马来西亚的外劳问题及其影响

本文主要分析马来西亚外劳问题、政府的对策及其对马印(尼)关系和国内经济的影响.作者认为:结合经济全球化的新形势探讨和解决外劳问题,是摆在发展中国家面前的新课题,在外劳不断增加的情况下,应处理好输入外劳与社会成本、使用外劳与经济转型,以及外劳纠纷与区域协调等关系.     

Limited but Evolving: The Political Economy of Social Protections in Nepal

Nepal’s awakening to growing social protection needs occurred only lately with most policies introduced in the 1990s. While comparable by Asian and particularly South Asian standards, these protections are limited and inconsistent. This article takes stock of social protection policies in Nepal with particular emphasis on the extent of coverage relative to needs. It explores the political economy, demand and political contexts to explain why social protections have developed the way they have in Nepal’s modern history. The understanding of Nepal’s struggle with this globally contested issue also helps draw parallels to other low-income countries.     

Migration in far west Nepal: intergenerational linkages between internal and international migration of rural-to-urban migrants

In Nepal, international labor migration to India and overseas, as well as internal migration to the rural Nepalese lowlands, is of high socioeconomic significance. Scholarly debates about migration in Nepal have gradually shifted from an economic to a more holistic perspective, also incorporating social dimensions. However, little evidence has been generated about internal migration to urban destinations and the potential linkages between international and internal migration. This article draws on Bourdieu's “Theory of Practice” and sees migration as a social practice. Accordingly, migration practice is regarded as a strategy social agents apply to increase or transfer capitals and ultimately secure or improve their social position. Evidence for this argument is based on a qualitative case study of rural to urban migrants in Far West Nepal conducted in July and August 2009. The study at hand addresses linkages between internal and international migration practices and provides insight about a social stratum that is often neglected in migration research: the middle class and, more precisely, government employees. The authors show that social relations are crucial for channeling internal migration to a specific destination. Furthermore, they unveil how internal migration is connected to the international labor migration of former generations. Finally, the authors examine how migration strategies adopted over generations create multi-local social networks rooted in the family's place of origin.     

韩国女性的跨国移居与劳动——以京津地区韩国女性为例

本文使用深度访谈方法,访谈了居住在北京、天津的9位韩国已婚女性,考察了跨国移居后她们的劳动情况。移居后,她们作为儿媳妇的压力和家务劳动量减少,但增加了监督保姆的劳动,在夫妻间的情感劳动方面也面临新的压力,而且子女年龄小的女性仍承担较多的照顾和教育子女的劳动。她们中有不少女性中断自己的工作来到中国,主要从事家教、教师等工作,也有一些人成为个体经营者,也有不少没有3-作的女性学习汉语等课程,为未来做准备。移居后她们更加虔诚信仰宗教,通过参加志愿者服务活动,跨出私人家庭领域,促进了韩国人社会和中国社会的和谐发展。     

Japanese Foreign Policy in the Middle East: Balancing Economy and Security

Abstract

Although the quest for oil has long been a central concern for resource-poor Japan, its foreign policy in the Middle East does not simply reflect a mercantilist interest in the region's resources. Its desire to remain close to the United States during the North Korea crisis and its nascent competition with China are also critical factors in Japan's Middle East policy. However, Japan lacks an integrated strategy toward the Middle East and as a result the various components of its policy are not always compatible. Hence, while Japan has firmly backed the Bush administration's Iraq policies, and begun discussing a possible free-trade agreement with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, it has also, until quite recently, simultaneously pursued closer relations with Iran. In lieu of coherent regional strategy, Japan instead possesses a clearly prioritized sense of its interests in the region.     

Challenging the Governance Structure: A Political Investigation of Foreign Labor Policy-Making in Taiwan

The development of political and economic policies has driven the structure of industry to produce enormous transformations of the political structure in Taiwan. This paper concentrates on foreign policy areas, to demonstrate the long-term dominant influence of structural and institutional constraints upon the state in Taiwan. The analysis concentrates on discussing the interactive structure of the reciprocal penetration between the state and pressure groups, using secondary public and private documents. The investigation shows that the state did not become powerless from the challenges of pressure groups and globalization, but simply generated strategic selectivity and coordination. The investigation of macro from secondary data afford an insight into the different factors involved in shifting the political structure of Taiwan. In addition, we find that the empowering pressure groups also had some resources that the party-state needed. By virtue of spatial interactions, key actors in the governance structure were able to restructuralize the political structure from the earlier Authoritarian regime to the present system of State-corporatism.     

华侨华人与中国的关系:侨批业之视角

随着"侨批档案"成功入选2013年6月的《世界记忆名录》,越来越多的人了解和认识到侨批(银信)的特殊价值及其作为人类文化遗产的世界意义,侨批这一世界文献遗产的抢救、保护与研究也得到了积极的推动。但是,曾经承担着侨批的收揽、中转、派送以及汇兑、解付之职责,兼具国际金融和国际邮政两大功能的侨批业、水客业,却并未受到更多的关注,特别是其在新中国成立后的发展轨迹以及作用和影响,更是鲜见学术探讨与总结。随着侨批局(或银信机构)遗址的不断荒芜破败或被征用开发,它们正在迅速而彻底地淡出历史的记忆。今年是中国邮政开办120周年,本文拟从中国转型、构建为近现代化国家以及融入"世界体系"进程的视角,考察和揭示侨批业、水客业在中国近现代     

