Pipelines,crisis and capital: understanding the contested regionalism of Southeast Asia

Abstract

Via an analysis of the trans-ASEAN gas pipeline project (TAGP), in this article we argue for a reconceptualising of the regional dynamics of Southeast Asia and the forces shaping them. For this task, we propose an analytical framework based upon social conflict theory that delves within and beyond the state, and which places emphasis upon the roles of both material and ideological factors operating across time in the reordering of particular geographical spaces. The framework reveals that the tensions acting within and upon ASEAN and the TAGP influence regionalism in such a way that the gas pipeline project – much like other ‘regional’ projects – is unlikely to ever come close to fulfilling its brief of enhancing regional security and cohesion. What is more probable is that the project's form will continue to be conditioned by entrenched politico-economic realities and the influence of dominant ideologies – factors which have the capacity to exacerbate existing regional animosities and disparities.     

Renewable energy and East Asia's new developmentalism: towards a low carbon future?

Abstract

East Asia's renewable energy (RE) sector has grown faster than any other region's since the mid-2000s. It is argued that renewables formed an integral part of the region's new industrial policies and new developmentalism, which are founded on new configured forms of state capacity shaped in response to various challenges, primarily climate change, energy security, globalisation and global neo-liberalism. By studying the recent progress of East Asia's RE sector, we gain useful insights into these key developments in East Asia's political economy and the region's prospects for transition towards low carbon development. This analysis considers how and why different approaches to RE policy emerged in East Asia, to what extent the promotion and expansion of East Asia's RE sector is part of a new industrial policy paradigm and new developmentalism, and what the study of East Asian policies on promoting renewable energy can tell us about the region's broader approach to low carbon development. Although the promotion of renewable energy has been a fundamental part of East Asia's recent macro-development plans and new developmentalism generally, these same plans suggest that East Asian states will simultaneously continue to significantly promote high carbon and ecologically damaging industrial activities, thus undermining the low carbon credentials of East Asia's new developmentalism. The path to meaningful low carbon development will be very long and will take many decades to achieve. However, it is contended that by maintaining and improving their various forms of state capacity over time, the East Asian states will be well positioned to sustain the significant growth of their renewable energy sectors and thereby further strengthen the low carbon development orientation of their new industrial policies, macro-development plans and strategic economic thinking.     

Comment on Lawrence J. Vale's “beyond the problem projects paradigm: Defining and revitalizing ‘severely distressed’ public housing”

For several decades, manufactured housing has been a crucial source of affordable housing, particularly for rural areas. However, electricity consumption per unit area and per capita are substantially higher for manufactured housing units relative to site built, single-family detached units. This article uses data from the federal Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) to examine patterns of electricity consumption in manufactured housing units over time and to draw comparisons with single-family detached housing units. Regression analysis is used to model annual electricity consumption for manufactured housing units in 1990 and 2005. Temporal trends in key predictors are discussed and contrasted with those for single-family detached units. Findings suggest that the most important predictors of electricity consumption are comparable across the housing types considered and that while manufactured housing units may be gaining in energy efficiency over time, consumption per unit area and per capita are increasing faster than in single-family detached units.     

Oil Spill Causation and the Deepwater Horizon Spill

The April 20, 2010, BP Deepwater Horizon blowout riveted citizen and elected officials' attention on coastal oil spills in ways not seen since the ill‐fated 1989 Exxon Valdez crisis. A commonly voiced lament included why was the tragedy not prevented? Why the seemingly poor safety practices and who is to blame? Could a spill of such catastrophic proportion happen elsewhere in the future? Applying a spill prevention causation framework developed through the examination of other major near‐shore incidents over a 23‐year period, the author finds Deepwater Horizon exhibited a pattern of shortcomings evident in these other spills. These shortcomings are rooted in policy imperfections, a weak regulatory regime, organizational deviance in lieu of integrity, and interorganizational structure deficiencies.     

Pressure or Information? Lobbying for Binding Renewable Energy Targets in the European Union

This article analyzes the European renewable energy industry's capacity for pressure‐based and information‐based lobbying and its strategies in two lobbying efforts: for a legally binding target of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020 (a proposal adopted by the European Council in March 2007) and for binding interim targets as a means to secure effective implementation of the 2020 target (a proposal that was not adopted). It finds that the industry has the capacity for information‐based lobbying but very limited capacity for pressure‐based lobbying. The article also discusses the effectiveness of the two lobbying types. It argues that information‐based lobbying is particularly effective early in the decision‐making process, and hypothesizes that early information‐based lobbying may compensate for limited capacity for pressure‐based lobbying and for information‐based lobbying that takes place later in the decision‐making process, but concludes that this strategy would have been unlikely to be effective in the second case.     

