The awakening of the red dragon. China fills the power vacuum in the Far East

The paper analyses the basic parameters of the power of China, according to Geopolitical Theory. Even though the authors adopt a critical approach on some aspects of the geopolitical theory, the geopolitical analysis elucidates the interests of China and the United States and focuses on the way of which the American decision-making system perceives China. The article interprets the geopolitical role of China, starting from the origins of geopolitical theory to the contemporary international relations theory. In addition, it focuses on the current geo-strategic context of the Far East. It analyses Chinas' strategic thinking, China's nuclear doctrine and its military power as compared to the neighbouring countries and as a major player in the world economy.

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Operational oceanography in Indonesia

In 2005 Indonesian and European institutes joined to start the first step for the implementation of an Ocean Operational System in the Indonesian archipelago. The system will support the decision making process for the sustainable use of marine resources, providing useful information and added value products as well as a service for an improved management of the sea with high business impact to targeted groups as public authorities and commercial operators (coastal managers, fishermen, shipping companies). In this paper the System is shortly described with its potential benefits and economic and social impacts.

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Transregional security cooperation after September 11, 2001

The aim of this article is to answer the question what kind of global security architecture emerged after September 11 and what functions Europe, East Asia and the United States assumed in this triadic structure. The empirical findings reveal that the transpacific security cooperation is the strengthening link in this global security structure, the transatlantic security cooperation the weakening one and the Asia–Europe Security Cooperation is to be seen as the emerging link. In order to explain these different institutional manifestations of transregional cooperation, different theories of International Relations are applied to the three cases. It comes as no surprise that neoinstitutionalism and constructivism offer the best insights into the formation and development of international institutions.

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Exit, voice, and loyalty in international organizations: US involvement in the League of Nations

Recent challenges to traditional international relations theory have questioned the nature of international organizations (IOs) as agents of powerful state-members and have examined various conduits through which non-state actors can voice their concerns. Yet little work has focused on participation in IOs when a powerful state’s official position contradicts the goals of actors within it. This article examines the archival record of American involvement in the League of Nations’ economic section to explore such a circumstance. I correct the prevailing historical view of American isolationism in the interwar period and argue that participation by advanced, industrial democracies can better be understood as combinations of exit, voice, and loyalty on the part of individual components of state and civil societies.

EU-China relations: balancing political challenges with economic opportunities

During 2005, the European Union and China marked 30 years of diplomatic relations with much fanfare. Celebrations surrounding the anniversary however belied the fact that throughout most of this period the European Union and China remained largely aloof from one another. The strengthening of EU foreign policy over time, as well as the economic reforms and new outward orientation exhibited by China have changed the dynamics of the relationship. Both sides are increasingly recognizing the potential mutual benefits that can be accrued from a closer relationship. This paper assesses EU-China relations from both economic and political perspectives. In terms of economics, it is clear that the EU must build stronger relations with China if it is to accrue the benefits of access to an expanding market with over one billion people. To do so successfully however, the EU will have to reconcile the economic and political components of its foreign policy. The EU continues to challenge the Chinese government to reform its practices on a number of issues including human rights, democratic reform, and Tibet, all of which remain bones of contention. How the EU achieves the balance between political constraints and economic opportunities is the primary focus of this paper.

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Chinese medicine in an occidental perspective

This article treats the relationship between the Westerners and Chinese medicine. Firstly, the purpose is to comprehend how young Westerners have come to practice Chinese medicine in their lives and, secondly, to learn the eventual consequences of that practice on their lives and attitudes towards this medicine.

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The new impetus towards economic integration between Europe and Asia

With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union the large economic space of the Eurasian super-continent has also become part of the world-wide globalization process. How this process of integration of Eurasia is proceeding in key areas of cross-continental linkages is of great importance for the future of the region and for the future of the World as a whole. One of the key questions will be whether the regional and global institutions can provide adequate support for this integration process.This paper was presented as a keynote speech at The Fourteenth OSCE Economic Forum in Vienna on 23 January 2006. It draws on a longer paper by (Linn and Tiomkin in press).The authors are, respectively, Executive Director of the Wolfensohn Initiative at The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, USA, and MBA and MPA/ID candidate at Harvard University. Johannes Linn served as Vice President for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank from 1996 to 2003.

