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Begin New Search Political Geography Japan Publication Year within 25 Years

571. Japan-Korea Relations

Author:
Ji-Young Lee and David C. Kang
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Comparative Connections
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Although there was little movement in Japan's relations with North Korea, this quarter was dominated by the news leaking out of North Korea in early September that Kim Jong-il was potentially very sick. Questions about Kim's health, the status of his leadership in North Korea, and the future of North Korea's leadership quickly dominated discussion. Coupled with Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda's surprise resignation and the quick choice of Aso Taro as prime minister, Japanese foreign policy was on a brief hiatus while the new leader set his own agenda. Known as a conservative, it is expected that Aso will take a harder line toward the North – and the region more generally – than did Fukuda. But his official appointment, coming on Sept. 24, was so recent that it is too early to see how Aso plans to proceed. Thus, there was actually little substantive change in Japan's relations with North Korea, and the quarter ended basically where it began.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
Japan, North Korea, and Korea

572. Japan-Korea Relations Chronology

Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Comparative Connections
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
July 9, 2008: New York Times carries a full-page advertisement, “Do you know?” claiming South Korean sovereignty over the Dokdo/Takeshima islets. July 10-12, 2008: A Heads of Delegation Meeting of the Six-Party Talks is held in Beijing. July 14, 2008: The Japanese government announces that new guidelines for middle school teachers will describe the Dokdo/Takeshima islets as an integral part of Japanese territory.
Topic:
Security and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Japan, New York, and Korea

573. The World is Still Waiting: Broken G8 promises are costing millions of lives

Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Poverty and suffering could be ended in our lifetime, and our leaders must do everything in their power to make this happen. This was the clear demand of the 40 million people in 36 countries who took part in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty in 2005. A year later, in the space of just one day, 24 million people across the world stood up against poverty as part of World Poverty Day.
Topic:
Education, Health, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Asia, France, Germany, and Italy

574. Fighting irrelevance: An economic community 'with ASEAN characteristics'

Author:
John Ravenhill
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract:
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) enters its fifth decade of economic cooperation in more favourable circumstances than those experienced at the time of its thirtieth anniversary. Paradoxically, and contrary to expectations at the time, the financial crises of 1997—98 may have strengthened ASEAN. The backlash against what was perceived as an unsympathetic Western response to East Asian difficulties put ASEAN at centrestage in new regional cooperative arrangements. Moreover, rivalry between China and Japan for regional leadership has led them both to seek to negotiate regional partnerships with ASEAN as a whole. ASEAN, however, faces new challenges—particularly from rapid economic growth in China and India, and from the proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) (including a large number involving individual ASEAN members). ASEAN has made only slow progress in economic cooperation. The complete removal of tariffs has fallen behind schedule and is not due to be realised until 2010. The private sector makes little use of ASEAN's preferential arrangements because they afford little advantage over most-favoured-nation tariffs—certainly not sufficient to offset the costs of complying with paperwork, and the consequent delays experienced. ASEAN has made little progress on 'deeper integration' issues—the removal of 'beyond border' barriers to trade. Some of the bilateral PTAs that ASEAN countries have negotiated with extra-regional partners go further in removing barriers than ASEAN's own arrangements. ASEAN members continue to eschew binding commitments within their own economic collaboration despite making them within the World Trade Organization and in some of their bilateral PTAs. Liberalisation under ASEAN's auspices has not been sufficiently significant to encourage business groups to invest substantial resources in lobbying for deeper integration.
Topic:
International Relations and Economics
Political Geography:
Japan, China, India, Israel, East Asia, and Australia/Pacific

575. China's Economic Prospects 2006-2020

Author:
Sandra Polaski, Jianwu He, and Li Shantong
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
China's economic growth during the past twenty-five years has been remarkable, averaging more than 9 percent a year. While there have been earlier episodes of comparable growth rates in countries such as Japan and South Korea, there is no precedent for such rapid growth in a country the size of China, whose population of 1.3 billion is thirteen times that of Japan when that nation began its rapid growth. The impact on the rest of the world of economic dynamism on this scale is already being felt. If China continues its rapid growth in the coming decades, it will take the global economy into uncharted terrain.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Japan, China, Asia, and South Korea

576. Minds on Fire: Enhancing India's Knowledge Workforce

Author:
Richard P. Adler
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
India's economy continues to grow at a remarkable pace. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) has been expanding an average of nearly 8 percent per year since 2002. In the fiscal year ending March 2007, India's economy grew at 9.4 percent. This performance means that the Indian economy met its own national five-year growth goal for the first time since the first five-year plan was issued by the government in 1950. At its current rate of growth, India will become a trillion-dollar economy by 2007–2008 and will overtake South Korea to become Asia's third-largest economy, after China and Japan.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Education, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Japan, India, Asia, and South Korea

