The contribution of Archie Mafeje to the debate on land reform in Africa

ABSTRACT

This article situates the election of Barack Hussein Obama as President of the United States of America within the current global political economy. It examines the major tenets of neo-liberalism, the founding ideology of this economy, and the policies by which neo-liberal ideology targeted and achieved a diminution of global state authority concomitant with a rise of market sovereignty. The consequences have been disastrous for the evolution of constitutional democracy and are at the root of the current economic crisis. As a critical factor that propelled Barack Obama's election, this article argues that Obama's presidency may offer a turning point away from a neo-liberal ideology and towards a strengthened commitment to constitutional democracy.     

East Asia in the Global Economy: Theoretical and Empirical Questions for Marxism

ABSTRACT

As Marxism and socialism pass through watershed years it is important to reflect on the abiding questions of Marxist theory and empirical analysis. This article takes up this task in the context of East Asia under the impetus of globalisation and neo-liberalism, introducing a collection of five articles collected in the special issue. The article shows that questions Marx posed about the global economy more than a century ago remain prescient and continue to animate cutting-edge research, as shown in the articles in this special issue.     

Political Finance Regimes in Southeast Asia: Introduction

ABSTRACT

The three articles in this themed collection investigate the interplay between political finance regimes and the quality of democracy in Southeast Asia. Andreas Ufen's piece on political finance in Malaysia and Singapore argues that the semi-authoritarian regimes in both states have blocked the reform of campaign and party funding regulations in order to keep their opposition in check. The article on Indonesia, authored by Marcus Mietzner, showcases the country's dysfunctional political finance system as a major hurdle toward further democratization. In their contribution on Thailand, Napisa Waitoolkiat and Paul Chambers show that weak political finance regulations have contributed significantly to the shallowness of Thai parties. Overall, the collection demonstrates that without meaningful political finance reforms, Southeast Asia's democratic stagnation is likely to persist for many years to come.     

International politics in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century central Asia: beyond anarchy in international-relations theory

Using historical analysis of relations between city-states and other international actors in Central Asia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this article evaluates new structural theories of international politics, chiefly those of David Lake and Jack Donnelly. Pre-colonial Central Asia offers a usefully tough case for structural theories, since it so little resembles the modern international order that these theories were developed to describe. Empirically, the article proceeds by evaluating the region's city-states' relations with three groups of actors: one another; neighbouring empires; and the many non-state actors present at the time. It concludes with an assessment of the merits of the new structuralisms, and a discussion of their value for constructivist international-relations theories of international change.     

Blurring the line between licit and illicit: transnational corruption networks in Central Asia and beyond

The anti-corruption norm in both scholarship and the policy world has too narrowly focused on the domestic and institutional context of bribe-taking and public corruption. Instead, we argue that corruption in the contemporary global economy requires a multiple set of connected transactions, processes, and relationships that take place within informal transnational networks that blur the line between illegal and legal activities. These networks include multinational companies, elites in host countries, offshore financial vehicles and conduits, middlemen and brokers, and destination financial institutions. We examine how these actors operate in Central Asia, a region that is widely identified as corrupt, yet is rarely understood as embedded in the types of global processes, offshore connections and transnational links specified in our analysis. Examples of offshore centers in tax planning from Central Asia, and partial results from a field experiment based on impersonating high corruption risks from four Central Asian states, provide evidence for how the various actors in transnational financial networks structure their dealings. We then present two brief illustrative cases of how these transnational networks have operated in energy explorations services in Kazakhstan and telecommunications contracts in Uzbekistan. Our findings have theoretical, practical, and normative implications for scholars and practitioners of Central Asian international political economy and other ‘high risk' regions.     

Looking beyond the economy: Pussy Riot and the Kremlin's voting coalition

The arrest of the protest punk band Pussy Riot (PR) in March 2012 and the subsequent prosecution of three band members pose a significant puzzle for political science. Although PR's performances presented a coherent alternative to the Putin regime's image of Russian reality, it was unlikely that the discordant music and crude lyrics of their art protest would inspire Russian society to take to the streets. Yet, the regime mounted a very visible prosecution against the three young women. We argue that the trial marked a shift in the Kremlin's strategy to shape state–society relations. In the face of declining economic conditions and social unrest, the PR trial encapsulated the Kremlin's renewed focus on three related mechanisms to insure social support: coercion, alliance building, and symbolic politics. The PR trial afforded the Kremlin an important opportunity to simultaneously redefine its loyal constituency, secure the Church–state relationship, and stigmatize the opposition.     

