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2482. Myanmar and Argument for Engagement: A Clash of Contending Moralities?
- Author:
- Christopher B. Roberts
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- The domestic environment of Myanmar, in the wake of half a century of civil war and instability, has not shown any sign of an improvement. The Generals remain in control; the health and education systems are collapsing; and the people in the borderlands live under some of the worst conditions of poverty imaginable. Meanwhile, a clash of contesting moralities has emerged through a growing fissure (at least until recently) between those in favour of engagement (ASEAN) and those wanting to isolate and sanction (the West). Of these contesting moralities the most damaging has been economic isolation. Today, Myanmar receives less Official Development Assistance (ODA) per capita than any other developing country in East Asia. Laos, by contrast, is arguably little better in terms of governance yet it receives nineteens times more ODA per capita. Nevertheless, during the course of the past two decades neither engagement nor isolation has produced a tangible shift towards better governance and/or democracy. Through an analysis of the consequences of isolation and instability in Myanmar this paper argues that the international community needs to overcome its policy divide by embracing a combination of diplomatic pressure and targeted engagement designed to enhance, in the long-term, the security and stability of Myanmar and its people. Given the dire nature of the economy in Myanmar, large scale aid packages designed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and also build the capacity of the state need to be implemented. For the purpose of capacity building and engagement, broad sweeping sanctions targeting the economy in general should be abolished while targeted sanctions (directed at the leadership) should have clear benchmarks for their removal. While the idea of even limited engagement may be repugnant to some; the analysis will show that the "middle path" advocated by this paper represents the best sustainable option to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Israel
2483. Securitizing/Desecuritizing the Filipinos' 'Outward Migration Issue' in the Philippines' Relations with Other Asian Governments
- Author:
- José N. Franco
- Publication Date:
- 01-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Today's outward migration of millions of Filipinos has rendered international borders porous and blurred the already thin-line between legal and illegal overseas workers, making both documented and undocumented migrants from the Philippines a responsibility of their government. Every case affecting Filipinos abroad, therefore, is a potential non-traditional security issue because, while migration poses no direct threat to the territorial security of sovereign states, it could threaten the survival of government if left unattended. It could make or unmake politicians, remove officials from public office, or, at worst, strain diplomatic relations between labor-sending and -receiving countries. It's also an economic issue that spills over to other related cases, such as human rights, sexual and reproductive health topics, national politics, and foreign affairs. The concept of securitization and desecuritization—as advanced by the Euro-centric Copenhagen School and adopted, with some modifications, by the Asia-centric Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, in Singapore—is a powerful tool used by actors in identifying an existential threat to a referent object in migration cases, and in resolving the issue at hand.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Singapore and Southeast Asia
2484. Re-conceptualising the Military-Industrial Complex: A General Systems Theory Approach
- Author:
- Adrian Kuah
- Publication Date:
- 01-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper examines the prevailing model by which the interplay between defence establishments and defence industries–the military-industrial complex–has been understood, focusing primarily on the defence industrial base. It argues that give global change drivers such as the end of the Cold War and the concomitant reduction in the geostrategic threat level, as well as defence globalization, post-industrialism and the revolution in military affairs (RMA), the old model has ceased to have utility for both researchers and policymakers. Instead, this paper suggests an approach that goes beyond conventional economic analyses and draws on organization theory to develop a dynamic model that better reflects the current realities in defence industrial sector. This paper articulates what a general systems conception of the defence industrial system might consist in, and highlight its potential in informing the defence industrial policy process as well as agenda for future research.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Defense Policy, Development, and Industrial Policy
2485. Bandung And The Political Economy of North-South Relations: Sowing The Seeds For Revisioning International Society
- Author:
- Helen E.S. Nesadurai
- Publication Date:
- 01-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper revisits the 1955 Bandung Conference in an effort to identify and evaluate the legacy of Bandung for the international political economy. James Mayall interpreted the Bandung movement as a revisionist alliance that sought to restructure international society, most notably through the principle of non-alignment. This paper argues that the 1955 Bandung Conference sowed the seed for revisioning international society in two further ways. Bandung's call for equitable representation in international decision-making for newly independent states was essentially a call to take seriously international justice principles, particularly that of procedural justice, in the management of world affairs. Bandung participants also articulated an alternative set of principles for inter-state engagement that emphasised dialogue and accommodation, collective problem-solving and the search for consensus or compromise, principles that were regarded as more suited to the increasingly plural international society of states following decolonisation, and a necessary alternative to the power politics and coercion that had been the basis of colonialism and that threatened to dominate international relations in a world of superpower bloc politics. Fifty years on, these principles remain salient. Procedural justice remains curtailed for developing states, particularly in the key institutions of global economic governance, while the emergence of a range of justice claims articulated by a wider cast of actors beyond states has not led to the emergence of a genuine 'world society' based on a consensus of values. By drawing on insights from the English School of International Relations and Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action, the paper suggests that Bandung's endorsement of dialogue over coercion and confrontation may be the best option to reach a reasoned consensus on values, agendas and in problem-solving. Although existing power disparities will continue to intrude, dialogue processes merit greater attention as a necessary (though not sufficient) step in negotiations. In the end, Bandung's lasting legacy for a plural world, yet one that is fast integrating, could well be its endorsement of deliberative politics.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Development, and Political Economy
2486. Taiwan's Rising Rationalism: Generations, Politics, and "Taiwanese Nationalism"
- Author:
- Shelley Rigger
- Publication Date:
- 01-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- A peaceful, amicable relationship between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC) is essential to prosperity and security in and beyond the Taiwan Strait. Anticipating the future direction of crossstrait relations is thus very important. But it is also very difficult, not least because key trends in the Strait seem to be headed in opposite directions. On the one hand, the scope and intensity of crossstrait interactions are expanding rapidly, creating shared interests on the two sides and eroding resistance to closer crossstrait ties. On the other hand, popular support for political unification within Taiwan is declining, and the percentage of Taiwan residents who think of themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese, is rising.