Media Framing and Public Attitudes Toward Biofuels

This study investigates the relationship between media framing and public opinion on the issue of biofuels—transportation fuels made from plants, animal products, or organic waste. First, the paper investigates how media framing of biofuels has changed since the issue regained national prominence in the early 2000s. Through a detailed content analysis of newspaper coverage, the paper documents an increase in negative frames between 1999 and 2008, especially frames focusing on the negative economic effects of biofuels on consumers. Second, using data from a 2010 Internet survey of a random sample of the U.S. public, the paper analyzes the relative influence of these new media frames on public attitudes toward biofuels compared with other common predictors of public opinion, such as party ID, regional economic interests, and personal identity as an environmentalist. In general, the results confirm that public attitudes toward biofuels appear to be shaped by these new media frames, especially among those who indicate a high degree of attention to the media, suggesting the relative importance of framing effects on policy attitudes for environmental and energy policies in general.     

Harnessing Africa's sun: China and the development of solar energy in Kenya

Africa has immense energy challenges, characterised by low rates of access to electricity, irregularities and a general shortage in electricity supply. Solar energy provides African governments with the opportunity to address these challenges. With an average quantity of five to six kilowatts of power from the sun per square metre per day, the continent has vast potential for producing energy from the sun. The moderate success that Kenya has achieved in its solar energy industry is commendable and provides a good platform for other countries aspiring to extend electrification to its population through solar energy. China's emerging capabilities in solar technology also offers the continent the opportunity to take decisive steps towards sustainable energy. The proposed partnership between China's Tianpu Xianxing Enterprise and Kenya's Electrogen Technologies to build a solar panel factory in Kenya is a positive step towards addressing energy challenges.     

Russia's energy governance transitions and implications for enhanced cooperation with China,Japan, and South Korea

A Tokyo-based economist and a noted western economic geographer, both specializing in the hydrocarbon resources of Russia, apply the framework of governance studies in an effort to gain a deeper understanding of the recent changes in the country's energy policy-making. The authors argue that, unlike the international relations paradigm prevailing in studies of Russia's energy policy, the country's multiple roles in the international energy arena (as producer, consumer, exporter, importer, and transit state) warrant a more nuanced approach, reflecting Russian energy policy's flexibility over time and diversity across space. This paper endeavors, therefore, to apply a political economy and governance perspective to an understanding of the significant changes in Russia's energy policy-making regarding its dynamic energy relations with the Northeast Asia (NEA; China, Japan, and South Korea). In exploring the complex interactions between Russia's internal energy policy-making and its emerging energy relations in NEA, the authors addresses three key questions, namely: (1) how Russia's Asian energy policy corresponds to its domestic needs, (2) how much coherence in energy governance and cooperation exists between Russia and the Northeast Asian states at the institutional and organizational levels, and (3) the extent to which Russia's expectations for increased energy cooperation with the Northeast Asian states are likely to materialize.     

Using Paint to Investigate Fires: An ATR‐IR Study of the Degradation of Paint Samples Upon Heating

Fire investigation is a challenging area for the forensic investigator. The aim of this work was to use spectral changes to paint samples to estimate the temperatures to which a paint has been heated. Five paint samples (one clay paint, two car paints, one metallic paint, and one matt emulsion) have been fully characterized by a combination of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR‐IR), Raman, X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy and powder X‐ray diffraction. The thermal decomposition of these paints has been investigated by means of ATR‐IR and thermal gravimetric analysis. Clear temperature markers are observed in the ATR‐IR spectra namely: loss of ν(C = O) band, >300°C; appearance of water bands on cooling, >500°C; alterations to ν(Si–O) bands due to dehydration of silicate clays, >700°C; diminution of ν(CO₃) and δ(CO₃) modes of CaCO₃, >950°C. We suggest the possible use of portable ATR‐IR for nondestructive, in situ analysis of paints.     

Relation of Kinetic Energy to Contact Wounds of the Head by Centerfire Rifles and Shotgun Slugs

Wounds of high‐energy centerfire rifles and shotguns represent distinctive injuries of forensic importance. Previous studies of contact wounds have shown variability in the potential of these weapons to produce bursting wounds of the head. The present study analyzed contact head wounds owing to 26 centerfire rifles and nine shotgun slugs and compared them with respect to weapon, ammunition, entry wound site, and projectile kinetic energy. The bursting effect, defined for this study as disruption of at least 50% of the head, occurred in 25/35 of cases and was related to kinetic energy. Bursting was associated with energies <2700 ft‐lbs in 12/22 cases and energies >2700 ft‐lbs in 13/13 cases. The volume of gunpowder gas injected into the wound was considered as contributing to the bursting phenomenon. There was no relation of bursting to the specific entrance wound site, type of ammunition, or projectile fragmentation.