577. East Asian Environmental Co-operation: Central Pessimism, Local Optimism

Author:
Sangbum Shin
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
University of British Columbia
Abstract:
This paper examines the regional environmental co-operation in East Asia at the local government level, focusing on the intercity environmental co-operation between the two cities in Japan and China—Kitakyushu and Dalian—as a case. Theoretically, this case demonstrates the dynamic nature of local government level environmental co-operation in the sense that all the three levels—government, local government, and private—are closely interconnected, and the major actors—the firms—play a role in shaping the outcome of intercity co-operation. Also, in terms of policy implication, this case is important not just for East Asian but also global environmental politics because it is the co-operation between cities in China and Japan—the two most important countries in East Asia that affect regional and global environmental protections efforts seriously. In order to investigate the reasons of success, and the dynamic nature of intercity environmental co-operation, this paper suggests a framework for analysis on the relationship between multiple dimensions of regional environmental co-operation, and then, examines the historical process and the details of the case and explains why this case has been remarkably successful and produced significant outcome. Finally, it draws some theoretical as well as policy implications of this case in terms of possibilities for and limitations of East Asian regional environmental co-operation in the future.
Topic:
Environment and Government
Political Geography:
Japan, China, and East Asia

578. Building Peace or Following the Leader? Japan's Peace Consolidation Diplomacy

Author:
Julie Gilson
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
University of British Columbia
Abstract:
In Japan, debates about the nature of peacekeeping contributions continue alongside questions regarding the relevance of Japan's constitution in the twenty-first century and the political implications of aid disbursement. This article seeks to illustrate how both Official Development Assistance and peacekeeping operations are being linked through Japan's "peace consolidation diplomacy." For historical reasons, the Japanese government has been unable to play a traditional peacekeeping role. At the same time, Japan's position as leading aid donor has received negative feedback from a recession-bound populous that now views key recipient countries as competitors rather than needy neighbours. As a result, issues pertaining to humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping and aid provision frequently overlap, as Japan searches for a means of playing a constructive international role commensurate with the expectations of the rest of the world and with Japan's own claim for a place on the permanent UN Security Council. This article examines Japanese debates surrounding the sending military personnel to crisis areas and the changing provision of aid, against a background of changing concepts of humanitarian intervention, peacekeeping and assistance. It illustrates how hte Japanese government utilizes a combined narrative of peacekeeping, humanitarian intervention and aid giving, in order simultaneously to soften the public response to sending peacekeepers and to respond to increasingly targeted international demands for a more substantial Japanese contribution to conflict resolution.
Topic:
Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Japan

579. The Japan-Mexico FTA: A Cross-Regional Step in the Path towards Asian Regionalism

Author:
Mireya Solís and Saori N. Katada
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
University of British Columbia
Abstract:
By most accounts, Japan and Mexico remain distant economic partners with only a modest volume of bilateral trade and foreign direct investment, and a large geographical and cultural gulf between them. By this depiction, the Japanese decision to negotiate with Mexico is puzzling if not downright nonsensical: Why would Japan invest so much political capital in the negotiation of a complex free trade agreement (FTA) with a nation accounting for such a minuscule share of its international economic exchange? Solís and Katada challenge this interpretation of Japan's second bilateral FTA ever, and demonstrate that far from being irrational or insignificant, the stakes involved in the Japan-Mexico FTA were very high, and that this crossregional initiative stands to exert powerful influence over the future evolution of Japan's shift towards economic regionalism. For a number of Japanese industries (automobiles, electronics and government procurement contractors) negotiating with Mexico was essential to level the playing field vis-à-vis their American and European rivals, which already enjoyed preferential access to the Mexican market based on their FTAs. For the Japanese trade bureaucrats, negotiations with Mexico offered an opportunity to tip the domestic balance in favour of an active FTA diplomacy, despite the opposition of the agricultural lobby. Negotiations with Mexico constituted a litmus test, both for the Japanese government and in the eyes of potential FTA partners in Asia, on whether Japan could offer a satisfactory liberalization package to prospective FTA partners to make these negotiations worthwhile.
Topic:
Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Japan, America, Asia, and Mexico

580. Chinese Competition - Learning From Japan: China Challenge

Author:
Simon Collinson and Bridgette Sullivan-Taylor
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
IN THE 1970S AND 1980S THERE WAS a widespread fear in the west of Japanese economic superiority. Unprecedented growth in its gross domestic product (GDP), exports and outward foreign direct investment suggested an alternative model of market capitalism that was out-performing the United States and European economies. High-profile articles and books fed this fear and research efforts tried to identify what was different about Japan and how such differences might convey sustained competitive advantages.
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, and China