Circles of esteem,standard works,and Euphoric couplets

Abstract

Indonesian Studies as a field is strongly influenced by its own social character as a community of competing and cooperating scholars. Outside individual universities, the dominant social form is not the powerful professor, but rather the “circle of esteem,” a cluster of scholars who respect each other, cite each other's work, push each other's ideas into the academic marketplace, and, occasionally, rise to each other's defense. Circles of esteem arise because academic work has less to do with the industrial production of knowledge than with a constant search for novelty, which may arise from new sources or new uses of sources. Although novelty is prized, the value of new work is hard to judge, and it will be more easily accepted when backed by a circle of esteem. There are two effective ways to gain academic prestige outside a circle of esteem. The first is to write a standard work, a conservative strategy to create a work that will become citation fodder for others. The second way is to coin a “euphoric couplet,” which is an unexpected adjective-noun combination encapsulating a previously elusive analytical truth. Euphoric couplets are easy to remember, dissociated from theory, and intriguingly ambiguous.     

Indonesia in transition: A guide to resources

Abstract

This essay is my attempt to guide readers through the thicket of print and film resources from and about Indonesia in a way that provides a structure for making sense of the evergrowing body of literature about Indonesia. The choice of literature recommended in this essay is inspired by my own fascination with the theme of transition from a traditional to a modern society. Just what we understand by “tradition” and “modernity” is, of course, debated constantly, as is the way we evaluate these two conditions. What is not in doubt, however, is that a transition is in progress, that it is taking place rapidly, and that it is at times unrelentingly cruel to those who are experiencing the phenomenon. “Concerned” scholarship, I believe, should be determined to achieve a measure of rational control over that transition through its mastery of all relevant literature.     

Wissen und Bewertung auf Märkten

The purpose of this theoretical article is to contribute to the analysis of knowledge and valuation in markets. In each market actors must know how to value its products. The analytical point of departure of this article is the distinction between two types of markets, status and standard. In a status market, valuation is a function of the status rank orders of identities of the actors on both sides of the market, which is more entrenched than the scale of value and what is traded in the market. In a market characterized by standard, the situation is reversed; the scale of value is more entrenched than the identity rankings of actors in the market. The knowledge that market actors need is contingent upon the market structure. In a status market actors need to know of the actors involved in what is traded since there is no scale of value for evaluating the items traded in the market independently of its buyers and sellers. In a standard market it is more important to know how to meet the standard in relation to which all items traded are compared. The article entails empirical examples and four testable hypotheses.     

DON'T MENTION THE (AFGHAN) WAR: BRITAIN'S CURIOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH PAKISTAN

The article is based on Professor Lieven's recent book, Pakistan: a hard case. He starts by contrasting British and American attitudes, emphasising that Pakistan is far more important to Britain than Afghanistan as a result of the sheer size of the diaspora. And British officials and soldiers spent decades dealing with the North-West Frontier. They would not have been surprised by the shifting loyalties of the tribes, which are simply a fact of life. But the basic point of the book is to explain how the Pakistani system works. Pakistan is a troubled, but not a failing state. It is tougher than we think. But the very reasons for its toughness inhibit change. The military are over-powerful and the tax system is grossly inadequate. Cooperation over the terrorist threat to the West is good, but Afghanistan is another story. Pakistan is making its calculation on the basis of a western withdrawal, which would be welcomed by the average Pakistani. At some point the West will need to cut a deal with the Taliban and only Pakistan can get them to the table.     

Singapore: The Limits of a Technocratic Approach to Health Care

Being a tiny, easily managed polity run by Western-educated technocrats, Singapore is an ideal laboratory for those who believe that there is a “logical” answer to the problem of health-care funding in economically advanced societies. Certainly the ruling elite in this not-very-democratic country is convinced that Singapore is the epitome of a rational, technocratic state in which rule is based on supposedly impartial, objective criteria. The government's achievements in the delivery of health care are at the forefront of its showcase of technocratic achievements. This article uses the Singapore government's innovations in health-care funding as a case study to explore and test the limitations of trying to apply purist technocratic premises and methodologies to governance. The limitations it uncovers raise the question of whether a technocratic approach to governance can ever deliver the promised results and suggests that the attraction of “technocracy” is a chimera.     

“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.     

全面建成小康社会的“制度密码”——庆祝中国共产党成立100周年

2020年是实现全面精准脱贫和全面建成小康社会的收官之年,是中国共产党实现第一个百年奋斗目标的关键之年,也是执政党兑现向人民做出的庄严承诺之年。脱贫攻坚是执政党治国理政的头等大事,民生发展彰显制度体系和治理体系的强劲优势,全面建成小康社会是实现中华民族伟大复兴的坚实基础。制度体系是全面建成小康社会的根本支撑,需要构建精...     

