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1. The Great Supply Chain Shift from China to South Asia?

Author:
Ganeshan Wignaraja
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Abstract:
Global supply chains connect world industry and international trade in manufactures. East Asia’s dominance with China as the preferred assembly hub in global supply chains has brought unprecedented regional prosperity, but South Asia remains a latecomer. However, pandemic-related and post-pandemic continuing disruptions to supply chains and slowing growth are being keenly felt, dampening China’s attractiveness. In an uncertain global economy, increasingly footloose foreign investors are looking for alternative production locations. Is it South Asia’s turn to prosper through supply chains in this uncertain world? This is the topical public policy question facing India and the others in South Asia. This paper discusses the concept of global supply chains, the industrial rise of East Asia, drivers of supply chain relocation from China, South Asia’s prospects, India as a complementary hub and policy lessons from East Asia’s industrial success. For the purposes of this paper, South Asia is broadly defined as the India and its contiguous countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, Monetary Policy, Foreign Direct Investment, Industrialization, COVID-19, Supply Chains, and Geoeconomics
Political Geography:
China, South Asia, Asia, Southeast Asia, and United States of America

2. Women in AI: Is There a Singapore Model?

Author:
Tamara Nair
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
The 4ᵗʰ Industrial Revolution introduced Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the forefront and very soon, if not already, AI will be embedded in almost all spheres of our lives. While AI technologies like Alexa and Siri have female names and voices, there are very few women involved in developing AI products and services. Is there a model Singapore can offer?
Topic:
Industrial Policy, Artificial Intelligence, Industrialization, Emerging Technology, and Gender
Political Geography:
Asia and Singapore

3. From Development to Democracy: The Transformations of Modern Asia

Author:
Dan Slater and Daniel M. Smith
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
Over the past century, Asia has been transformed by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization—a spectacular record of development that has turned one of the world’s poorest regions into one of its richest. Yet Asia’s record of democratization has been much more uneven, despite the global correlation between development and democracy. Why have some Asian countries become more democratic as they have grown richer, while others—most notably China—haven’t? Slater and Wong demonstrate that Asia defies the conventional expectation that authoritarian regimes concede democratization only as a last resort, during times of weakness. Instead, Asian dictators have pursued democratic reforms as a proactive strategy to revitalize their power from a position of strength. Of central importance is whether authoritarians are confident of victory and stability. In Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan these factors fostered democracy through strength, while democratic experiments in Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar were less successful and more reversible. At the same time, resistance to democratic reforms has proven intractable in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Reconsidering China’s 1989 crackdown, Slater and Wong argue that it was the action of a regime too weak to concede, not too strong to fail, and they explain why China can allow democracy without inviting instability. The result is a comprehensive regional history that offers important new insights about when and how democratic transitions happen—and what the future of Asia might be.
Topic:
Development, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Economic Growth, and Industrialization
Political Geography:
Asia

4. South Korea as a Fourth Industrial Revolution Middle Power?

Author:
Dongwoo Kim
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI)
Abstract:
This paper proposes a framework for conceptualizing middle powerism in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, using South Korea as an example. The paper argues that the systemic transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has created new openings for middle powerism, and proposes 1) technology, 2) networks, and 3) governance as factors that could enable it. Then, South Korea’s capacities in each of these three areas, potential barriers, and ultimately Seoul’s capacity to act as a “Fourth Industrial Revolution” middle power are evaluated.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, Science and Technology, Governance, Industrialization, and Middle Power
Political Geography:
Asia and South Korea

5. Financial Development in Myanmar and the Role of Japan

Author:
Tomoo Kikuchi and Takehiro Masutomo
Publication Date:
05-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
Since 2011, under the Thein Sein government, Myanmar has started to build financial institutions almost from scratch. Japan has played a leading role in this effort, writing off debt, opening the Yangon Stock Exchange, vying for the entry of Japanese banks, and laying out finance-related laws. Myanmar’s weak institutions present considerable challenges. By examining common features of financial markets in Southeast Asia, this paper identifies the preconditions for financial development to be a vehicle for Myanmar’s industrialisation as well as the rationale for Japan’s public and private involvement in Myanmar.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Finance, Institutions, Private Sector, and Industrialization
Political Geography:
Japan, Asia, and Myanmar