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APEC and emerging regionalism in North East Asia

This paper explores what kind of regional trade agreement is most likely to emerge in Northeast Asia by tracing the trajectories of APEC. Taking into account the underlying potential of realizing cumulative causation effects between market expansion and technology cooperation among China, Japan and Korea, it reaches the tentative conclusion that a Northeast Asia Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) might take shape in the near future despite the prevalence of polarized versions in the cultural heritage and the international relations between these three countries.

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Potential Benefits from a Deep EU–India Free Trade Agreement

Both parties to an eventual EU India FTA have agreed that it should not merely address tariff barriers but should also go further into what is known as deep integration, originally developed in the 1990s by R.Z. Lawrence. This relates to the removal of all obstacles to cross border business whether actual trade barriers or domestic regulations. We distinguish deep institutional integration from the deep integration of markets. We ask the question how one may support the other. There are potential market failures that can be addressed by trans-national rules on standards and technical regulations and services, but we conclude that the biggest impact of a deep RTA would be on the domestic economy of India if it provides an opportunity for reform. It should be noted that the paper draws on a study undertaken by the authors for DG Trade, but it represents only the views of the authors.

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European presence in Indonesia

This paper describes the European Union (EU) presence in Indonesia. It firstly discusses the reorientation of EU relations with Indonesia. It might be argued that the reorientation has been supported dominantly by economic and political motivations as consequences of the EU’s internal dynamics (such as single market; CFSP), the global dynamics and the rise of inter-regionalism. Secondly, current economic relationships show that the EU presence has been very significant for Indonesian economy, in term of international trade, investments, foreign exchange rate, debt, development assistance and business activities.

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Knowledge hubs along the Straits of Malacca

World history has known areas of relative isolation and areas of high intensity of cultural interaction. The Mediterranean Sea, the Silk Road or the Straits of Malacca can be cited as such crucial contact zones. Within these areas, centres sprung up that served as interfaces between cultures and societies. These “hubs” as we would like to call them, emerged at various points throughout the contact zones, rose to prominence and submerged into oblivion due to a variety of natural calamities or political fortunes. This paper assesses the rise and fall of trade and knowledge hubs along the Straits of Malacca from before colonialisation until today. Historical hubs of maritime trade and religiosity today increasingly establish themselves as educational and knowledge hubs. This leads us to speak of the Straits of Malacca as a chain of—not pearls—but knowledge hubs with Singapore as the knowledge hub in the region shining the brightest of all, as the data suggest. We aim to conceptually grasp this development by suggesting a model or at least a hypothesis about the rise and movement of knowledge hubs in general.

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‘Diplomatic Divergence: the Japanese and British Responses to Indonesia’s Confrontation of Malaysia 1963–1966’

While Indonesia’s policy of Confrontation towards Malaysia brought it into direct military conflict with Britain, this same event prompted Japan to pursue its first explicit postwar diplomatic initiative. Due to different strategic goals for the region, Britain and Japan’s approaches to Indonesian bellicosity were markedly different. Notably, while Britain took a hard-line stance with President Sukarno, Japan in contrast took a lenient approach eschewing economic and diplomatic isolation of Indonesia. With a latent warming in Anglo–Japanese ties beginning in this decade, this paper demonstrates that despite their antithetical approaches to this Southeast Asian crisis bilateral relations were not adversely affected.

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Delegating divisible sovereignty: Sweeping a conceptual minefield

Delegating sovereignty to international organizations (IOs) is both increasingly common and controversial. I address the sources of current controversies in three claims. First, although alleged otherwise, sovereignty is eminently divisible. From practice, indivisibility should not be a barrier to delegating to IOs. Second, it is intuitive that longer chains of delegation will be more likely to fail. Yet, it is not the length of the chain per se that matters as whether identifiable conditions for successful delegation are satisfied. Third, although “delegation” is often used to refer to both, delegating and pooling sovereignty are distinct activities. Much of the concern with IOs is really about pooling rather than delegating sovereignty.