2011年越南政治、经济与外交综述

2011年,越南在政治、经济、外交等各个方面都有不少值得关注的重要事件。越南召开了越共十一届党代会,进行了第十三届国会选举。在2011年里,越南完成了预定的经济计划,但仍面临诸多重大挑战。这些挑战构成了越南实现经济可持续发展的障碍。越南在外交方面注重与东南亚地区内外国家发展外交关系,其中尤为注重发展军事交往关系,积极参与国际事务,力图以此提高国际地位。但如何解决与邻国关系问题,已成为越南保持稳定的国际环境的关键因素。     

从东南亚到非洲:日本对外援助的政治经济学

2006年,日本对非洲的援助开始超过亚洲,非洲成为接受日本对外援助最多的地区。这一变化是长期以来日本对外援助理念、与受援国关系建构以及与主要援助国互动关系变化的反映。本文试图构建一种援助体系的分析框架,并确定了影响对外援助的三组关系:援助国与受援国的关系、对外援助与国内政治的联系、对外援助与国际社会的联系。日本对外援助理念和政策的变化正是这三组关系在不同阶段影响程度不同的反映。通过研究发现,日本的对外援助已经远远超出了经济利益和人道主义考虑的范围,将援助作为外交和战略工具逐渐成为其对外援助的一个重要特征。日本的对外援助是援助研究中比较有代表性的案例,通过这一研究能更好地认识国际援助的发展。另外,日本对外援助过程中的一些经验教训也能为中国提供借鉴。     

劳工组织、国内政治与冷战后美国对外贸易政策

冷战结束后,国内因素对美国外交的影响力日渐加强,经济贸易问题在对外政策中的地位显著上升.在北美自由贸易协定、贸易快速处理权、对华永久正常贸易关系等问题上,美国国内各种势力竞相发挥作用,试图通过国内政治影响对外贸易政策.其中,劳工组织的表现尤其活跃.劳工组织通过游说、政治捐款和选举投票等手段向国会议员尤其是民主党议员施加压力,要求其反对贸易自由化政策,从而在很大程度上参与了对外经贸政策的塑造.劳工组织反对贸易自由化的斗争,反映出美国劳工运动的复兴.但内部的分歧、外部的工商界打压等又限制着其在对外贸易政策上的影响.     

Political Economy of Southeast Asian Borderlands: Migration,Environment, and Developing Country Firms

The Chinese way of development shares many characteristics with the East Asian developmental state model. Key elements of this shared development model include state control over finance, direct support for state owned enterprises by the government, import substitution industrialisation in heavy industry, a high dependence on export markets and a high rate of domestic savings. Even the reform of corporate governance is not likely to change the basic features of the East Asian model in China. Among East Asian countries, China shares more similar characteristics with Taiwan rather than with Japan or Korea since China, like Taiwan, also has an economy of dual structure that divides the public and non-public sectors.     

Migration and Distributive Politics: The Political Economy of Mexico's 3 × 1 Program

Mexico's 3 × 1 Program for Migrants is a matching grant scheme that seeks to direct the money sent by migrant organizations abroad to the provision of public and social infrastructure and to productive projects in migrants’ communities of origin. To this end, the municipal, state, and federal administrations match the amount sent by hometown associations by 3 to 1. This article explores the impact on the operation of the 3 × 1 of a particular facet of Mexican political life: its recent democratization and the increasing political fragmentation at the municipal level. The study finds a lower provision of public projects in jurisdictions where a high number of political parties compete. This finding casts doubt on the claim that policy interventions such as the 3 × 1 Program actually improve local public goods provision at the local level under increasing political competition.     

Migration and the reconfiguration of Malaysia

This article examines the social impact of the 1997 financial crisis in South Korea. Although the crisis was short-lived, it has created major ripples all across the country, profoundly affecting the Koreans' lifestyle and family life as well as their values and worldview. In spite of the magnitude of the financial crisis and its social impact, scant scholarly attention has been paid to the issue, although the causes and economic impact of the crisis have been amply discussed. In view of this, the article examines major social changes brought upon by the financial crisis. The article probes, for example, how employment patterns have been deeply affected, whereby a majority of workers are now irregular workers or are underemployed. The article also demonstrates how the people's perception of work has changed and how the income gap between the rich and the poor has widened. Also discussed are, among others, the continuing discrimination against women in the workplace, rising divorce rate, increase in immigration and value conflicts over the relevance of Confucianism in contemporary Korea. In addition, the article examines the agency of the Korean people in reacting to or coping with the changing circumstances.     

Taking the bait: Maoists and the democratic lure in Nepal

After leading a tumultuous revolutionary people's war for a decade, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has slithered into a peace process and is being egged on to put the revolution to the vote. Maoists themselves are sending mixed signals about whether or not they are going to take the democratic bait to save the “beautiful” democratic, peace process from the “beastly” people's war, urban insurrection and revolution. My contention is that unless the lie of the liberal political process is identified in its most democratic, free and fair forms and not just in its secret, conspiratorial underside, the Maoists might be lured into an unbalanced democratic game. The article argues that the Maoists were not just pushed into this political process by force of circumstance, as the best possible option, “given the international and national situation,” but it seems to follow from their flawed understanding that the present political process constitutes a progressive phase in the path to a New Democratic society. The Maoists are, of course, not abandoning the revolution as such but they are possibly metamorphosing from revolution-embodied to speaking in the name of the revolution – perhaps with the added risk of transforming the revolution itself to just a name.