Contemporary Southeast Asia articles from April 2005

Contemporary Southeast Asia archives from April 2005

The Five Power Defence Arrangements: Southeast Asia's unknown regional security organization.
April 1, 2005... Introduction It is not often that the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), a little known military consultation agreement between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, makes the news. However, in 2004 it...

Unrest in South Thailand: contours, causes, and consequences since 2001.
April 1, 2005... Introduction Historically speaking, the Kingdom of Thailand is no stranger to armed conflict with insurgent groups. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the government fought an armed communist insurgency. Muslim separatists were active in the...

The politics of locality and temporality in the 2004 Malaysian parliamentary elections.
April 1, 2005... Introduction Parliamentary elections in Malaysia are hotly contested affairs. The March 2004 11th General Elections were billed to be one of, if not, the most interesting yet. Abdullah Badawi, Mahathir Mohammad's hand-picked successor who...

The 2004 Ba' Kelalan by-election in Sarawak, East Malaysia: the Lun Bawang factor and Whither representative democracy in Malaysia.
April 1, 2005... Introduction In Malaysia, a by-election is held when a constituency falls vacant because of the death of the incumbent; disqualification (of a sitting incumbent) upon transgressing a law; or resignation (Jawan 2003). In 2004, after the...

The 2004 Philippine elections: political change in an illiberal democracy.
April 1, 2005... Introduction In such an atmosphere of fraud, I feel so disheartened and disgusted. --Faith-based American observer on the 2004 Philippine elections (Sy and Aravilla 2004). There was so much violence...

Multilateralism in China's ASEAN policy: its evolution, characteristics, and aspiration.
April 1, 2005... Introduction The end of the Cold War and the settlement of the Cambodian conflict opened a new chapter in the development of ASEAN-China relations. Four key characteristics distinguish ASEAN-China ties in the post-Cold War era from that of...

The relevance of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) for regional security in the Asia-Pacific.
April 1, 2005... Introduction This article uses the term institution as defined by James G. March and Johan P. Olsen: "In a general way, an 'institution' can be viewed as a relatively stable collection of practices and rules defining appropriate behaviour...

Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia: Transnational Challenges to States and Regional Stability.(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia: Transnational Challenges to States and Regional Stability. Edited by Paul J. Smith. Armonk, New York & London: M.E. Sharpe 2005. Softcover: 262 pp. This edited volume adds to the post 9/11 glut of...

Making Democracy: Leadership, Class, Gender, and Political Participation in Thailand.(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... Making Democracy: Leadership, Class, Gender, and Political Participation in Thailand. By James Ockey. Honolulu, Hawaii, USA: University of Hawaii Press, 2004. Hardcover: 233 pp. It is encouraging to note that scholarly works in English on...

West Papua and Indonesia Since Suharto: Independence, Autonomy or Chaos.(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... West Papua and Indonesia Since Suharto: Independence, Autonomy or Chaos? By Peter King. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales Press, 2004. 231 pp. Following East Timor's secession from Indonesia in 1999, there has been a shift...

China: Is Rapid Growth Sustainable?(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... China: Is Rapid Growth Sustainable? Edited by Ross Garnaut and Ligang Song. Canberra: Asia Pacific Press, 2004. Softcover: 249pp. By 2004 China had become the sixth largest economy and the fourth largest trading nation in the world. Its...

Strategic Asia 2004-05: Confronting Terrorism in the Pursuit of Power.(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... Strategic Asia 2004-05: Confronting Terrorism in the Pursuit of Power. Edited by Ashley J. Tellis and Michael Wills. Washington, Seattle, USA: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2004. Softcover: 520pp. This edited volume seeks to examine...