Download or read book China as a Rising Norm Entrepreneur Examining GDI GSI and GCI written by Manoj Kewalramani and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2024-02-05 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper discusses Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship global initiatives’ normative implications for the world order. It argues that the Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI) and Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), which are key pillars of China’s proposal to build a community of common destiny for mankind, are driven by Beijing’s desire to cultivate authority in the international system. Analysing the speeches by Chinese leaders, policy documents, media and analytical discourse in China, along with policy decisions, this study provides an assessment of the Chinese leadership’s worldview. It places the launch of GDI, GSI and GCI within this context, before detailing the elements of each initiative and offering a critical analysis. This study concludes that through GDI, GSI and GCI, the Chinese leadership hopes to shape an external environment that not only ensures regime security but is also favourable to China’s development and security interests. In doing so, however, it is reshaping key norms of global governance towards a fundamentally illiberal direction.

Download or read book Understanding Vietnam s Foreign Policy Choices Amid Sino US Rivalry written by Hoang Thi Ha and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2024-06-20 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vietnam’s foreign policy towards China and the United States (US) involves a delicate process of reconciling and balancing competing perceptions, goals and interests within the country. This leads to foreign policy decisions that may respectively lean towards either China or the US, depending on specific circumstances and issues, while trying to maintain an overall equilibrium between the two powers. Vietnam’s foreign policy adopts the paradigm of “cooperation” and “struggle” in its relations with major powers, and defines “national security” as encompassing both national sovereignty and regime security. Given the common ideology and imperative of preserving political control of their respective communist parties, China may be a critical partner for Vietnam in terms of regime security but is often an “object of struggle” on national sovereignty. On the other hand, the US is Vietnam’s partner in the South China Sea but an “object of struggle” when it comes to regime security. The Vietnamese public’s favourable sentiments towards the US, contrasted with their distrust towards China, pose a challenge for the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in mobilizing public opinion to bolster its legitimacy while preventing any potential threat to its political authority. A friendly relationship with China is essential for Vietnam’s favourable external environment, warranting Hanoi’s accommodation and deference to Beijing on non-critical issues. However, it has meticulously avoided dependencies and vulnerabilities to China through diversifying economic ties and engaging in “soft balancing” with other powers and through ASEAN. Party-to-party links provide China with powerful access to Vietnamese leaders, but the US is catching up by giving assurances to respect Vietnam’s political system, and strengthening “party diplomacy” with the CPV. In its relationship with the US, Vietnam prioritizes economic ties, addressing war legacy issues, leveraging US support to build capacities in traditional and non-traditional security, and avoiding geopolitical posturing that could provoke China. Vietnam-US relations are characterized by pragmatism, with both sides prioritizing shared geopolitical and economic interests over ideological differences. The sustainability of this approach is uncertain, given the CPV’s tightening of domestic control and the “securitization of the Vietnamese state” in the anti-corruption campaign. Vietnam has thus far benefited from the US-China rivalry but it faces substantial challenges ahead, including heightened vulnerabilities to an assertive China in the South China Sea and Lower Mekong, potential trade tensions if Donald Trump is re-elected as US president, and risks in balancing its ideological ties with Beijing while maintaining its strategic alignment with the US.

Download or read book Whose Ideas Matter written by Amitav Acharya and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-22 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Asia is a crucial battleground for power and influence in the international system. It is also a theater of new experiments in regional cooperation that could redefine global order. Whose Ideas Matter? is the first book to explore the diffusion of ideas and norms in the international system from the perspective of local actors, with Asian regional institutions as its main focus. There's no Asian equivalent of the EU or of NATO. Why has Asia, and in particular Southeast Asia, avoided such multilateral institutions? Most accounts focus on U.S. interests and perceptions or intraregional rivalries to explain the design and effectiveness of regional institutions in Asia such as SEATO, ASEAN, and the ASEAN Regional Forum. Amitav Acharya instead foregrounds the ideas of Asian policymakers, including their response to the global norms of sovereignty and nonintervention. Asian regional institutions are shaped by contestations and compromises involving emerging global norms and the preexisting beliefs and practices of local actors. Acharya terms this perspective "constitutive localization" and argues that international politics is not all about Western ideas and norms forcing their way into non-Western societies while the latter remain passive recipients. Rather, ideas are conditioned and accepted by local agents who shape the diffusion of ideas and norms in the international system. Acharya sketches a normative trajectory of Asian regionalism that constitutes an important contribution to the global sovereignty regime and explains a remarkable continuity in the design and functions of Asian regional institutions.

