Konfrontasi and Australia's Aid to Indonesia during the 1960s

This article examines Australia's aid program in Indonesia in the 1960s. With the transfer by the Dutch of West New Guinea to Indonesia in May 1963, the Australian government looked to expand aid to its northern neighbour beyond the Colombo Plan in an effort to cement friendly relations. The events associated with konfrontasi threatened this policy objective. Yet despite Indonesia's belligerent stance, Australia was able to continue its aid program (by supporting the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network) and to keep the lines of communication with Jakarta open. When konfrontasi ended in August 1966 after regime change in Indonesia, Australia was able to rapidly expand its aid program. This article argues that konfrontasi changed the ways in which Australia's aid program in Indonesia was construed, which in turn contributed to a re‐consideration of the role of aid in Australia's foreign policy more broadly.     

‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’: diversity and scholarship in Intelligence Studies

This study takes stock of the field of Intelligence Studies thanks to a quantitative review of all the articles published in the two main journals in the field: Intelligence and National Security and the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. Particular attention is paid to the diversity of the authors publishing in these two journals and the evolution of the issues they discuss. Publications in the field are widely authored by males based in the United States and the United Kingdom who write about Western intelligence and security organizations. Recent years have seen a slight diversification in the field but further efforts will be necessary to develop a more eclectic body of researchers and research on intelligence and national security.     

Never a dull moment: Pim Fortuyn and the Dutch parliamentary election of 2002

The 2002 parliamentary election in the Netherlands will always be associated with the name of Pim Fortuyn. His murder only nine days before the election was the first political assassination in the Netherlands in more than 300 years. The sudden success of the new party he had founded, coupled with the major losses for the Labour and Liberal parties, made this an historic election. This article attempts to understand the motivations of the voters at this election, in particular the voters of the List Pim Fortuyn (LPF). It is first shown that the conventional wisdom, which assumes voting based on religion and social class, and voting along ideological issue lines, has lost its ability to explain voter behaviour in the Netherlands. An explanation based on retrospective economic voting is also rejected. The success of the LPF is accounted for by the popularity of Fortuyn and his appeal among those who had cynical attitudes towards government or who were dissatisfied with the performance of the incumbent government. The popularity of Fortuyn is shown to have been related to political issues, in particular those relating to asylum seekers and the integration of foreigners in the country.     

Stilwell in the stocks: the Chinese nationalists and the allied powers in the second world war

Dr Hans van de Ven is Reader in Modern Chinese History at Cambridge University. His most recent publication is War and Nationalism in China, 1925–45 (Routledge, London, 2003; this will be reviewed in the next issue of Asian Affairs). Other publications include Warfare in Chinese History (Leiden, Brill, 2000) and From Friend To Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1991). This article is based on the talk which Dr Hans van de Ven gave to the Society on 11 March 2003.     

Moving beyond the paradox of macroeconomic stability in Uganda?

This article explores macroeconomic policies in Uganda in the wake of the global financial crisis and following the publication of the 2010 National Development Plan. Despite apparent changes in rhetoric regarding macroeconomic policies by the Ugandan authorities, the paper demonstrates how the commitment to conservative monetary and fiscal policies prevails. The article analyses how the persistently conservative macroeconomic policy stance has exacerbated the lack of economic transformation in the Ugandan economy. The resultant outcome has been a failure to absorb the fast-growing Ugandan labour force into productive and gainful employment. The case is therefore made for an alternative macroeconomic framework that puts public investment at its centre and which complements macroeconomic policies with suitable sector-specific and industrial policies.     

When Local Comes to Town: Governing Local Agriculture in the South Carolina Lowcountry

The South Carolina Lowcountry—the coastal region centered on Charleston—has developed a vibrant local food system over the past several decades. This article examines the role of governance institutions in cultivating local-market farmers and the broader agricultural landscape. It argues that the region’s institutions of agricultural governance produce a farmer characterized by “entrepreneurial nostalgia”—put simply, the articulation of entrepreneurial and nostalgic subjects. This farmer subjectivity in many ways fits within what is generally deemed a neoliberal mode of being, yet this article also emphasizes, contrary to much of the work on neoliberalism, the racial politics of such a subject position. Entrepreneurial nostalgia not only emphasizes individualism and the marketing of the self but it does so in a way that aligns with both colorblind and liberal-multicultural forms of racism. The article closes by reflecting on potential openings for reworking this farmer subjectivity.