SOUTHEAST ASIA
Winter 2007-2008
"Hot Off The Presses"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
New and notable books from the Belfer Center.
racoles
December 2, 2007
"Myanmar's leaders are not immune to pressure: Time has come to tighten the screws"
Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
First Lady Laura Bush, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and nearly all of the leaders of the democratic world want to bring Myanmar in from the cold. For too long -- 45 years -- a sternly repressive military leadership has denied fundamental freedoms and basic decency to about 50 million citizens.
November 28, 2007
Virtual Book Tour: Worst of the Worst: Dealing with Repressive and Rogue Nations
Highlight
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
“This volume makes an unparalleled contribution to the growing and vital field of measurement and human rights. Rotberg offers a useful categorization and assessment of repressive and 'rogue' states, allowing us to measure the extent of repressive state behavior more accurately. His work should embolden external critiques and facilitate more transparent and accountable foreign policy."
Sarah Sewall, Director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University.
November 17, 2007
"The Broken Promises of Military Rule"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Susan Banki and Hassan Abbas, Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"WHEN TWO of Asia's most prominent female politicians are under house arrest at the same time, it's easy to draw parallels. The scary part: comparing the off and on detention of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto with the longstanding house arrest of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma makes Pakistan look good. But in both cases, this is no time for complacency on the part of the international community...."
(AP Photo)
October 7, 2007
"Playing Favorites on Dictators Robs U.S. of High Ground"
Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
Myanmar (formerly Burma) is among the four most repressive countries on Earth, and President Bush is right to strengthen sanctions against the junta of aging generals who have pummeled protesting monks in their monasteries. But what about equally odious regimes with which Washington maintains cordial relations despite appalling human-rights records?
August 2007
Reassessing Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific: Competition, Congruence, and Transformation
Book
By Amitav Acharya and Evelyn Goh
Since the 1990s, Asia-Pacific countries have changed their approaches to security cooperation and regional order. The end of the Cold War, the resurgence of China, the Asian economic crisis, and the events of September 11, 2001, have all contributed to important changes in the Asia-Pacific security architecture.
August 2007
"Modes of Regional Conflict Management: Comparing Security Cooperation in the Korean Peninsula, China-Taiwan, and the South China Sea"
Book Chapter
By Rosemary Foot, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2005-2006
"Analysts focusing on the prospects for inter-state war or peace in the Asia-Pacific invariably have pointed to the Korean Peninsula (KP), China/Taiwan (CT), and the South China Sea (SCS) conflicts as the potential "flash points" or "hot spots" of the region...."
August 16, 2007
"Innovation System Needs Reforms"
Op-Ed, Business Daily, (Africa)
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
African countries are increasing the allocation of funds to scientific research. But such investments will be wasted if they are used for basic research rather than product innovation.
Summer 2007
"Making Process, Not Progress: ASEAN and the Evolving East Asian Regional Order"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 1, volume 32
Forty years after its inception, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, rather than representing an integrated economic, security, and regional community, essentially remains a conglomerate of diverse states maintaining order in Southeast Asia through a complex bureaucratic process. Inviolable national sovereignty, a refusal to use force, and a desire to avoid confrontation among its members dominate the group’s policies and limit its political role. The result is a secretariat that lacks an overarching capacity to enforce its policies, as an analysis of ASEAN’s responses to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the war on terrorism in Southeast Asia, and the rise of China demonstrates. ASEAN is only as strong as its member states want it to be, and too often states put individual goals above a common one.
Summer 2007
Is India, or Will It Be, a Responsible Stakeholder?
Journal Article, Washington Quarterly, issue 3, volume 30
By Xenia Dormandy, Former Senior Associate, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
It has become a cliche that the key strategic challenges facing Washington and the wider international community, such as energy, water, terrorism, economic development, and nonproliferation, cannot be solved by the United States alone. Although the United States unarguably retains its post-Cold War preeminent position, events since the September 11 attacks have shown the limitations of Washington's hard and soft power.