Download or read book Smokeless War written by Manoj Kewalramani and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-28 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In January 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak in China was viewed as a black swan event, threatening the Communist Party's rule. Two short months later, however, China appeared to have controlled the virus, while the rest of the world struggled to respond. As country after country imposed lockdowns of varying strictness and the human cost began to rise, geopolitical frictions flared up over the origins of the virus, along with Beijing's early failures, diplomacy and discourse. Smokeless War: China's Quest for Geopolitical Dominance offers a gripping account of the Communist Party of China's political, diplomatic and narrative responses during the pandemic. Drawing on the latest academic research and Chinese language sources, it discusses the Party–State's efforts to achieve greater discourse power and political primacy, as it sought to convert a potentially existential crisis into a historic opportunity. In doing so, the author provides an insightful account of the Communist Party of China's approaches to cultivating sources of strength and exercise of power.

Download or read book Artificial Intelligence in Society written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape has evolved significantly from 1950 when Alan Turing first posed the question of whether machines can think. Today, AI is transforming societies and economies. It promises to generate productivity gains, improve well-being and help address global challenges, such as climate change, resource scarcity and health crises.

Download or read book The Making of Southeast Asia written by Amitav Acharya and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-15 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing a framework to study "what makes a region," Amitav Acharya investigates the origins and evolution of Southeast Asian regionalism and international relations. He views the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) "from the bottom up" as not only a U.S.-inspired ally in the Cold War struggle against communism but also an organization that reflects indigenous traditions. Although Acharya deploys the notion of "imagined community" to examine the changes, especially since the Cold War, in the significance of ASEAN dealings for a regional identity, he insists that "imagination" is itself not a neutral but rather a culturally variable concept. The regional imagination in Southeast Asia imagines a community of nations different from NAFTA or NATO, the OAU, or the European Union. In this new edition of a book first published as The Quest for Identity in 2000, Acharya updates developments in the region through the first decade of the new century: the aftermath of the financial crisis of 1997, security affairs after September 2001, the long-term impact of the 2004 tsunami, and the substantial changes wrought by the rise of China as a regional and global actor. Acharya argues in this important book for the crucial importance of regionalism in a different part of the world.

Download or read book Dictionary of Acronyms and Technical Abbreviations written by Jakob Vlietstra and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 703 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Dictionary covers information and communication technology (ICT), including hardware and software; information networks, including the Internet and the World Wide Web; automatic control; and ICT-related computer-aided fields. The Dictionary also lists abbreviated names of relevant organizations, conferences, symposia and workshops. This reference is important for all practitioners and users in the areas mentioned above, and those who consult or write technical material. This Second Edition contains 10,000 new entries, for a total of 33,000.

Download or read book Civilizations in Embrace written by Amitav Acharya and published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This book was released on 2013 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study revisits one of the most extensive examples of the spread of ideas in the history of civilization: the diffusion of Indian religious and political ideas to Southeast Asia before the advent of Islam and European colonialism. Hindu and Buddhist concepts and symbols of kingship and statecraft helped to legitimize Southeast Asian rulers, and transform the political institutions and authority of Southeast Asia. But the process of this diffusion was not accompanied by imperialism, political hegemony, or "colonization" as conventionally understood. This book investigates different explanations of the spread of Indian ideas offered by scholars, including why and how it occurred and what were its key political and institutional outcomes. It challenges the view that strategic competition is a recurring phenomenon when civilizations encounter each other.

