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342. The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia
- Author:
- Juzhong Zhuang, Suphachol Suphachalasai, and Jindra Nuella Samson
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS)
- Abstract:
- CSoutheast Asia is one of the world's most vulnerable regions to climate change due to its long coastlines, high concentration of population and economic activity in coastal areas, and heavy reliance on agriculture, natural resources and forestry. Climate change is already affecting the region, as shown by the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and tropical cyclones in recent decades.
- Topic:
- Climate Change and Development
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Southeast Asia
343. Indonesia: Preventing Violence in Local Elections
- Publication Date:
- 12-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Indonesia needs to learn promptly the lessons from the sporadic violence witnessed in its local elections during 2010 as there is some evidence these easily preventable incidents could be increasing in frequency since the last cycle. While most district polls pass peacefully, the small number that do not reveals nationwide institutional weaknesses that should be fixed. These contests are often intense personal rivalries for community power that can be highly emotive and, if not closely watched, can quickly turn violent. While religious and ethnic ties are accentuated by these tense races, to date they have not triggered any sectarian schisms. Many confrontations could be avoided in future polls by relatively simple changes in practices, policies and laws. Rather than being too small for national attention, these political battles matter to this large country because, since decentralisation, it is this level of public administration that has the greatest impact on the lives of citizens. How these elections take place can determine the judgments that voters make on the success or failure of democracy throughout the archipelago.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Democratization, and Ethnic Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Indonesia and Southeast Asia
344. Do Regional Organizations Travel? European Integration, Diffusion and the Case of ASEAN
- Author:
- Anja Jetschke
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
- Abstract:
- Why do regional organizations share a number of key institutions and policies? Why do regional organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) or the Carribean Community (CARICOM) look like the European Union? And why do we find the norms of the Helsinki Final Act in treaties of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)? The simple answer is that policy solutions developed in the context of regional integration diffuse. The paper contends that regional integration efforts in Europe have had a decisive but often unacknowledged influence on regional cooperation outside of Europe. The influence of European integration on regional organizations beyond Europe will be illustrated with a case that is unsuspicious of having emulated the European integration experience: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Since 1957, Southeast Asian states have selectively taken over policies and institutions from the European context. The most recent adoption, it will be argued, is the ASEAN Charter, in effect since November 2008. In accounting for this adoption, the paper argues that ASEAN members' decision is only partially driven by genuine regional or functional demands. Members borrowed from “abroad” expecting the Charter to provide a policy solution to the cooperation problems members faced. Thus, the paper makes an original general contribution to the existing literature on regional integration: It argues that a full account of regional integration processes needs to take diffusion processes into consideration.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia
345. US-Vietnam: New Strategic Partners Begin Tough Trade Talks
- Author:
- Raymond Burghardt
- Publication Date:
- 02-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- Vietnamese and Americans joined together in Hanoi last December for a happy celebration, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the entrance into force of the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement signed in December, 2001. The gathering of current and former trade negotiators, diplomats, and business leaders exchanged witty anecdotes about who had been the toughest negotiator. However, the main focus for both American and Vietnamese participants was on the positive prospects for future US-Vietnam relations across the spectrum of trade and strategic common interests.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Cold War, International Trade and Finance, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia
346. Confronting Ghosts: Thailand's Shapeless Southern Insurgency
- Author:
- Joseph Chinyong Liow and Don Pathan
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Lowy Institute for International Policy
- Abstract:
- The violence that has plagued the predominantly Malay provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala in southern Thailand (not to mention four Malay-speaking districts in the upper southern province of Songkhla) over the past few years has become one of the most closely watched security situations in Southeast Asia. Like Thailand, many other states in the region are still struggling with key nation-building challenges that are potentially prone to involvement by regional and global terrorist groups, posing threats to these countries' hubs of international engagement and undercutting attempts at regional confidence and community building. The significant and sustained upsurge in violence in southern Thailand in the last few years, across numerous administrations in Bangkok, and the nebulous nature of the insurgency itself, make it a particularly important conflict to understand for those with interests in Thailand and Southeast Asian security and stability and in the evolution of internal conflicts. A decade ago, many hoped that the insurgency in the south of Thailand had melted away. Instead it has come back in a more powerful and threatening manner.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Demographics, Islam, and Insurgency
- Political Geography:
- Asia, Thailand, and Southeast Asia
347. Does your health care depend on how your insurer pays providers? Variation in utilization and outcomes in Thailand
- Author:
- Sanita Hirunrassamee and Sauwakon Ratanawijitrasin
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- Hospitals in Thailand operate in a multiple insurance payment environment. This paper examines 1) access to medicines and other medical technologies, 2) treatment outcomes, and 3) efficiency in resource use, among beneficiaries of the three government health insurance schemes in Thailand. Using 2003-2005 inpatient data for patients with three tracer diseases from three government hospitals, we find that utilization of more expensive items differs between patients whose insurers pay on a closed- or open-ended basis. Where new vs. conventional drugs are both available, patients whose insurer pays on a fee-for-service basis tend to have greater access to new drugs, compared to patients whose insurer pays on a capitated or case basis. Similar patterns were found where there are options between originator vs. generic drugs, drugs in different dosage forms, and more vs. less advanced diagnostic technologies. Effects of insurance payment are more pronounced where price gaps among the medical technologies are significant. Efficiency results are mixed, depending on nature of the disease conditions and type of resources required for treatment.
- Topic:
- Demographics and Health
- Political Geography:
- Thailand and Southeast Asia
348. Recruiting Militants in Southern Thailand
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- While Thai leaders are preoccupied with turmoil in Bangkok, the insurgency in the South continues to recruit young Malay Muslims, especially from private Islamic schools. These institutions are central to maintenance of Malay Muslim identity, and many students are receptive to the call to take up arms against the state. This is not a struggle in solidarity with global jihad, rather an ethno-nationalist insurgency with its own version of history aimed at reclaiming what was once the independent sultanate of Patani. Human rights abuses by the Thai government and security forces have only fuelled this secessionist fervour, and policies that centralise power in the capital have undermined a regional political solution. Changing these policies and practices is essential as the government tries to respond to the insurgents' grievances in order to bring long-lasting peace to the region.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Armed Struggle, and Insurgency
- Political Geography:
- Asia, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Bangkok
349. Conflict, Community, and Criminality in Southeast Asia and Australia: Assessments from the Field
- Author:
- Arnaud de Borchgrave, Thomas Sanderson, and David Gordon
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- These assessments were drafted by members of the CSIS Trusted Information Network project on Southeast Asia (TIN-2). To access the primary TIN-2 report, please see http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_pubs/task,view/id,5462/.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution
- Political Geography:
- Asia, Australia/Pacific, Southeast Asia, and Crimea
350. Central Asia Seminars 1st GCSP-OSCE Academy Seminar: "Central Asia 2008"
- Author:
- Selbi Hanova
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- On 22-23 September 2008, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Academy, Bishkek, organised a forum for security policy experts from Eurasia, East and South-East Asia, Europe and the United States, to analyse and discuss the continued interaction of key regional security dynamics and functional issues in Central Asia over 2008. A series of panels identified major emergent themes, linkages and trends, and reflected on their strategic impact and security policy implications. The focus included panels on the Afghan factor and Georgian crisis in Central Asian security politics, energy geopolitics, the role of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the region, as well as US and Russian policies towards Central Asia. The seminar highlighted and analysed some of the key security tendencies and practical aspects of security in the region including emerging trends and themes, their interplay and contradictions as well as their likely strategic influence and consequences.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Security
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia