SYMPOSIUM: RESURGENT ISLAM IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The following is an edited version of the proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Middle East Policy Council on May 26, 1994, in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Former Senator George McGovern, President of the Council, introduced the panel; Thomas R. Mattair, the Councis Director of Research and Policy Analysis, was the organizer and moderator; Michael Collins Dunn, Senior Analyst of The International Estimate, Inc., and editor of its biweekly newsletter, The Estimate, was the discussant.     

The future of the international nonproliferation regime

The nuclear nonproliferation regime should be strengthened in order to meet the needs of an unstable international security environment, says Hiroyoshi Kurihara, Senior Executive Director of the Nuclear Material Control Center in Tokyo. He proposes that Japan can contribute more actively to strengthening nonproliferation efforts by considering the establishment of a regional confidence building mechanism to monitor peaceful nuclear activities in the Northeast Asian region. The establishment of such a mechanism is vital, he says, if the nations of the region are to develop confidence in each other such that war, and particularly nuclear war, between them will become impossible.     

Rising giants: Development in China and India

Can economic growth turn overpopulation from a liability to an asset? China and India tantalize investors as the “last frontiers” of emerging consumer markets; together, they hold 37 percent of the world's 5.7 billion people. Despite their many contrasts, China and India face similiar, immense development hurdles. Mired in economic stagnation and poverty, both countries undertook economic reforms that gained momentum in the 1980s. In this comparative study, IIPS Senior Research Fellow Eimon Ueda analyzes their ongoing economic liberalization efforts and prospects. Ueda comes to IIPS from the Ministry of Finance and has served at the Japanese Embassy in India.     

Hope and reality in Vietnam and Myanmar

When IIPS Senior Research Fellow Hisahiro Kanayama embarked on this project, he found that information on Vietnam and Myanmar was often biased or insufficient. This article is based on a month‐long factfinding trip to Southeast Asia, where he interviewed analysts in government, international organizations, research institutes, and diplomatic circles. Kanayama notes that Vietnam and Myanmar may become—as part of an enlarged ASEAN—a force ranking fourth in regional political clout after the US, Japan and China. Neither excessive expectations nor indifference to neighbors is an appropriate response from Japan, he states. His research was conducted prior to Myanmar's release of Aung San Suu Kyi. The article has since been updated.     

Apec beyond Osaka: A balanced approach

Good ideas for economic cooperation within APEC must be adapted to Asia‐Pacific realities, says Andrew Elek, Senior Fellow at Australian National University's Australia‐Japan Research Centre. Emphasizing that “APEC will not make decisions, Asia‐Pacific governments will make decisions,” Elek asserts that APEC can draw on EU experience, while avoiding the creation of a regional bureaucracy, through a voluntary but orderly process of concerted, unilateral decision‐making. At Bogor, APEC governments agreed to reduce obstacles to economic development and integration within the region, without discriminating against the rest of the world. Elek notes that the November 1995 high‐level APEC meeting in Osaka provides the opportunity to clarify the historical Bogor vision. In this article, he proposes concrete measures for realizing APEC's potential as an open economic association.     

ANC foreign policy making during the Mbeki period: More democratic or less?

The African National Congress, as an entity distinct from government, served during the 1994–2008 period as an independent forum for debate about South Africa's foreign policy, particularly in the National Executive Committee's Subcommittee on International Relations. This debate retained the oligarchic character of the movement in exile, with few voices – Thabo Mbeki's most prominent among them – dominating the discussion, inputs from subnational party structures almost non-existent, and dissenters expected to keep quiet publicly. That said, participants in these discussions largely dismissed characterisations of Mbeki as a dictator in the foreign policy debate, noting that the predominance of his views stemmed mostly from his strong argumentation and knowledge rather than bullying. Senior ANC leaders also claimed that limited interest in foreign policy, outside of national party structures, hindered efforts to broaden participation in foreign policy formulation.     

The origins and development of the Jihadist movement: from anti-communism to terrorism

Gilles Kepel is Professor, Institute of Political Studies, Paris (1985 to present); Senior Researcher, CNRS (National Board for Scientific Research), Paris (1984 to present); Director of the Doctoral Program on the Muslim World, Institute of Political Studies (1994 to present). He was Visiting Professor, Columbia University, New York (1996–1997); Researcher, CEDEJ (Egyptian–French Center for Scientific Cooperation), Cairo, Egypt (1980–1983). He is the author of several books on Islam, including Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam, published by IB Tauris in 2002 (reviewed in this issue of Asian Affairs, p. 158) and Bad Moon Rising: A Chronicle of the Middle East Today (Saqi, 2003). An earlier version of this article was published in Ramse`s, 2003     

Lee Kuan Yew's Fabian Phase

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister and its current Senior Minister, was undoubtedly genuine in his belief in Fabian socialism in his university days, but there has been very little detailed attention paid to the later development and eventual abandonment of his socialist ideas, or his attitude to the welfare state. This article explores the conflicts and paradoxes in Lee's own accounts of his early socialism and argues that Lee never intended to build a welfare state in Singapore, Malaya or Malaysia, but that despite the apparent contradiction, he regarded himself genuinely as a socialist in the early years of the People's Action Party (PAP) government. The basis for this conclusion is four-fold: a study of Lee's reminiscences of his 'socialist youth'; a study of the politics of the major welfare issue facing the first PAP Government; a brief examination of the PAP's record during the period of Singapore's membership of Malaysia, and; a study of Lee's statements regarding socialism and welfarism at the time. The article also considers the relationship between Lee's socialism and British and Chinese socialism.     

LIMITED WAR,UNLIMITED TARGETS

In the early days of the Korean War, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) had a policy of precision bombing military targets only. Policy-makers in Washington, D.C., formulated this policy to ensure the protection of Korean civilians and to increase the effectiveness of their air operations. Senior USAF officers in Korea, however, were unhappy about the limitations placed on them by Washington. In their strategic air operations against targets in North Korea USAF officers followed Washington's precision bombing policy, but they insisted that USAF bombers be permitted to use incendiary bombs against population centers in North Korea. China's entry into the war in November 1950 led to a drastic change in the precision bombing policy. On 5 November 1950, when the UN forces began suffering defeat after defeat in battles with the new enemy, General Douglas MacArthur designated cities and villages in North Korea as “main bombing targets” and permitted the use of incendiary bombs, which had been used in attacks against Japanese cities during World War II. From that point until the end of the war, the USAF regarded North Korean cities and villages as their crucial targets as political and military occasion demanded.     

China after Deng Xiaoping: Implications for Japan

While there exists mistrust between China and Japan stemming from the legacy of the Second World War, the two countries are making efforts to build mutual trust through bilateral dialogue. Growing bilateral interdependence and common interests will likely ease the mistrust and overcome obstacles to a political partnership between the two countries. In the post-Deng era, this article argues that Japan and the West should help China integrate with the world economy if they want China's support in preserving a peaceful world order. Sino-Japanese bilateral cooperation and interdependence are not only beneficial for the two countries and the Asia-Pacific region, they are also of significance for promoting global cooperation and economic development. Thus, this article emphasises China's importance to Japan and the West in the twenty-first century. The author wishes to acknowledge useful comments by Susan Pares, Senior Executive Member of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs (London); Chi Kara Komura, Director of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, Seikei University (Japan) and Peter Curwen, Professor at the Policy Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University (England), on an earlier draft of the paper. He has recently contributed articles to Asian Thought and Society, The Review of Policy Issues, New Zealand Journal of East Asian Studies, Korea Observer, and Australia and World Affairs.     

The role of the pristavstvo institution in the context of Russian imperial policies in the Kazakh Steppe in the nineteenth century

The institution of pristavstvo was introduced in the Kazakh Steppe in the first decade of the nineteenth century. This institution had different meanings and functions, from an individually held position (e.g., a pristav to the khān of the Junior Horde in 1820; the pristavs who accompanied the Kazakh delegation to Saint Petersburg in the first half of the nineteenth century) to an administrative-territorial structure (e.g., the pristavstvo of the Senior Horde; the Mangyshlak and Zaisan pristavstvos). Though the political structure of the Russian empire had included institutions analogous to the pristavstvo, it was not a conventional component of the Russian administrative system. Studying the features of the pristavstvo institution in the territory of Kazakhstan and analysing the transformation of the pristav's function provide new insights on how the multi-ethnic Russian empire was managed. They will also help scholars to better understand the forms and methods the Russian authorities employed to manage their nomadic populations.     

“Putting Food back on the table”: Decolonising towards a Sustainable University that Feeds Us in South Africa

Abstract

The higher education landscape in South African (SA) has recently experienced a wave of student movement organised under the #MustFall campaign, where students demanded quality and accessible higher education. This movement spoke against the colonial character of the curriculum, demographic representation, institutional cultures, and architecture of the university in South Africa today, which excludes the majority of the students who cannot access higher education in South Africa. It is in this context that the high cost of higher education was questioned, with some questioning the very “idea of the university”, and the role of the university in a society contending with income inequalities, unemployment, and poverty. This article seeks to position food at the centre of decolonising tools towards a sustainable African university of the future. Looking at growing levels of hunger, and the lack of access to food among our students, I argue that in putting food at the centre, regarding our understanding of the curriculum, shape, size, and future of the university in South Africa, we might begin to transform the exclusivist, uncaring and elitist spaces that define a university. In trying to rethink the ‘‘idea of the university’’ in South Africa I look at one of the enduring institutions of knowledge in African societies—uMakhulu (“Senior Mother/Grandmother”) as a body that can reconnect the African university to its matriarchal heritage, in order to define a university that can feed itself beyond the narrow neoliberal understanding of sustainability.     

China’s Surging Energy Demand: Trigger for Conflict or Cooperation with Japan?

This article revisits a conventional interpretation of Sino-Japanese energy relations from geopolitical and zero-sum viewpoints. Contemporary Sino-Japanese disputes over the East China Sea and their scramble over a crude-oil pipeline from Russia have drawn global attention to the intensification of the rivalry between the two giant energy consumers. Beijing and Tokyo, however, have gradually found common interests resulting from business opportunities, environmental countermeasures, etc. Russia’s failure in driving a wedge between China and Japan, and the United States’ proactive engagement in Asia-Pacific energy issues, appear to provide new opportunities in which the East Asian powers’ energy rivalry can be reduced.

Japan’s Quest for “Soft Power”: Attraction and Limitation

Japan is seeking to project its “soft power” through the allure of manga and anime in its public diplomacy. The production, diffusion and global consumption of manga and anime are driven by market forces and consumer tastes and not by the Japanese state. However, the latter is seeking to harness this popular culture to burnish Tokyo’s international image. Despite the attractiveness of Japanese pop culture and other more traditional forms of public diplomacy, Tokyo’s pursuit of “soft power” and a good international image is undermined by its failure to overcome its burden of history.

Diminishing Returns? Prime Minister Koizumi’s Visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in the Context of East Asian Nationalisms

The Yasukuni Shrine is a site of contested nationalist politics in Japan and in neighbouring countries. Within Japan the status of the Shrine exists in a tension between public and private and religious and secular meanings. These tensions are given a specific focus in the context of the visits to the Shrine by Japanese Prime Ministers. The history of such visits is discussed and analysed, with particular attention given to the causes and consequences of the visits by Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro between 2001 and 2006. It is argued that the controversies over the visits in Japan and elsewhere are best understood in the context of ‘revisionist nationalism’ in Japan. The reactions and nationalist problematics of the PRC and Taiwan with regard to the Yasukuni Shrine are then elaborated and analysed.

Balance of Factional Power in China: The Seventeenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

