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1. Migration governance and the migration industry in Asia: moving domestic workers from Indonesia to Singapore

Author:
Charmian Goh, Kellynn Wee, and Brenda S. A. Yeoh
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
In the context of Asia, understanding migration governance needs to transcend statism to encompass the ‘middle space’ of migration. Unlike migration linked to settlement in liberal democratic states of the West, a large part of low-skilled migration in Asia – predominantly circular, feminized, and contractual—is brokered by private recruitment agencies. In adopting migration brokers as a methodological starting point, we make the case for bringing the migration industry into the fold of global migration governance analysis. Based on interviews with employment agencies deploying Indonesian domestic workers to Singapore from 2015 to 2016, we argue that migrant-destination states in Asia devolve responsibility for workers to the migration industry to order migration flows and circumvent formal cooperation with origin countries. Comprehending migration governance in Asia requires grappling with the co-constitutive governance of the state and migration industry and its interdependent dynamics, which we illuminate through the theory of strategic action fields.
Topic:
International Relations, Migration, Governance, Political Science, and State
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia

2. Managing Malaysia–Indonesia relations in the context of democratization: the emergence of non-state actors

Author:
Khadijah Md. Khalid and Shakila Yacob
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
This paper argues that Malaysia–Indonesia relations have become increasingly problematic and complex to manage in a post-Mahathir/Suharto era. The unequal pace of the democratization pattern in both countries has largely contributed to this state of affairs. The four key 'transnational' variables or determinants such as migrant labor, mass media, non-governmental organizations and the Anwar factor have significantly impacted on Malaysia's ties with Indonesia against the backdrop of the unequal domestic political changes. These four variables have over the years become more prominent in bilateral relations – often in negative terms. More specifically, they represent the dynamics of the people-to-people dimension in bilateral ties. As such, the deterioration in people-to-people relations threatens to significantly reshape government-to-government diplomacy. Bilateral relations could yet face their severest contradictions when official diplomacy is incapable of reflecting accurately popular sentiments. In effect, the roles of state and non-state actors have been instrumental in influencing recent developments of Malaysia–Indonesia relations.
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Malaysia

3. Australia, Indonesia, and West Papuan refugees, 1962–2009

Author:
Klaus Neumann and Savitri Taylor
Publication Date:
01-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
In this paper we examine the Australian government's response to West Papuan asylum-seekers during the period 1962–2009. We argue that, throughout this period, the Australian government has attempted to appease the sensitivities of its powerful northern neighbour, Indonesia, as far as it can without outraging a domestic public sympathetic to West Papuans or drawing international condemnation by too obviously breaching international law. For the most part, it has done so by trying to avoid accommodating refugees from Indonesia, liaising closely with the Indonesian government in relation to asylum-seekers, and assuring the Indonesian government of its unequivocal support for Indonesian territorial integrity.
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Australia

4. Deepening ASEAN cooperation through democratization? The Indonesian legislature and foreign policymaking

Author:
Jürgen Rüland
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Recent reforms of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are viewed by liberal institutionalists and constructivists as triggering a fundamental transformation of the ASEAN Way, the embodiment of the association's established, strictly intergovernmental cooperation norms. This article questions such reasoning, if it is causally linked to expectations of a greater deepening of ASEAN cooperation. Based on recent rationalist theorizing and Snyder's 'nationalist elite persuasion' hypothesis, the article argues that the causal relationships between democracy and regional integration are more complex than assumed in Eurocentric integration theories. By examining foreign policy debates in the Indonesian legislature, the article shows that foreign policymaking has become much more democratic and pluralistic since the end of President Suharto's New Order regime. However, as case studies of foreign policy issues suggest, democratic norms have often been localized by a neo-nationalist agenda that hamstrings the deepening of regional integration.
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Southeast Asia

5. Introduction to the special issue of International Relations of the Asia-Pacific

Author:
Takashi Inoguchi
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Peter J. Katzenstein (2006) calls the AsiaBarometer Survey (ABS) a treasure-trove. It systematically digs many under-investigated aspects of daily lives of 29 Asian societies (Inoguchi et al., 2005, 2006; Inoguchi, 2007a, b, 2008). It is near-comprehensive in terms of the number of those societies surveyed in Asia. They are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. It covers East, Southeast, South, and Central Asia. Timor-Leste and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have not yet been surveyed. Nevertheless, no other survey has achieved this comprehensiveness before (Inoguchi and Fujii, forthcoming; also see Appendices 1, 2, and 3: 'Appendix1: List of the Participants of the Asiabarometer Workshops 2003–2007', 'Appendix 2: The Literature on the AsiaBarometer classified by country', and 'Appendix 3: The Literature on the AsiaBarometer Survey' available at the AsiaBarometer website: https: //www.asiabarometer.org/en /publications.
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Indonesia, India, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Asia, Cambodia, Asia-Pacific, and Bhutan

6. Indonesia's foreign policy after Soeharto: international pressure, democratization, and policy change

Author:
Kai He
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Institution:
Japan Association of International Relations
Abstract:
Indonesian politics opened a new phase of democratization after Soeharto stepped down from his 32 years of authoritarian rule. In this paper, Indonesia's foreign policy changes after Soeharto are systematically examined through an 'international pressure–political legitimacy' model derived from neoclassical realism. This model specifies that Indonesia's foreign policy during democratization is mainly influenced by two factors: international pressure and the political legitimacy of the new democratic government. Four cases of foreign policy decision-making from three post-Soeharto presidencies are examined: (i) Indonesia's East Timor policy under Habibie; (ii) Indonesia's 'silence response' toward China's protest on the anti-Chinese riots under Habibie; (iii) Wahid's 'looking towards Asia' proposal; and (iv) Megawati's anti-terrorism and Aceh military operation. The results show that political legitimacy shapes the nature of state behavior, i.e. balancing or compromising, whereas international pressure determines the pattern of state behavior, i.e. external/internal balancing or compromising in words/in deeds.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Democratization
Political Geography:
China, Indonesia, and Asia