An attempt to form an Anglo‐French ‘industrial entente’

By studying two Middle Eastern cases, Israel and Turkey, this study seeks to understand how countries with chronically high inflation achieve permanent stabilization. It is argued that each case of successful stabilization is facilitated by a combination of favourable political conditions. Having an acute crisis is a necessary though not a sufficient condition. It is argued that what politically seems to help most is the creation of 'social and political consensus'. A wide support for stabilization is more likely if the stabilization plan distributes the costs of stabilization more equally. Skilful leaders also help build consensus and they are more important where other conditions are unfavourable. All these conditions were instrumental in the case of Israel, which is a stable and established democracy. The Turkish case demonstrates that if stabilization is initiated without a consensus, it would prove to be a political disaster for the implementing government. However, rapid positive economic results and favourable political changes may later contribute to creating political and social support for stabilization. In fact, for stabilization to be successful, consensus in the medium term is as or even more important than consensus in the short term.     

Securitizing “spiritual-moral values” in Russia

This article examines how “spiritual-moral values” (SMV) became securitized, or defined as a matter of national security in Russia. I analyze speech acts to show how moves to securitize SMV spread from the political fringe to the center of power, and from individual sectors to the strategic level. This “moral turn” in Russian politics is not merely a superficial attempt of the elite to distract the masses and rally the conservative electorate. The securitization of SMV has wider implications: It is, in the most direct way, the regime’s way of preventing a “color revolution.” By introducing a “state of siege” to the sphere of fundamental moral values, this securitization aids the construction of a national identity that is incompatible with basic human rights. An existential threat is constructed in order to justify extraordinary measures and establish a new social contract in which modernization is sacrificed at the altar of security.     

印尼贫困问题研究

在发展中国家,由于生产力水平低下,政府腐败无能,分配不公等原因,贫困就像一座大山,压得广大中下层人民喘不过气来.如何消除贫困既是一个经济问题,更是一个社会政治问题,一个国家的政府如果不能有效地解决贫困问题,没有能力让广大人民群众过上衣食无忧的日子,那么,这个政府就没有资格执政.所以,在广大发展中国家,衡量一个政府是好政府还是坏政府,首要的标准,就是看她是否真正有能力解决贫困问题,是否真正有能力解决人民群众的吃饭穿衣等民生问题.     

Russia's oil and gas export to Northeast Asia

Russia has been deprived of the chance of becoming a major oil and gas supply source for the Northeast Asian region due to the combination of several factors, in particular by the absence of pipeline infrastructure in the area. Moscow made its first significant decision to construct an energy transportation infrastructure development by 2008, even though it is only the first stage of the 4,000 km long distance pipeline. If the development is made as planned, the Northeast Asian region is set to witness a massive crude oil flow from East Siberia and a sizable LNG export from the Sakhalin Islands before the end of this decade. The Moscow authority is supposed to make a final decision on the long distance natural gas pipeline before the end of 2005. If timing of the supply of pipeline gas to Bohai Bay areas is missed and consequently a massive LNG supply is arranged for North China, a significant delay of pipeline gas introduction to the Northeast Asian region will be inevitable and the price may have to be borne by the region's LNG consumers.     

Reshaping of Japanese Politics and the Question of Democracy

Japan's need for economic and political reform has been recognized but the means to achieve this has not. In this article, J.A.A. Stockwin, professor of Modern Japanese Studies at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford, considers this question by examining the meaning of democracy then applying the theory to the specific case of Japan. He explains that although not identical to a democracy in a Western sense, Japan's system of government is genuinely democratic. Stockwin argues that Japan is now at a crossroads in her history, but before pressing for reform an understanding of the complexity of the Japanese system is necessary. He concludes that a radical restructuring of Japan's political party system towards a bipolar set of party arrangements is necessary but questions whether Prime Minister Junichirô Koizumi is up to the task.     

池田大作以人为本教育思想探析

池田大作是日本著名的现代教育家,他的教育思想内容十分丰富,且充分体现出以人为本的精神实质。他认为,教育是关于＂人＂的事业,教育的目的是对人生意义的追求,是为了使人获得幸福,为了世界和平。教育不仅要传授知识,更要启迪智慧、健全人格、感化心灵、培养情感,促进人的全面自由的发展。因此,教育必须坚持以人为本,坚持以学生为主体,以教师为主导,构建学校、家庭和社会三位一体的教育体系,充分发挥教师在教育中的作用,尊重学生,因材施教,通过以心对心的教育方法,以培养能够承担下一时代重任的人。     

