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Begin New Search Political Geography Australia/Pacific Publication Year within 25 Years

71. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Asia-Pacific Integration: A Quantitative Assessment

Author:
Peter A. Petri, Michael G. Plummer, and Fan Zhai
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Two emerging tracks of trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific—one based on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and an Asian track—could consolidate the “noodle bowl” of current smaller agreements and provide pathways to a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP). We examine the benefits and strategic incentives generated by these tracks over 2010-2025. The effects on the world economy would be small initially but by 2025 the annual welfare gains would rise to $104 billion on the TPP track, $303 billion on both tracks, and $862 billion with an FTAAP. The tracks will be competitive but their strategic implications are constructive: each would generate incentives for enlargement. Over time, strong economic incentives would emerge for the United States and China to consolidate the tracks into a region-wide agreement. Each track would bring a different template to such consolidation and can be viewed as defining a “disagreement point” in the Asia-Pacific bargaining game. The study is based on an analysis of 48 actual and proposed Asia-Pacific trade agreements and models impacts on variables including sectoral trade, output, employment and job shifts in 24 world regions.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, China, Israel, Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Asia-Pacific

72. Benchmarking Against Progress: An Assessment of Australia's Aid Effectiveness

Author:
Laurence Chandy
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Is Australia's aid program effective? Measuring the effectiveness of aid is no easy feat. For a start, there is uncertainty about what aid is trying to achieve. Even seemingly straightforward objectives, like poverty reduction, throw up a range of questions as to what precisely ought to be measured. For instance, how should one balance the provision of temporary relief to those in need with catalyzing permanent transformation in people's lives (Barder, 2009)? Second, it is notoriously difficult to isolate the effect of a single aid program from other factors. Aid is delivered in an environment of enormous complexity where all manner of other events shape outcomes, including actions by recipient governments, aid from other countries, non-aid flows, and the performance of the global economy. To accurately attribute impact to aid therefore requires a thorough understanding of the setting in which aid is given. Third, the effects of aid are not always immediate or straightforward. For instance, improvements in people's skills or the performance of institutions may manifest gradually. Measurements of what aid achieves must be sensitive to the different ways change is brought about (Woolcock et al., 2009).
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Australia/Pacific

73. Year in Review 2011

Author:
J. Jackson Ewing (ed) and Alistair D.B. Cook (ed)
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
Abstract:
The year 2011 has seen the further prioritisation of nontraditional security (NTS) issues throughout research and policymaking circles in the Asia-Pacific region. Regional trends and events have highlighted the need for strategies that can help people, communities, states and organisations address multifarious security challenges, thus propelling the NTS platform to a higher stratum of political and institutional discourse.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Climate Change, Development, Economics, Health, Poverty, Natural Disasters, and Food
Political Geography:
Asia and Australia/Pacific

74. The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on the Pacific Region

Author:
Simon Feeny
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
At a macroeconomic level, the Global Economic Crisis (GEC) has had less impact on many Pacific countries than on most other developing countries across the world. However, this does not imply that Pacific country economies are performing well. Economic growth rates for most countries in the Pacific region are expected to be low for 2009 and 2010 and the majority of economies are likely to contract on a per capita basis in these years.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Poverty, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Australia/Pacific

75. Revitalising Papua New Guinea's health system: the need for creative approaches

Author:
Katherine Lepani and Julienne McKay
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
There is significant potential for the PNG government to deliver better health services for all Papuan New Guineans. Major health problems are now preventable. Cost-effective options are available to Papua New Guineans to treat malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis and HIV as well as to reduce infant and maternal mortality. In this Policy Brief Julienne McKay and Dr Katherine Lepani explore how demand-responsive mechanisms (vouchers, micro-health insurance, social franchises and social businesses) can be a compelling addition to strengthening health systems in PNG. The research looks at the potential use of these instruments with a focus on HIV, maternal health, tuberculosis and malaria, and contains policy recommendations for government, the private sector and donors.
Topic:
Health and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Guinea