Neo-Liberalism,Mining and Labour in the Indian State of Odisha: Outlining a Political Economy Analysis

In a context of mining privatisation and a drive towards labour informalisation in India, this article investigates the implications for labour of the neo-liberal agenda in the mining sector of the Indian state of Odisha. This is part of a broader research project investigating the social dynamics underlying the neo-liberal project in Odisha. The article initially summarises previous analysis of the political economy of mining privatisation policies in order to provide the background for understanding the implications of neo-liberal mining policies for labour. Acknowledging the complexity of labour’s situation and future, the article focuses first on mining labour relations and labour conditions in private iron ore mines; and second, the article seeks to detail the implications of the expansion of opencast mining in forest areas on the livelihoods of that part of the population – mainly consisting of Scheduled Tribes or Adivasis and partially of Scheduled Castes or Dalits – who in some measure depend on forest resources and/or agricultural land in mining areas. In sum, the article attempts to raise the issue of the dynamic interaction between the reproduction of a specific, local, socially and politically dominant class, and the reproduction of labour fragmentation within the neo-liberal turn of capitalism.     

Introduction: Assessing the Social and Political Impact of the Internet and New Social Media in Asia

This paper introduces a special issue on the social and political impact of new information communications technologies (ICTs) in Asia, with specific attention paid to new social media. This paper provides some contextualisation of the broader questions that the principal literature on the subject raises, namely questions about the effectiveness of ICTs as tools for mobilisation and information exchange; mechanisms of censorship and control; and the nature of public discourse on the Internet. In doing so, the paper introduces and locates the articles that comprise this special issue within these debates.     

Trade Liberalisation in Latin America: the Bolivian Case1

Abstract— Bolivia adopted a drastic trade liberalisation in 1985 as part of its neo- liberal New Economic Policy. The paper discusses the theoretical arguments which underlie such a policy and the main neo-structuralist criticisms. It then looks at the effects of liberalisation on resource allocation, productivity growth and export performance. It concludes that the results have been disappointing which gives rise to some scepticism concerning the advantages of a wholesale policy of trade liberalisation in a low income country such as Bolivia.     

论晚清政府对东南亚华侨的保护政策

1860年以后,清政府对东南亚华侨开始实施全面的保护政策,并采取了在华侨居住国设立使领馆、与有关国家签订双边条约及规定等措施。清政府之所以采取这种政策,其主要原因在于当时国际国内形势的变化。这种政策的实施,在一定程度上保护了东南亚华侨的利益,应予肯定。     

美国对亚非会议政策再探讨——基于东亚冷战的视角

20世纪50年代中期东亚地区冷战的特点是美国着力组建旨在遏制中国的军事同盟体系,而中国通过落实国际和平统一战线政策力图突破美国的封锁。亚非会议成为中美两国冷战角力的焦点。美国对亚非会议的政策有两个基本点:第一,美国不公开反对召开亚非会议,但鼓励所谓“温和国家”与会,以间接发挥美国对会议的影响力;第二,全力阻止会议发起国做出邀请中国与会的决定。在行动没有奏效的情况下,转而要求自己的盟国代表“自由世界”发言,尽可能限制中国代表团在会上的影响。会议开幕后,美国没有对周恩来提出的缓和台湾地区紧张局势的声明给予积极回应。会议结束后,美国逐渐认识到周恩来的外交活动在会议上取得了成功,但仍然未能促使它改变遏制、敌视新中国的政策。     

美国东南亚安全政策的主要影响因素分析

美国东南亚安全政策的制定与确立是多种因素综合作用的结果,其中美国在东南亚的根本利益和战略需求是政策的基本出发点和主要依据,中国因素和东盟因素可以说是最重要的参数之一.三者在政策制定过程中的作用具有决定性的意义.     

马来西亚伊斯兰金融系统发展研究

目前,马来西亚已建立起完整的伊斯兰金融体系,它与传统的金融系统一起被称为"双系统".马来西亚广义的伊斯兰金融系统包括伊斯兰银行市场、伊斯兰保险市场和伊斯兰资本市场,系统性和完整性是其重要特点.马来西亚持续发展伊斯兰金融体系的努力,使得其成为伊斯兰金融发展的领跑者.     

从《东南亚集体防务条约》看美国的南中国海政策

1954年以美国为首签署的<东南亚集体防务条约>正式把南中国海纳入美国的防御圈内;此前,南中国海位于美国在西太平洋的防线之外.之后,该条约多次被试图援引,用以对付所谓的"共产主义",实指中国在南中国海的活动.纵观20世纪50、60年代,在遏制共产主义的战略下,美国不仅试图否认中国对南中国海岛礁的主权,还坚决反对中国在南中国海采取任何行动,但放任台湾当局、菲律宾和南越等冷战盟友在南中国海的活动.     

U.S. Policy in East Asia and the pacific: Building on the past and the present for the future

The author persuasively argues that U.S. policy in the Asia-Pacific region has been and must continue to be based upon four fundamental principles: 1) genuine respect for the interests and prerogatives of the peoples of the region; 2) support for the establishment of democratic institutions and processes in East Asia and the Pacific; 3) the expansion of trade and investment with basic reliance on the market forces of competition and free enterprise; and 4) recognition that peace and stability are best facilitated by addressing specific sources of regional tension.     

东亚经济发展模式多样性研究

本文分析了东亚经济发展模式的概念与内涵 ,揭示了单一“东亚模式”与多样性“东亚模式”论争的实质 ,比较研究了东亚四类经济发展模式的共性与特性 ,以及政府在经济发展模式形成中所起的作用