Beijing and the Myanmar problem

Abstract

The re-emergence of China as a major economic and political power has drawn attention to the role it might play in solving regional problems. Prominent among many Asian issues on Beijing's agenda is its southwestern neighbour, Myanmar, and in particular the military machine that has long ruled the country with an iron fist. The junta in place today is both acknowledged as problematic by policymakers in Beijing, and seen by the wider world as a regional challenge on which China should take the lead. However, there is little agreement on ways forward. To determine how Beijing might handle the Myanmar problem, this article first examines the concept of intervention, reviewing the manifold modes found in the contemporary world and drawing up a typology. Then it surveys arguments about intervention, focusing on perspectives that are relevant in this context. Next it presents arguments about intervention in Myanmar, and follows up by looking in some detail at China's current low-level engagement. Finally it considers where Beijing might go from here in dealing with Myanmar. The argument pulled together in the conclusion is that while nobody has a full solution to the Myanmar problem, a case for enhancement of China's role can be grounded not only in its global obligations, but also in precepts found deep in its national tradition. It is here that efforts to boost Beijing's engagement should be directed.     

Hedging in search of a new age of non-alignment: Myanmar between China and the USA

Abstract

The American ‘return’ to East Asia is currently characterized by a particularly high degree of competition with Beijing among the small and medium powers of Southeast Asia, where the recent Chinese ‘charm offensive’ achieved its most significant outcomes.

This article, hence, aims to explore the nature and patters of this ongoing process of strategic repositioning put into practice by Myanmar within the political triangle with Washington and Beijing. Against this backdrop, we will draw upon the conceptualization of ‘hedging strategy’, which identifies a set of multidimensional ‘insurance policies’ adopted by small actors in their relations vis-à-vis great powers.     

Neglected challenges to evidence-based policy-making: the problem of policy accumulation

Claims for evidence-based policy-making are motivated by the assumption that if practitioners and scholars want to learn about effective policy design, they also can. This paper argues that this is becoming more and more challenging with the conventional approaches due to the accumulation of national policy portfolios, characterized by (a) a growing number of different policy targets and instruments, that (b) are often interdependent and (c) reformed in an uncontrolled way. These factors undermine our ability to accurately relate outcome changes to individual components within the respective policy mix. Therefore, policy accumulation becomes an additional source of the well-known ‘attribution problem’ in evaluation research. We argue that policy accumulation poses fundamental challenges to existing approaches of evidence-based policy-making. Moreover, these challenges are very likely to create a trade-off between the need for increasing methodological sophistication on one side, and the decreasing political impact of more fine-grained and conditional findings of evaluation results on the other.     

Serbia: new leadership,same challenges

The results of Serbia's 2012 elections, which saw the incumbent pro-European administration ousted from power by considerably more nationalistic candidates with ties to Serbia's wartime leadership, were greeted with dismay in many countries. But rather than reverting to the bellicose rhetoric of the 1990s, as some had feared, Serbia's new leaders are deploying a strategy of pragmatism in tackling the country's most enduring issues.     

‘The rock that can't be moved’: China's revised geostrategies in Myanmar

ABSTRACT

Since 2011, Myanmar has undertaken a series of domestic and foreign policy reforms, including democratisation and peacebuilding, before and after the watershed November 2015 elections in the country. These reform processes have called into question whether China, which has been Myanmar's dominant great power neighbour throughout the previous era of military government in the country formerly known as Burma, would find its strategic position eroding as Myanmar further opens to the international community. However, the concept of China ‘losing’ diplomatic ground to other actors, including the West, in Myanmar implies a zero-sum game that does not adequately address Beijing's still-formidable geostrategic presence vis-à-vis its southern neighbour. China has now started to implement a more multi-faceted, ‘resilience network’-building approach to maintaining its special status in Myanmar's foreign policy, a situation which will persist as Myanmar continues its uncertain path towards further reform.     

NPT review: failure underlines challenges ahead

The recent deterioration in relations between Russia and the West was among a series of factors that had dampened hopes that the NPT RevCon could deliver meaningful progress on arms control. Nonetheless, nuclear-weapons states may now be convinced of the need to show greater awareness of the widespread impatience fuelling efforts to ban nuclear weapons.     

Evaluating the effects of changes in AFDC: Methodological issues and challenges

Analysts are commonly called upon to perform the difficult task of evaluating the effects of specific changes in public policy upon the behavior of individuals, such as a change in the provisions of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program relating to the benefits of those in the program who find work. When charged with such a task, analysts commonly try to answer the question by tracing the behavior of a fixed panel of individuals, comparing the experience of the group before and after the change in policy. That approach, however, risks major errors; in the case of the AFDC program, for instance, changes in the work benefit provisions affected the decisions of some who might have come into the program, a consequence that would not be picked up by a fixed panel of initial recipients. Cross-sectional data drawn independently from a general population at points in time before and after a policy change can often provide a more valid measure of the effects of the policy change than can panel data; moreover, cross-sectional data are usually less expensive and more readily available.     