6. China's Global Power and Development: The Made in China 2025 Policy

Author:
Diego Pautasso
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between development and global power of China. And, more specifically, how the Made in China 2025 policy is designed to deepen China’s development by driving strategic sectors of smart manufacturing and other innovations. To do so, it needs to understand how China has taken advantage of systemic changes since the 1970s to unleash a cycle of comprehensive reforms mobilizing industrial, commercial and technological (ICT) policies. That is, without state emulation there is no economic complexity or expansion of the country’s presence in the world. The proposed argument is that the interweaving between the internal and international dimensions compose the key of the rise of the powers - imperative underestimated by the narratives of liberal globalization - whose epicenter remains the national development.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, Science and Technology, Hegemony, Manufacturing, and Industrialization
Political Geography:
China and Asia

7. Behind the Myth of the National Bourgeoisie: A Comparative Analysis of the Developmentalist State in Brazil and South Korea

Author:
Pedro Brites and Bruna Coelho Jaeger
Publication Date:
08-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
Institution:
Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Abstract:
Since the 1990s, many analysts have sought to explain the differences in development paths between Brazil and South Korea, the latter often being pointed as an example of success. As a highly industrialized economy focused on international trade, the South Korean case stood out as a way of overcoming the backwardness of developing countries. However, there is a need for analysis that point to the specificities of the developmental state in South Korea, whose interventionist action was decisive in leveraging the country’s industrial production in accordance with internal business groups, as well as the geopolitical context favorable to outward-oriented industrialization. The Brazilian process, in turn, due to the wealth of natural resources and the large domestic market, has made the induction of the state in industrialization more artificial, whose policy supposes an element of coercion, induction and control. This research, therefore, seeks to analyze the specific dimensions of each case, highlighting the role of the state and its relationship with the internal bourgeoisie in the construction of an industrial policy. The trajectories of rise and decline of Brazilian and South Korean developmental state will be analyzed, including the current crisis of reconfiguration of political power that both countries are going through.
Topic:
Development, Science and Technology, Governance, and Industrialization
Political Geography:
Asia, South Korea, Brazil, and South America

8. Malaysia’s Past Successes and Uncertain Future: Graduating from the Middle or Caught in the Middle?

Author:
Hooi Hooi Lean and Russell Smyth
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
In the space of just over five decades, Malaysia has transformed from a largely agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy with a sustained high rate of economic growth. While Malaysia‟s achievement in terms of raising the per capita income of its citizens is pretty much universally acclaimed, recent concerns have been expressed that Malaysia is now in a middle-income trap. Moreover, there are a growing number of commentators who are arguing that Malaysia‟s New Economic Policy (NEP) needs an overhaul if Malaysia is to progress to become a high-income country. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the Malaysian economy and critically evaluates recent strategic reform initiatives, encapsulated in the New Economic Model (NEM) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that are designed to assist Malaysia in its aim to become an innovation-intensive, high-income country by 2020.
Topic:
Economics, Reform, and Industrialization
Political Geography:
Malaysia and Asia

9. Is Promoting Foreign Direct Investment Worthwhile? Learning from the East Asian Experience

Author:
Dionisius Narjoko
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA)
Abstract:
East Asia presents a new model of industrialization that aggressively utilizes the dynamics of multinational corporations (MNCs). The model puts networks of production into practice, and such networks improve domestic capability and contribution to national output. Promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) is therefore warranted to ensure the sustainability of the production-network model. For this reason, FDI should always be promoted even when demand is less supportive, such as at this moment during the current global economic crisis.
Topic:
Foreign Direct Investment, Economy, Manufacturing, Industrialization, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
East Asia and Asia