Download or read book Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019 written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Government at a Glance Southeast Asia 2019 is the first edition in the Government at a Glance series for the region. It provides the latest available data on public administrations in the 10 ASEAN member countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Download or read book China and Southeast Asia written by Ho Khai Leong and published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This book was released on 2005 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relations between ASEAN and China occupy a unique and important position in the foreign relations of the Asia-Pacific region. This volume investigates the impacts of global changes and regional challenges confronting the contemporary developments of China-ASEAN relations.

Download or read book This is Why I Resist written by Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and published by Headline. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential anti-racist book from one of the world's leading voices for change 'With This Is Why I Resist, Dr Shola is shaking a nation out of its slumber.' Annie Lennox OBE 'Smart and courageous, this book should be on everyone's must-read list.' Naomi Campbell 'Written with fearless articulacy, this book recalibrates the conversation on race to ignite transformational change.' David Lammy MP 'This book is a passionate call to arms for anyone who wishes to look the other way. It is a must read.' Professor Kate Williams 'Inclusive, exciting and focused, This Is Why I Resist is a fantastic point of reference for intersectional anti-racism work, no matter who you are.' Munroe Bergdorf In 2020 we have seen clearer than ever that Black people are still fighting for the right to be judged by the content of their character and not the colour of their skin. In the words of the author, "there is no freedom without rights and no rights without the freedom to exercise those rights." This book demands change, because Black people are done waiting. In This Is Why I Resist activist and political commentator, Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu digs down into the deep roots of racism and anti-blackness in the UK and the US. Using real life examples from the modern day, Dr Shola shows us the different forms racism takes in our day-to-day lives and asks us to raise our voice to end the oppression. She delves into subjects not often explored such as racial gatekeepers, white ingratitude, performative allyship (those black squares on Instagram), current identity politics and abuse of the Black trans community. This book will challenge you. It will make you think. Bust most importantly, it will inspire you take action. It's time for a conscious revolution.

Download or read book MILITARY CAPITALISM IN MYANMAR written by Gerard McCarthy and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2019-03-06 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Military enterprises, ostensibly set up to feed and supply soldiers, were some of the earliest and largest Burmese commercial conglomerates, established in the 1950s. Union Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) are two profit-seeking military enterprises established by the military after the dissolution of the Burma Socialist Programme Party in 1988, which remain central players in Myanmar’s post-2011 economy. Military conglomerates are a major source of off-budget revenue for the military and a main employer of retired soldiers. Yet few veterans receive more than a small piece of the profits from UMEHL. The vast bulk of formal dividends instead disproportionately benefit higher ranking officers and institutions within the Tatmadaw. Military capitalism entrenches the autonomy of the Tatmadaw from civilian oversight. Despite this, obligatory or semi-coerced contributions from active-duty soldiers are a source of cash flow for UMEHL, effectively constituting a transfer from the government budget to the military’s off-budget entities. The most significant source of livelihoods support for most veterans is the service pension dispersed by the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoPF). Despite delivering suboptimal welfare outcomes for most soldiers and veterans while eroding the legitimacy of ceasefires, successive governments since 1988, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) administration, have entrenched military capitalism by encouraging commercial activities of armed groups that enter into ceasefire agreements. Extending military pensions already paid by the Ministry of Planning and Finance to retired members of armed groups could deliver a far more consistent and tangible “peace dividend” than the commercial extraction of resources from ceasefire areas. More balanced civil–military relations, and fairer social outcomes for military personnel, will rely on civilian-led state institutions delivering effective and substantive welfare support beyond the commercially oriented welfare arrangements of military conglomerates.