76. Dropping the autopilot: improving Australia's defence diplomacy

Author:
Nicholas Floyd
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? With Canberra's instruments of international policy under strain, the military offers much potential as a foreign policy force multiplier. The Australian Department of Defence has 92 defence advisory staff in diplomatic missions, and about 560 other staff overseas, not counting troops on deployment. There has been recent movement away from an old-fashioned defence diplomacy based more on habit and individual initiative than on strategic or whole-of-government guidance. This movement needs to be consolidated and built upon. The nation needs to drop any remnants of its autopilot approach to defence diplomacy.
Topic:
Defense Policy and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Australia and Australia/Pacific

77. A digital DFAT: joining the 21st century

Author:
Fergus Hanson
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) needs to keep pace with technological advancements that could increase efficiency, improve internal and external communication, and facilitate information exchange and gathering. Without e-diplomacy DFAT will be cut off from important audiences and find it increasingly hard to communicate its messages and coordinate Australian foreign policy across government.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Australia/Pacific

78. Security in the Indo-Pacific Commons

Author:
Michael Auslin
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Ensuring security in the Indo-Pacific region will be the primary foreign policy challenge for the United States and liberal nations over the next generation. Doing so successfully will provide the greatest economic and political opportunities for the next quarter century. Conversely, a failure to maintain stability, support liberal regimes, create cooperative regional relations, and uphold norms and standards of international behavior will lead to a region, and world, of greater uncertainty, insecurity, and instability. Due to its economic strength, military power, and political dynamism, the Indo-Pacific will be the world's most important region in coming decades, and its significance will be felt throughout the globe. Since the end of World War II, it has transformed itself into the world's economic powerhouse, yet has also witnessed a struggle between tides of liberalism, authoritarianism, and even totalitarianism. It remains riven by distrust, territorial disputes, ethnic tensions, and painful historical memories. The Indo-Pacific's unique geography makes the balance of regional security most vulnerable in its "commons": the open seas, air lanes, and cyber networks that link the region together and to the world.
Topic:
Security, Development, Emerging Markets, and Governance
Political Geography:
United States, China, India, and Australia/Pacific

79. Prevention and Control of Chronic Non-communicable Disease in Nine Pacific Rim Cities

Author:
Karen Eggleston, Meng Kin Lin, Kun Chen, Yunxian Yu, Sung-Il Cho, Sian Griffiths, EK Yeoh, Jamal Hisham Hashim, Masamine Jimba, Carl Anderson Johnson, Paula Palmer, Vu-Anh Le, Huu-Bich Tran, Ngoc-Quang La, and Bambang Wispriyono
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
Populous, economically dynamic, and rapidly urbanizing, the Asia Pacific both reflects and strongly shapes trends in global public health. A comparative assessment of chronic disease prevalence, risk factors, and policy responses in nine Pacific Rim cities shows that chronic diseases are rapidly becoming the leading cause of morbidity and mortality even in the lower income cities of the Pacific Rim. Policy responses are heterogeneous, with few sufficiently funded or adequately informed by evidence. Much could be learned from comparative research and rigorous evaluation of prevention and control initiatives in this region.
Topic:
Globalization and Health
Political Geography:
Asia and Australia/Pacific

80. New Foreign Policy Actors in China

Author:
Linda Jakobson and Dean Knox
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
In contemporary China a cacophony of voices urges decision makers to pursue a variety of foreign policies. The continuing pluralization of Chinese society and China's growing interdependence with the international order have made decision-making processes more complex. These changes, taking place at a time when China's cooperation is increasingly vital to the resolution of key global issues, present a challenge to foreign policy makers. Effective engagement of China in the international arena requires an understanding of the interplay within and between not only the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese Government and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) but also new foreign policy actors on the margins of the traditional power structure. These new actors include resource companies, financial institutions, local governments, research organizations, the media and netizens.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Diplomacy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
China, Asia, and Australia/Pacific