different meanings and significance to its developmental trajectory. Rather than following the usual one-dimensional accounting of Kerala's achievements and shortcomings, we present a historically informed social and political analysis to reveal the meaning and significance of the “Kerala model” of development. This article, thus, critically appraises Kerala's development experience since decolonization to show how the discourse on development and the discursive practices of the dominant actors involved in governance of Kerala diverge in recent years, especially after the second round of economic liberalizations at the national level in 1991, which coincidently corresponds to the beginning of the newest phase of economic globalization. Old lessons are reviewed based on the notion of replicability of the “Kerala model” and new lessons are analyzed within the contexts of sustainability and economic globalization.     

Separatism or Status‐Quo?: Indigenous Affairs from the Birth of Land Rights to the Death of ATSIC*

Unlike other settler societies, Australia has yet to recognise Indigenous peoples as “peoples” or “nations”. Despite this, we see something of a consensus emerging which suggests Indigenous “separatism” has been tried and failed in Australia, and it is time to revisit an integrationist approach in order to improve Indigenous peoples' socio‐economic position. This paper challenges the assumption that, beginning in the 1970s, Indigenous‐state relations have been characterised by the realisation of a separatist agenda. On the contrary, assessing three decades of Indigenous‐state relations reveals a consistent logic from the state which ultimately seeks to integrate Indigenous Australians, rather than recognise them as having a distinct — and separate — political identity. This logic reached its “natural” conclusion with the abolition of elected Indigenous political representation in 2005.     

解析日本“格文化”

日本民族自古以来,以单一民族,单一国家,单一语言的形式,生活在几个自然灾害不断的岛屿上,既不像大陆游牧民那样,为寻找新牧场而主动迁移;也不像大陆农民那样,因河流改道等旱涝灾害而被迫迁移;更没有出现过大规模移民造成的"混血"现象。游离于大陆之外的岛国人文地理环境,使日本民族成了在整个"地球村"都难以找到"亲朋好友"的"孤独者",抱团求生存的无奈,造就了其思维方式的整体性,各种"格关系"构成的"格文化"形成了日本的基本社会架构。当巨大的自然灾害摧毁了日本人对故土的眷恋时,"死里逃生"的欲望便会表现为"困兽斗"的对外侵略。因此,解析"格文化"是从深层破解日本民族历史和现实中种种表现因由的重要途径。     

“Tongpan”: An important event in Thai cinema

Abstract

Films being made in Asian countries are now beginning to express an Asian reality. This is happening in a small way, but it is happening. The scale of the movement to break away from Hollywood and Bombay-type extravaganzas, and from films as a kind of “celluloid LSD,” is still small, constrained as it is by film-makers and sellers out to make quick profits. One little ripple that has recently emerged from the stagnant waters of Asia's film world is called “Tongpan.” The work of a group of creative amateurs, “Tongpan” is not the result of a commercial venture, and is not a professionally-made film in the conventional sense. It is also not a film in the style of what has come to be known as the “New Wave Cinema,” for “Tongpan” is not an art film to be “museumed” for wealthy connoisseurs. But precisely for all these reasons it is important that a film called “Tongpan” has been made. Indeed an important event has occurred in Thai Cinema. Important because it shows what is happening to the Thai people in the name of ‘development’ and captures for posterity the tensions and strains of an important period in Thailand's recent history.     

Constructing “The Same Rights With the Same Names”: The Impact of Spanish Norm Diffusion on Marriage Equality in Argentina

This article argues that Spain has been the driving external force in the advancement of LGBT rights in Latin America, from marriage in Argentina to the regional recognition of “sexual diversity rights” as human rights. Acting as “norm entrepreneurs,” Spanish activists and organizations, relying on development aid, have promoted their perspectives through two approaches: strategic consulting and resource transfer. Their diffusion is illustrated primarily by the Argentine case. There, activists underwritten by Spanish resources have borrowed Spanish strategies to achieve “the same rights with the same names.” Besides broadening our understanding of the struggle for LGBT equality in Latin America, this article deepens the explanation of norm diffusion, focusing on emergence. In this stage, specific individuals and organizations deliberately select appropriate “targets” for and moments of intervention. But norm “receptors” must also be ready for action.     

Trains,Plains and Automobiles: New South Wales Political Debates (1985) and the Invention of Western Sydney

There has recently been conjecture as to the decline of the major political traditions and the rise of a more fragmented politics in Australian cities. This paper uses a “slice history” approach to explore the evolving concept of “the West” in Sydney, New South Wales, its place in public debate, and the interplay between centre and periphery during the single “axial” year of 1985. New South Wales Legislative Assembly debates are tabulated, analysed and discussed in the context of larger government programs and public debates. The paper concludes that the concept of “The West”, while of vital political importance in both state and Federal politics, is an elusive term which has been used in unreflective, and often self‐defeating, ways by those tasked with providing the region with services.