Download or read book Spirits and Ships written by Andrea Acri and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2017-03-10 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume seeks to foreground a “borderless” history and geography of South, Southeast, and East Asian littoral zones that would be maritime-focused, and thereby explore the ancient connections and dynamics of interaction that favoured the encounters among the cultures found throughout the region stretching from the Indian Ocean littorals to the Western Pacific, from the early historical period to the present. Transcending the artificial boundaries of macro-regions and nation-states, and trying to bridge the arbitrary divide between (inherently cosmopolitan) “high” cultures (e.g. Sanskritic, Sinitic, or Islamicate) and “local” or “indigenous” cultures, this multidisciplinary volume explores the metaphor of Monsoon Asia as a vast geo-environmental area inhabited by speakers of numerous language phyla, which for millennia has formed an integrated system of littorals where crops, goods, ideas, cosmologies, and ritual practices circulated on the sea-routes governed by the seasonal monsoon winds. The collective body of work presented in the volume describes Monsoon Asia as an ideal theatre for circulatory dynamics of cultural transfer, interaction, acceptance, selection, and avoidance, and argues that, despite the rich ethnic, linguistic and sociocultural diversity, a shared pattern of values, norms, and cultural models is discernible throughout the region.

Download or read book OECD Investment Policy Reviews Uruguay written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2021-07-12 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In July 2020, the Investment Committee recommended to Council to invite Uruguay to become the 50th adherent to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. This OECD Investment Policy Review of Uruguay documents the progress made in recent years to align investment policies with the national development strategy in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Download or read book Living with Myanmar written by Justine Chambers and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 2011 Myanmar has experienced many changes to its social, political and economic landscape. The formation of a new government in 2016, led by the National League for Democracy, was a crucially important milestone in the country’s transition to a more inclusive form of governance. And yet, for many people everyday struggles remain unchanged, and have often worsened in recent years. Key economic, social and political reforms are stalled, conflict persists and longstanding issues of citizenship and belonging remain. The wide-ranging, myriad and multiple challenges of Living with Myanmar is the subject of this volume. Following the Myanmar Update series tradition, each of the authors offers a different perspective on the sociopolitical and economic mutations occurring in the country and the challenges that still remain. The book is divided into six sections and covers critical issues ranging from gender equality and identity politics, to agrarian reform and the representative role of parliament. Collectively, these voices raise key questions concerning the institutional legacies of military rule and their ongoing role in subverting the country’s reform process. However, they also offer insights into the creative and productive ways that Myanmar’s activists, civil society, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and everyday people attempt to engage with and reform those legacies.

Download or read book Voterfiles A Political Travelogue written by Manoj Kewalramani and published by Leadstart Publishing PvtLtd. This book was released on 2010-08-10 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the hours ticked by on May 16, 2009, the picture became clear. India's ruling UPA coalition had won an unexpected majority. Soon the pundits on TV screens called it the 'collective wisdom' of the electorate in favour of stability, socio- economic development and secularism and a rejection of identity politics based on caste, region and religion. But amidst the live tapings and constructs of the mandate, the real motivations of the people were seemingly forgotten. Voterfiles is one such attempt to track these ugly truths that lay concealed under the facade of democracy. A travelogue with political tinge and an intensely personal experience of a journalist in search in search of meaning to everyday terms like development, growth, farmer suicides, religion and democracy within the Indian context. Forty-five days along the long, winding road during election season, this collection of articles is a ground-zero assessment of the socio- political attitudes of Indians and their relationship with those rule them.

Download or read book France and Singapore written by Francois Hollande and published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Singapore Lecture is designed to provide an opportunity for distinguished statesmen and leaders of thought and knowledge to reach a wider audience in Singapore. The presence of such eminent personalities allows Singaporeans, especially younger executives and decision-makers in both the public and private sectors, the benefit of exposure to leading world figures who address topics of international and regional interest. The 40th Singapore Lecture was delivered by His Excellency François Hollande, President of the French Republic, on 27 March 2017 under the distinguished Chairmanship of Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, Singapore.