The Seventeenth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), held on 15–21 October 2007 in Beijing, produced some interesting changes to the balance of power among different factional groups in Chinese politics. Compared to the balance of power among factional groups generated as a result of the Sixteenth National Congress of the CCP five years earlier, the four major factional groups had different experiences. In terms of power index, the Shanghai Gang, a factional group affiliated with Former General Secretary Jiang Zemin, declined substantially; the Qinghua Clique, graduates of the Qinghua University, also declined significantly; the Princelings, children of former high-ranking officials, however, increased a great deal; and the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) Group, a factional group closely associated with General Secretary Hu Jintao, witnessed substantial expansion. In terms of group cohesion index, both the Shanghai Gang and the Qinghua Clique shrank significantly; the Princelings increased somewhat; and the CCYL Group expanded substantially.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: CAN MINISTERS COPE? Australian Federal Ministers at Work. By Patrick Weller and Michelle Grattan. JAMES MACARTHUR: Colonial Conservative, 1798–1867. By John Manning Ward. A JUST SOCIETY? Essays on Equity in Australia. Edited by P. N. Troy. EQUITY IN THE CITY. Edited by P. N. Troy. INNOVATION AND REACTION: The life and death of the Federal Department of Urban and Regional Development. By C. J. Lloyd and Patrick N. Troy. SYDNEY; A Social and Political Atlas. By Michael Poulsen and Peter Spearritt. TOWARDS ADAPTIVE FEDERALISM; A Search for Criteria for Responsibility Sharing in a Federal System. PARLAMENTARISCHE BUNDESSTAATEN IM COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS: KANADA, AUSTRALIEN, INDIEN: Ein Vergleich. Bd I. Grundbegriffe und Grundlagen. UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. Edited by G. R. Curnow and R. L. Wettenhall. DECISIONS: Case Studies in Australian Public Policy. Edited by Sol Encel, Peter Wilenski and Bernard Schaffer. THE ABC–AUNT SALLY AND SACRED COW. By Clement Semmler. MELBOURNE STUDIES IN EDUCATION 1981. Edited by Stephen Murray-Smith. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PRACTICE Edited by J. A. Pettifer. AUSTRALIAN IMPERIALISM IN THE PACIFIC: The Expansionist Era 1820–1920. By Roger C. Thompson CRITICAL ESSAYS IN AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. Edited by Graeme Duncan. WOOL IN WARTIME: A Study in Colonialism, by Les White. NORTHERN AUSTRALIA: Options and Implications. Edited by Rhys Jones. GUIDE TO NORTHERN TERRITORY RESEARCH RESOURCES IN NORTHERN TERRITORY COLLECTIONS. Compiled by M.A. Clinch for the Northern Territory Government. THE ABORIGINAL TASMANIANS. By Lyndall Ryan. ALBERT HAHL: Governor in New Guinea. Edited and translated by Peter G. Sack and Dymphna Clark. Peter Biskup, ‘Dr Albert Hahl–Sketch of a German Colonial Official’, Australian Journal of Politics and History 14 (3), 1968, 343–57. Peter Sack, Land Between Two Laws: early European Land acquisitions in New Guinea (Canberra, 1973). Stewart Firth, ‘Albert Hahl: Governor of German New Guinea’, in James Griffin (ed.), Papua New Guinea Portraits: The Expatriate Experience (Canberra, 1978), 28–48. WOMEN, POLITICS AND CHANGE: The Kaum Ibu UMNO, Malaysia, 1945–1972. By Lenore Manderson. UNEQUAL TREATY 1898-1997: China, Great Britain and Hong Kong's New Territories. By Peter Wesley-Smith. THE LAST COLONY: But Whose? A study of the labour movement, labour market and labour relations in Hong Kong. By H.A. Turner et al. CHINA'S INTELLECTUAL DILEMMA: Politics and University Enrolment, 1949–1978. By Robert Taylor. ANATOMY OF THE RAJ: Russian Consular Reports. Edited by Suhash Chakravarty. CLASS AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN KENYA: The Making of an African Petite Bourgeoisie 1905–1970. By Gavin Kitching. THE BRITISH SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. Fourth Edition. By Anthony H. Birch. AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS. Third Edition. By Allen M. Potter, Peter Fotheringham and James G. Kellas. THE PROJECTION OF BRITAIN: British Overseas Publicity and Propaganda 1919–1939. By Philip M. Taylor. GREAT BRITAIN GREAT EMPIRE: An Evaluation of the British Imperial Experience. By W. Ross Johnston. THE BRITISH BUSINESS ELITE: Its attitudes to Class, Status and Power. By John Fidler. A CLASS AGAINST ITSELF: Power and the Nationalisation of the British Steel Industry. By Doug McEachern. A LIBERAL DESCENT: Victorian Historians and the English Past. By J. W. Burrow. THE GREAT POWERS OF THE EUROPEAN STATES SYSTEM 1815 1914. By F. R. Bridge and Roger Bullen. WHO WERE THE FASCISTS: Social Roots of European Fascism. Edited by Stein Ugelvik Larsen, Bern! Hagtvet and Jan Petter Myklebust. DECEPTION IN WORLD WAR II. By Charles Cruickshank. THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 1875-1935: From Ghetto to Government. By W. L. Guttsman. DIE DEUTSCHE INFLATION 1914–1923. Ursachen und Folgen in internationaler Perspektive. By Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich. INTERPRETING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By François Furet. TSAR ALEXIS: His Reign and His Russia. By Joseph T. Fuhrmann. DIARY OF VOLODYMYR VYNNYCHENKO, Vol. 1, 1911–1920. Edited by Hryhory Kostiuk. THE ETHNIC REVIVAL IN THE MODERN WORLD. By Anthony D. Smith. POLITICS IN ETHNICALLY BIPOLAR STATES: Guyana, Malaysia, Fiji. By R. S. Milne. ETHNIC SOLDIERS: State security in a divided society. By Cynthia H. Enloe. ELITES IN AMERICAN HISTORY: The Federalist Years to the Civil War. By Philip H. Burch. BRITISH REGULARS IN MONTREAL: An Imperial Garrison, 1832–1854. By Elinor Kyte Senior. THE POLITICS OF THE SECOND ELECTORATE: Women and Public Participation–Britain, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Eastern Europe, USSR, Japan. Edited by Joni Lovenduski and Jill Hills. WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN: Essays in Philosophical Anthropology, Political Philosophy and Social Psychology. Edited by Ross Fitzgerald. JEAN BODIN: Selected Writings on Philosophy, Religion and Politics. Edited by Paul Lawrence Rose. MACHIAVELLI. By Quentin Skinner. CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY. By Geoffrey Marshall. THE DESIGN AND UNDERSTANDING OF SURVEY QUESTIONS. By William A. Belson.