The East Asia Security Environment in the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century and the Adjustments in Vietnamese Foreign Policy

International relations are social actions, and their expression is behavior of the states. According to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the basis for any social action is habitus and capital (Bourdieu 1982). For Bourdieu, social action is not created in a vacuum but always takes place under certain social conditions. Different social conditions create different spheres that Bourdieu called action fields. The problem is that each field has its own rules, logic and goals. Bourdieu also uses the metaphor of game to explain the concept of field. Like the fields each game has also its own rules and logic. In order to participate in the game players are required to have some knowledge of game, and capacity, skills, and last but not least the interests to play game. The field of the Asia-Pacific region in the beginning of twenty-first century and especially during recent years is one of “center court” of the whole world involving all big players like the US, China, Japan, Russia and India. Their presence with their own behavior and different abilities, interests make this field more interesting, but at the same time more complicated and unpredictable. This article explores the different phases of Vietnam's foreign policy since reform in 1986 and joining ASEAN and adoption of “Resolution No. 8 (section IX) on the Strategy for Fatherland Defence in the New Context” in 1995.     

Exploring the dynamics of policy interaction: Feedback among and impacts from multiple,concurrently applied policy approaches for promoting collaboration

The prisoner's dilemma and stag hunt games, as well as the apparent benefits of collaboration, have motivated governments to promote more frequent and effective collaboration through a variety of policy approaches. Sometimes, multiple kinds of policies are applied concurrently, and yet little is understood about how these policies might interact with each other. This study uses a simulation approach to examine one such case, when policies focused on increasing collaboration competence interact with those that motivate parties to collaborate based on payoff and non‐payoff incentives. Theoretically, our findings suggest seven testable hypotheses for future, rigorous research. Practically, our initial findings suggest that increasing competency generally improves the performance of incentive‐based policies, but not always. Exhortation policies can go too far and may be more prone to doing so when the target population's competency is higher. This means that decision makers are more at risk of applying too much exhortation effort, especially if they are also concurrently applying a competency‐building approach. © 2011 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

现代性：中国法治化的生成支点

中国的法治化建设是在复杂的境遇与多种压力下进行的浩大的社会系统工程。其中,后现代思潮是我们必须正视的一种理论。后现代理论本质上是后工业社会的产物,因而有其特定的生成环境。对中国法治建设而言,最缺乏的是现代性,而不是后现代,而且应当警觉中国前现代法律化与西方后现代法学思潮的畸形杂交对中国法治化的消极影响。现代性应当是中国法治化必须记取的基本前提和必须围绕的一个中心。     

Promotion and Development of "National Sense" in India

At present, the rapid economic rise of India has become a hot topic among academic circles. However, it seems that they are inadequate in exposition of the strategic measures for promoting Indian "national sense" and their significance for the development of this Asian power.     

日本与美国合同原理比较

<正> 在日本,买卖因诺成合同而成立。然而美国则不同,无论是货物的买卖还是土地的买卖以及包括雇佣在内的期间为一年以上的一切合同都不是诺成合同。诺成合同——仅因双方当事人的同意而生效的合同——象征着日本的合同原理。当然,在日本也并非一切合同都是诺成合同,作为例外还存在要物合同。美国对于合同的口头协议采取轻视态度。如美国案例Ozier V.Haines[参见99N.E.     

STR melting curve analysis as a genetic screening tool for crime scene samples

In this proof-of-concept study, high-resolution melt curve (HRMC) analysis was investigated as a postquantification screening tool to discriminate human CSF1PO and THO1 genotypes amplified with mini-STR primers in the presence of SYBR Green or LCGreen Plus dyes. A total of 12 CSF1PO and 11 HUMTHO1 genotypes were analyzed on the LightScanner HR96 and LS-32 systems and were correctly differentiated based upon their respective melt profiles. Short STR amplicon melt curves were affected by repeat number, and single-source and mixed DNA samples were additionally differentiated by the formation of heteroduplexes. Melting curves were shown to be unique and reproducible from DNA quantities ranging from 20 to 0.4 ng and distinguished identical from nonidentical genotypes from DNA derived from different biological fluids and compromised samples. Thus, a method is described which can assess both the quantity and the possible probative value of samples without full genotyping.     

Rubber plantations in the Northwest: rethinking the concept of land grabs in Vietnam

At first glance, rubber plantations in the Northwest of Vietnam do not appear so different from ‘large-scale land acquisition’, which is quite common in the Global South. However, when we closely examine how many processes in plantations work, we can see that there are many different processes at work besides those that take place in other countries where transnational or domestic corporations purchase or lease land for growing food, fibre or fuel crops. Rubber plantations have been strongly supported by the government and promoted as a way to industrialize and modernize the uplands, while claiming to narrow the economic gap between the uplands and lowlands. Drawing on fieldwork in two villages in Son La, and on a review of policy papers and documents, this paper identifies the political mechanisms and policies that have emerged as critical factors enabling the dispossession of land for the development of a market economy with a socialist orientation in Vietnam. The paper seeks to understand how institutional control over land and over the discussion of political subjects produces control. It argues that land grabs for rubber plantations in Northwest Vietnam are moves to strengthen state sovereignty. This land seizure has indeed created a new way of land governance that hitherto did not exist in Vietnam.     

Teaching international relations in Vietnam: chances and challenges

This paper traces the evolution of the teaching of internationalrelations (IR) in Vietnam, from the establishment of the firstInstitute of International Relations in 1959 to the proliferationof departments of IR or international studies from the 1990s.It notes the limitations facing teachers of IR and efforts todevelop and standardize the curriculum in recent years. It alsoexamines the way national history is portrayed in the teachingof Vietnam's foreign policy and regional relations in SoutheastAsia, with increasing attention paid to the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations from the 1990s. Received for publication August 28, 2008. Accepted for publication October 2, 2008.     

ASEAN's Indispensable Role in Regional Construction

The main objective of this paper is to answer the question why the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should play a central role in constructing new security architecture in East Asia. The main argument of the paper is that, unlike other regions, a number of factors account for the complicated conditions observed in the East Asian region that provide a chance for ASEAN to be a central player in this process, promising because small and middle powers rarely can abuse power.

In order to achieve this objective, the paper is divided into three parts. The first part will analyze the major obstacles to the building of a constructive new China-Japan relationship akin to the post-World War II (WWII) ties between France and Germany. The second part analyzes the pivot to Asia by the United States to consolidate its role as regional facilitator. The third part shows why ASEAN can take the lead as a driving force or catalyst in fostering regional cooperation, because as mentioned above neither China nor Japan can do it at this stage. The paper concludes that despite the fact that ASEAN still faces many weaknesses and limitations, it continues to serve as a central player in an emerging architecture where, so far, no new alternative has appeared.