EU FTA negotiations with India, ASEAN and Korea: the question of fair labour standards

The EU sets considerable store by the need for its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) now under negotiation with Asian countries to contain a sustainable development chapter with clear references to respect for the core ILO labour standards. While they reject the sanctions-based approach demanded by the European trade unions, they accept that some real enforcement mechanisms will be needed. Among Asian countries, Korea is most likely to accept some form of a social clause, while India and certainly some ASEAN countries strongly oppose it. This article explores the prospects for mutual agreement on this thorny issue at the bilateral level which, to date, has failed at the multilateral level.

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Ownership and conditionality in IMF-supported programs: Back to Per Jacobsson’s time

Using a historical case study this article provides an example of how heterogeneity of interests within a government may affect the interplay between country ownership of reforms and conditionality in IMF-supported programs. The case study also highlights how pro-reformers’ preferences may be conditional on reforms advancing their personal agendas. This suggests a new issue to be addressed by formal models of conditionality. Two main themes emerge from the analysis: (a) the importance of a clear hierarchy to unify heterogeneous interests among decision makers; and, (b) a flexible country-tailored approach to conditionality can contribute to domestic ownership of reforms.

Agent permeability, principal delegation and the European Court of Human Rights

A growing body of international relations literature examines the delegation of state authority to international organizations. Delegation is a conditional grant of authority from a principal to an agent in which the latter is empowered to act on behalf of the former. This paper explores the effect of agent permeability to interested third parties on the efficacy of control mechanisms established by principals. Our central argument is that higher levels of agent permeability are likely to lead to higher levels of agent autonomy. Because of this, principals who face a potentially permeable agent are likely to delegate more cautiously—partially, in stages, or with clear limits. We illustrate our argument with a case study of the European Convention of Human Rights and its two principal institutions, the Commission and the Court. We find that principals (contracting states) historically delegated quite cautiously to the Court, clearly concerned about the Court’s autonomy. Court behavior in its first two decades reassured principals while increasing the Court’s permeability. Over time, that increased permeability increased Court autonomy in conjunction with the Court’s growing visibility and experience.

A Chinese perspective on Lisbon Strategy

The Chinese interpretations of the Lisbon Strategy fall mainly into two different aspects: one focuses on the more or less neo-liberal orientation of the Lisbon Strategy, the other tries to assess the implications of this orientation toward the norms of national social welfare states. This article focuses on one of the main tool deployed by the Lisbon Strategy, i.e., the “innovation”, discussed its definitions, contents, practices and constraints. The article concludes that the direction of the Lisbon Strategy is more important than the quantitative goals it has set up to achieve, and China can in many ways learn from European experiences reviewed in designing and implementing the Lisbon Strategy.

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Western sociology and the Muslim world

This article examines the Syeikh Muhammad Abduh's ideas on society, diagnoses of its problems and viable solutions. Central to this article's argument is the appropriation of Abduh into the list of thinkers found within the discipline of sociology that has been dominated by Europeans in his era. By highlighting several themes related to the challenges and anxieties faced by Muslim societies in facing up to Western modernity, which Abduh was much concerned with in his discourses, it is hoped that future scholars would re-examine his sociological thoughts in light of its significance towards fostering East–West intellectual symbiosis.

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IMF staff: Missing link in fund reform proposals

Current IMF reform proposals are preoccupied with changing governance structures by reallocating Executive Board chairs and quota shares and with expanding and altering the Fund’s surveillance role, but not enough attention has been paid to whether organizational change at the staff level is also needed. IMF staff have intellectual dominance and discretion in the design of loan conditionality, writing of surveillance reports, and provision of technical and policy advice. There are also clear internal and external criticisms of how the Fund’s organizational culture—that is perceived to be hierarchical, technical/economistic, bureaucratic, and homogeneous/conforming—negatively affects the Fund’s policy output and relationship with borrowing members. This article suggests altering ’how things are done’ at the IMF by making changes to recruitment and organizational structure.

The institutional failures of International Monetary Fund conditionality

The purpose of this paper is to propose an analytical framework integrating the diverse explanations of the failure of IMF conditionality. The IMF is a key player in the running of markets in a global economy. The institutional failures of IMF conditionality are appreciated at two complementary levels: (a) its intrinsic bureaucratic bias, and (b) the inability of the IMF to manage the institutional change required for the development of market processes. A new approach of conditionality suggests the separation of the role of the IMF as financial backer from its role as adviser to countries confronted by the globalization process.