执政成本:执政党不容忽视的重要问题

执政成本关乎执政的得失与成效,关乎执政党的兴衰。在当前形势下,忽视执政成本的现象仍很严重,表现得甚为突出,本文立足现实深刻分析了其成因,并有针对性地提出了建设性对策,以期能够有效降低党的执政成本,提高党的执政效率。最后明确指出执政成本是合目的性与合规律性的统一。     

The Punjab Revenue Authority: Meeting the challenges of a new institution

New institutions generally face many challenges that can inhibit their ability to succeed. The institutionalist literature can serve as a guide, informing important actors of the challenges they are likely to face when founding a new institution. We examine the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) in Pakistan to assess the extent to which the challenges posited by the various streams of institutionalism surfaced as real problems that leaders in Punjab Province had to deal with when establishing the PRA. We found that rational choice institutionalism, historical institutionalism, and sociological institutionalism all identified problems that the PRA had to address. We conclude that the PRA's early successes are a function of its ability to navigate these challenges effectively.     

The power of populism: the Greek case

Abstract. PASOK's rise to power as well as its performance in office are analyzed in terms of the party's ability to construct a populist discourse. The political context and the structure of Greek society are presented as the main factors that enabled PASOK to articulate a populist discourse. It is argued that PASOK's performance in office served to expose its populist logic and that the party's policies in the field of the economy, labour and education show how populism affects political practice. PASOK's vagueness and contradictory policies are not accidental but the result of a populist logic that developed within specific social conditions and serves specific interests.     

Performance appraisal in the Maldives public service: challenges and issues

A structured method of evaluating and rewarding the performance of employees in the Maldives public service did not exist before 1996. Personnel decisions, such as employee promotions, were subjective and based merely on the recommendation of the heads of departments. Hence, in 1996, the Government of Maldives introduced a performance appraisal system, based on rewarding employees through the assessment of several factors such as quality of work, job knowledge and performance. The reward came in the form of annual salary increments. In reviewing this system, the article finds that human resource units or divisions within departments now need to be strengthened for the effective implementation of the system; more training has to be provided to public service employees in terms of raising their awareness as to the objectives of the performance appraisal exercise; and the performance appraisal framework needs to be more flexible in differentiating very high performers, at the same time devising a strategy for the improvement of employees who slack in performance. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stewardship of health security: The challenges of applying the One Health approach

Experience with the control of epidemics, notably the 2004 outbreaks of avian influenza, has demonstrated that a “One Health approach,” that recognizes that human, animal, and environmental health are interdependent, is the most effective way of dealing with threats from emerging infectious diseases (EID). However, introducing and applying a One Health approach is challenging for many countries. One of the key challenges relates to stewardship. The evolution of the strategies and policies used to introduce and adopt the One Health approach in the detection and response to EID over the period 2005 to 2017 is described at global level and in country case studies of Thailand and Indonesia. Both countries experienced significant outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza from 2004 and have sought to adopt the One Health approach in their response strategies. The challenges for stewardship of health systems in introducing a One Health approach are described, and key lessons identified in regard to national level agency coordination, engagement of the broader civil society outside government, and developing a reliable, credible, and impartial decision‐making process. The concept of stewardship provides valuable insights for policymakers on how to incorporate a One Health approach into their EID response systems.     

The challenges of economic integration: the case of shipping in ASEAN countries

Abstract

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed to establish an ASEAN single-shipping market (ASSM) by 2015. This paper aims to assess the impediments in achieving this vision and how they can affect the pace of integration. These impediments include the differences in their national shipping capacity, national shipping policies and regulations, and in their quality of shipping-related infrastructure and institutions. Due to these differences, the economic implications are likely to vary and raise important conceptual and implementation issues. The ASEAN experience could contribute to the understanding of shipping market integration and provide some lessons for other countries.     

Patterns of childhood poverty: New challenges for policy

Poverty takes many forms. Using data from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this article (1) distinguishes different kinds of childhood poverty, defined in terms of the spacing, severity, and duration of spells; and (2) establishes the extent and distribution of childhood poverty, employing new measures that take into account both duration and severity. Some strategies for targeting assistance on particular forms of poverty are briefly considered.     

Brand power and state power: Rise of the new media networks in East Asia

During the past decade, digital technology and global deregulatory forces have facilitated the restructuring of East Asia's mediascape - resulting in complex, internationalized relationships within the regional political economy. Transnational media corporations - such as AOL Time Warner and News Corporation - are negotiating strategically important positions in regional distribution and branded content markets, in the pursuit of 'consumer segments' that form the basis of multi-platform, mass-media customer relationships. In the early phase of the internationalization process, there were expectations that one result would be a more liberalized media discourse environment - eroding authoritarian governments' capacity to control information flows. Evidence to support this contention is unconvincing. Information-sensitive states, notably China, have developed strategies to mediate the distribution of mass information - often in partnership with compliant local entrepreneurs and the international media corporations who may also benefit from uncontroversial customer relationships. Prospects for a broader, richer media canvas might be enhanced by the parallel development of constructive, permissive media policies - underpinned by regulatory principles of modern public service communications and managed competition.     

The Pyu Ancient Cities World Heritage application: lessons from Myanmar on transnational advocacy networks

The announcement of 22 June 2014 from the World Heritage Committee that Pyu Ancient Cities had been added to the World Heritage List was significant for Myanmar, since it represented the country’s first World Heritage site. The World Heritage listing was the culmination of a process driven by a convergence of forces originating from within and outside of Myanmar. An interpretation of Pyu Ancient Cities as involving a transnational network of supporters echoes the work on transnational advocacy networks, which looks to phenomena involving transnational efforts to advance particular issues on behalf of activists against their government. This study examines Pyu Ancient Cities by producing a model that helps to illuminate the efficacy of its social network to engage in transnational advocacy.