INHERITING “JAPANESE-NESS” DIVERSELY

The late twentieth century saw a rise of global discourse about heritage. Research on heritage politics, however, has shed little light on heritage practices in schools, especially regarding language, that is, how heritage language is constructed and how it is “inherited” by students of various backgrounds. Heritage language education is often viewed as a means to empower heritage language speakers or to address the diverse needs of students in language classes. In existing works, the individual’s link to “heritage” is assumed as given and stable. More recent works show that the processes and effects of heritage language education are complex and nuanced due to diverse personal backgrounds and changing political economy and cultural politics. The role of schooling in the process of “inheriting” language, however, has not attracted much attention: how students are grouped or tracked into a particular class, for example. After ethnographically investigating various views and practices at a weekend Japanese language school in the northeastern United States throughout 2007 and 2008, the authors of this article argue that heritage language school is not merely a place to reproduce “heritage” by passing it on to students, but it is also a productive site where ways to imagine “heritage” and “inherit” it proliferate. The article analyzes the processes by which what would be considered as merely “speaking Japanese” and “being Japanese” outside heritage language school are differentiated into diverse ways of being Japanese. It suggests a need to investigate school as a site of heritage politics as well as a need for researchers and practitioners to view heritage language education not only as a way to teach language but also as a means to gain an understanding of heritage politics.     

The fractured state in the governance of private game farming: the case of KwaZulu-Natal Province,South Africa

Conversion from livestock and/or crop farming to game farming has been a notable trend on privately owned land in South Africa over the last decades. The rapid growth of wildlife ranching is associated with an annual increase in the areas enclosed by game fences and high demand for wildlife which is being traded privately and at wildlife auctions. Key environmental, agricultural and land reform legislation has been passed since 1994 that impacts this sector, but this legislation does not provide a clear regulatory framework for the game farming industry. This article seeks to understand why game farming is thriving in a regulatory environment plagued with uncertainty. The focus is on one province, KwaZulu-Natal. It is clear that the state is not a homogeneous and monolithic entity applying itself to the regulation of the sector. There is no clear direction on the position of private game farming at the interface of environmental and agricultural regulations. The argument put forward is that the fractured state, in fact, provides space within which the game farmers are able to effectively manoeuvre and to maximise their advantages as private landowners. While game farmers may complain about strict wildlife regulation in the province, the benefits they gain from the combination of a divided state and the presence in this province of a strong, autonomous conservation body are considerable.     

MYANMAR’S ‘ROHINGYA’ CONFLICT: MISCONCEPTIONS AND COMPLEXITY

Myanmar’s Rohingya conflict is arguably the most sensitive and complex issue facing the country, both in terms of the extent of physical and social destruction, and the impact on Myanmar’s domestic reform and international standing. The scale of human suffering is mind-numbing, the reactions of Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar authorities baffling. However, too much international commentary is reductionist, flattening multiparty and multifaceted sociopolitical dynamics into a simple narrative, which is detrimental to understanding and responding to the conflict. This paper attempts to make sense of some of this complexity, firstly by addressing several common misperceptions of the conflict, then analysing it from a variety of theoretical perspectives. The first misconception is that this conflict is not new, but significant antecedents date back at to at least World War II, if not before. The second is that this conflict is not merely about state oppression of a despised and vulnerable ethno-religious minority, but rather a multipolar conflict with conflict and violence, driven by mutual existential fears and deeply historical grievances on all sides, by at least three key actors. This multipolarity needs to be better understood but outsiders seeking resolution of the conflict. And finally, the third is that this conflict is not primarily about the denial of citizenship and statelessness of the Muslims, as significant as this is, but about definition of the political community in Myanmar and the politics of inclusion/exclusion in governance. Framing this as an ‘intractable conflict’, this paper then examines the drivers of conflict from the perspective of an ethnic security dilemma, a double minority complex, and the political economy, arriving at conclusions about the nature of the conflict and sounding a final warning about a potential moral hazard arising from the way international support is framed and offered.     

The Head of State Debate: A Response to Sir David Smith and Professor David Flint

In the 1990s political leaders debated a constitutional amendment that would make Australia a republic. That debate continues to the present day. Republicans believe that becoming a republic means having an Australian as head of state instead of the Queen. Constitutional Monarchists see no need for Australia to become a republic since Australia, they argue, is already an independent nation‐state. They contend that the head of state, the Governor‐General, is an Australian citizen and has been since 1965, and that the Queen of Australia is the Sovereign. The purpose of this article is to provide a republican response to recent arguments of two leading Constitutional Monarchist, Sir David Smith and Professor David Flint.     

The role of social media in freeing Botswana from state control of the media

This paper argues that social media is important in any state which claims to be a democracy and that failure to have robust media involvement in the democratic process is likely to jeopardise democratic principles. Although Botswana has been crowned as a successful story of African democracy over time, it is argued here that she is a liberal democracy marred by some shortcomings – especially those that have to do with government-media relations. The paper contends that the media (both government and private) is an indisputable partner in the deliberative democratic process, which should be nurtured and celebrated. A case is made that relations between the Botswana government and the country's media houses has of late become hostile, as evidenced by the arrests and detentions of journalists. Premised on deliberative democratic theory, the article argues that a state which claims to be democratic, such as Botswana, needs to respect basic fundamental principles of democracy, such as freedom of the press.