- Topic:
- Development, Energy Policy, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Taiwan
2487. Defusing Conflict in Tsalka District of Georgia: Migration, International Intervention and the Role of the State
- Author:
- Jonathan Wheatley
- Publication Date:
- 10-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- The Tsalka district of Georgia, situated in the west of the province of Kvemo Kartli, is home to a highly diverse population and has, since Georgia gained independence, been affected by three interconnected and potentially destabilising trends. First, after the collapse of the USSR, the local economy disintegrated. During the Soviet era, Tsalka had been a highly productive agricultural region, but after the Soviet internal market broke down and the roads and railway links fell into disrepair, most inhabitants of Tsalka district were forced to eke out a subsistence living from what they could grow and raise on their own parcels of land. Secondly, the state-society relationship in Tsalka district has changed radically over the last twenty years; from a highly regulating state in the Soviet period, to its virtual withdrawal in the 1990s and early 2000s, to a re-establishment of state authority in the aftermath of the November 2003 'Rose Revolution'. Finally, Tsalka has been the epicentre of successive waves of in-migration and out-migration; from a large-scale exodus of Greeks that began in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union and continues unabated today to the rapid in-migration of Georgians from Adjara and Svaneti that began to gain pace in the late 1990s and reached its peak during the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline in 2003-2004.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Development, and Ethnic Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Caucasus
2488. How to Do xtabond2: An Introduction to "Difference" and "System" GMM in Stata
- Author:
- David Roodman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The Arellano-Bond (1991) and Arellano-Bover (1995)/Blundell-Bond (1998) linear generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators are increasingly popular. Both are general estimators designed for situations with “small T, large N” panels, meaning few time periods and many individuals; with independent variables that are not strictly exogenous, meaning correlated with past and possibly current realizations of the error; with fixed effects; and with heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation within individuals. This pedagogic paper first introduces linear GMM. Then it shows how limited time span and the potential for fixed effects and endogenous regressors drive the design of the estimators of interest, offering Stata-based examples along the way. Next it shows how to apply these estimators with xtabond2. It also explains how to perform the Arellano-Bond test for autocorrelation in a panel after other Stata commands, using abar.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Science and Technology
2489. Payments for Progress: A Hands-Off Approach to Foreign Aid
- Author:
- Nancy Birdsall and Owen Barder
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- There are significant differences of opinion about the merits of additional aid in meeting the MDGs, including whether and how aid should be given in 'fragile states', whether additional aid on the scale envisioned can be effectively used even in well-managed economies, and whether the aid system, particularly in highly aid-dependent countries, undermines instead of strengthens local institutions. We discuss an approach to scaling up foreign aid that would explicitly be aimed at strengthening local capacity and institutions, including in fragile states. “Payments for progress” would link additional aid to clear evidence of progress already achieved on the ground. This approach would give flexibility and autonomy to local institutions, providing an opening for local institutional experimentation, while at the same time ensuring that aid pays only for real, measurable achievements. Donors would bind themselves as a group to pay a specific amount for clear evidence of progress against one or more agreed goals in low-income developing countries. Developing country governments would present an independently audited statement reporting their progress on the measures, and donors would pay the agreed amount. Payments would be determined as a function of the outcomes, and not linked to the implementation of any particular policies, any other intermediate outputs, or “tied” to purchases from particular suppliers or companies. Governments that found ways to provide services efficiently and so reduce the costs of providing them would benefit from a larger surplus. We discuss the issues such an approach raises—in setting the benchmarks against which progress is measured, in avoiding cheating, and in managing unintended negative consequences of an incentives-based approach. We conclude with a summary of the advantages for donors and recipients.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Third World
2490. An Index of Donor Performance
- Author:
- David Roodman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The Commitment to Development Index of the Center for Global Development rates 21 rich countries on the “development-friendliness” of their policies. It is revised and updated annually. The component on foreign assistance combines quantitative and qualitative measures of official aid, and of fiscal policies that support private charitable giving. The quantitative measure uses a net transfers concept, as distinct from the net flows concept in the net Official Development Assistance measure of the Development Assistance Committee. The qualitative factors are: a penalty for tying aid; a discounting system that favors aid to poorer, better-governed recipients; and a penalty for “project proliferation.” The charitable giving measure is based on an estimate of the share of observed private giving to developing countries that is attributable to a) lower overall taxes or b) specific tax incentives for giving. De-spite the adjustments, overall results are dominated by differences in quantity of official aid given. This is because while there is a seven-fold range in net concessional transfers/GDP among the scored countries, variation in overall aid quality across donors appears far lower, and private giving is generally small. Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden score highest while the largest donors in absolute terms, the United States and Japan, rank at or near the bottom. Standings by the 2006 methodology have been relatively stable since 1995.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, Norway, and Netherlands