A near miss: The North Korean nuclear crisis

Don Oberdorfer, The Two Koreas (New York: Addison‐Wesley, 1998), xvii, 472 pp./$30.00 cloth; Leon V. Sigal, Disarming Strangers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), xi, 321 pp./$29.95 cloth.     

Standoff and progress in North Korean nuclear dilemma after the joint statement

This article attempts to analyze the standoff and progress in the nuclear dilemma with North Korea, not only following the September 2005 Joint Statement but also the February and October 2007 agreements. Ever since the Joint Statement, the USA and the DPRK have confronted each other on and off again in process of trying to implement an accord that set up an action-for-action plan designed ultimately to eliminate nuclear weapons program from the North. More seriously, Pyongyang rejected nuclear sampling in spite of agreeing to verification and other measures unanimously agreed among the six parties. It is, thus, expected there is a long road ahead toward a resolution of North Korea’s nuclear dilemma.     

Southeast Asian cooperation in health: a comparative perspective on regional health governance in ASEAN and the EU

Globalization has led to new health challenges for the twenty-first century. These new health challenges have transnational implications and involve a large range of actors and stakeholders. National governments no longer hold the sole responsibility for the health of their people. These changes in health trends have led to the rise of global health governance as a theoretical notion for health policy making. The Southeast Asian region is particularly prone to public health threats such as emerging infectious diseases and faces future health challenges including those of noncommunicable diseases. This study looks at the potential of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a regional organization to lead a regional dynamic for health cooperation in order to overcome these challenges. Through a comparative study with the regional mechanisms of the European Union (EU) for health cooperation, we look at how ASEAN could maximize its potential as a global health actor. Our study is based on primary research and semistructured field interviews. To illustrate our arguments, we refer to the extent of regional cooperation for health in ASEAN and the EU for (re)emerging infectious disease control and for tobacco control. We argue that regional institutions and a network of civil society organizations are crucial in relaying global initiatives, and ensuring the effective implementation of global guidelines at the national level. ASEAN’s role as a regional body for health governance will depend both on greater horizontal and vertical integration through enhanced regional mechanisms and a wider matrix of cooperation.     

美印核合作及其影响

今年3月,美国总统布什在访问印度期间与印度总理辛格就两国民用核能合作的落实问题达成协议.这对美印关系发展具有战略意义,但严重冲击国际核不扩散机制,对世界和平与安全有一定的负面影响.     

The EU and China: policy perceptions of economic cooperation and competition

Asia Europe Journal - Both the EU and China agree on the importance of their bilateral economic relationship, but there are differences in how the relationship is perceived. The gap is reflected in...     

Leadership, decision-making and governance in the EU and East Asia: crisis and post-crisis

The global financial crisis of the late 2000s has affected the EU and East Asia differently. The EU has seen its economic, political and social structures undermined by the problems derived from the global crisis and subsequent eurozone sovereign debt crisis. In contrast, East Asia has gone through the global crisis relatively unscathed and has seen its standing at the global level reinforced. As a result, there has been a reconfiguration of leadership, decision-making and governance structures in both regions. In the case of the EU, Germany has emerged as the clear leader of European efforts to solve regional economic problems. Meanwhile, intergovernmentalism has replaced supranationalism as the decision-making and even implementation procedure of choice. Differently, there is no single leader in East Asia. China has become one of the most important powers at the global level, but at the regional level, different countries have shaped East Asia’s response to the crisis. Concurrently, there has been some move towards increasing integration, even though intergovernmentalism still defines governance structures in the region. Thus, the global financial crisis of the late 2000s has helped to shape new leadership, decision-making and governance structures in both regions.     

Understanding EU crisis diplomacy in the European neighbourhood: strategic narratives and perceptions of the EU in Ukraine,Israel and Palestine

ABSTRACT

This Special Issue seeks to better understand the role of communication and perception in EU crisis diplomacy. In a recent Special Issue in this journal, Catarina Kinnvall, Ian Manners and Jennifer Mitzen argue that, “?…?the greatest security challenge facing people across Europe is not physical, despite the threats of Putin and ISIS, but is a sense of fear and anxiety over their daily lives” [2018. Introduction to 2018 Special Issue of European Security: “Ontological (in)security in the European Union”. European security, 27 (3), 249–265]. We take an interdisciplinary approach to widen the scope of studies on European security and offer new avenues for further research into how citizens in the EU’s neighbourhood understand the security challenges they face and the role the EU plays in addressing these. Through this, we aim to bring theoretical and methodological innovation to understanding the role of the EU as an external actor.     

朝鲜核问题与东北亚安全

自去年十月美国副国务卿凯利与朝鲜方面会谈后披露出朝鲜“承认”有用于发展核武器的“核计划”以来,朝核问题和朝美之间的紧张关系不断升级。今年4月的中朝美三方北京会谈,虽然使朝鲜核问题暂时避免了美伊战争后新的战争危机的出现,但并没有阻止美朝紧张关系的进一步恶化。双方在解决问题的前提条件和步骤上仍然是南辕北辙,相互之间强烈的对立情绪和极度的相互不信任,以及观念和利益上的冲突均使朝核问题和朝美关系复杂化。虽然谈判解决问题的大门依然敞开,但也存在局势恶化的可能。     

ASEAN cooperation: the legacy of the economic crisis

This article examines the implications of domestic politicalchanges in the post-1997 era for ASEAN's regional cooperationand institutionalization. The conceptual framework traces regionalrelations to the makeup and grand strategies of domestic coalitions(internationalizing, hybrid, backlash). Had some predictionsin the immediate aftermath of the crisis been fulfilled, theadvent of domestic backlash coalitions would have portendedlower levels of regional cooperation. Alternatively, in theabsence of changes in the fundamental nature of most rulingcoalitions after the crisis, ASEAN's cooperative thrust wasexpected to be maintained. The article explores the extent towhich ASEAN's activities in the post-crisis era supports eitherof these two propositions. It finds that a shock of major proportionsin Southeast Asia led to some immediate challenges to bilateralrelations. At the same time, the aftermath of the crisis ledto considerable multilateral and bilateral cooperation on economicissues, expansion, intervention, and security. Furthermore,cooperation may have indeed improved despite subsequent crises,including 9/11 and its aftermath. Yet no linear progressionor irrevocable process towards internationalization or regionalcooperation can be assumed. Alternative coalitions, and theirpotential for changing regional trajectories, must be reckonedwith.     

朝鲜的变化与中朝关系--从"传统友好合作关系"到"实利关系"

中国和朝鲜关系自1999年开始恢复,这虽不表示两国已恢复过去的同盟关系,但一定会对朝今后的发展起到积极作用.本文首先介绍中朝关系的变化;然后分析在向朝鲜提供改革模式及理念、经济资源、政治军事援助过程中,中国对朝鲜变化产生的影响;最后得出主要结论,即虽自20世纪90年代后期开始,朝中关系正式进入恢复阶段,但双方关系不再以共享理念和战略目标为基础,而是基于现实利益或战术目标.朝中关系这一新特点将继续制约中国对朝鲜变化过程的影响.此外,文章还针对朝鲜的发展变化,就中韩合作问题提出了若干建议.     

评析欧盟对非洲危机管理政策

冷战结束后,作为欧洲殖民地的非洲大陆频繁发生暴力冲突,牵动着世界尤其是欧盟敏感的神经.这些暴力冲突与前殖民地宗主国即欧盟的某些成员国在殖民时代执行的政策息息相关.欧盟在解决这些危机上具有不可推卸的责任.同时,欧盟想通过执行共同外交与安全政策在国际舞台上扮演重要的角色,把处理非洲危机看成是其共同外交与安全政策的试验场.因此欧盟特别重视非洲的危机管理,并形成了一整套相关的独特政策.     

Comparing regional organisations in global multilateral institutions: ASEAN, the EU and the UN

Structural change brought about by the end of the Cold War and accelerated globalisation have transformed the global environment. A global governance complex is emerging, characterised by an ever-greater functional and regulatory role for multilateral organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and its associated agencies. The evolving global governance framework has created opportunities for regional organisations to participate as actors within the UN (and other multilateral institutions). This article compares the European Union (EU) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as actors within the UN network. It begins by extrapolating framework conditions for the emergence of EU and ASEAN actorness from the literature. The core argument of this article is that EU and ASEAN actorness is evolving in two succinct stages: Changes in the global environment create opportunities for the participation of regional organisations in global governance institutions, exposing representation and cohesion problems at the regional level. In response, ASEAN and the EU have initiated processes of institutional adaptation.     

The South China Sea security problem: towards regional cooperation

Asia Europe Journal - The year 2009 marked many dynamic developments in the South China Sea which attracted the attention of the international community. The main objective of this paper is to...     

The potentials and limits of China–EU cooperation on climate change and energy security

Due to economic interdependency through trade and investment, economies of scale, and economic complementarities, China and the European Union (EU) have a huge potential for cooperation. Already many things have happened so far. Since 2004, the cooperation on climate change has been a key issue on the political agenda of China–EU summits. In 2005, the EU and China even endorsed a “Joint Declaration on Climate Change” which emphasizes reducing the cost of clean energy key technologies for China, first and foremost through the development and deployment of near-to-zero-emission CCS technology. Letting China gain access to clean energy technology is the key issue of climate change cooperation. Despite great efforts and potential mutual benefits, this is still a field of conflicting interests. The authors argue that currently, cooperation on the transfer of clean energy technology is very limited due to rational interests of the actors and the insecurities involved in cooperation. Professor Zhang’s research focus is on environmental issues and international organizations.     

The euro,the enlarged EU and Asia

On January 1^st 2002, euro coins and notes were introduced in the twelve countries of the European Union. The successful introduction of the euro was the last stage of a long process, officially called the Economic and Monetary Union (emu). And this process cannot be understood correctly without placing it in the context of the even longer process of European Integration. This paper explains what the euro is. It looks back briefly at the post-war history of monetary integration in Europe. Then we focus on the emu and explain why and how the euro was successfully introduced. We discuss whether the eurozone is an Optimum Currency Area, whether and how that matters, and the costs and benefits of the euro. Finally, we touch upon the prospects of the new EU members adopting the euro, then discuss the implications of emu in particular and European Integration in general, for Asia.Sachi Suzuki and Tamon Asonuma have ably assisted me in finding and arranging the data. All remaining errors are of course mine.