Authors: Hinrich Voss and Jeremy Clegg, University of Leeds
The changing fortunes of the world’s mature economies relative to the emerging economies have prompted a remarkable reversal of roles when it comes to who might be able to help whom.
And while it would be in everyone’s best interest to help one another in the wake of the global financial crisis, international investment in real assets (as opposed to the purchase of bonds or titles to debt) is the outcome of hard-nosed commercial business decisions. Read more…
Author: Susumu Yabuki, Yokohama City University
Many people think that current US–China relations are comparable to US–Soviet relations during the Cold War. This is completely mistaken.
It is often said that the US and China are rivals — even potential combatants — in areas near Okinawa and the South China Sea. Some Japanese military strategists go as far as asserting that Read more…
Author: Thee Kian Wie, LIPI
India and Indonesia are two of Asia’s most resonant success stories: they are the continent’s third- and fifth-largest economies and are both members of the G20. But the story — and pace — of their success is considerably different.
In Indonesia, as Suharto began to rise to power in 1966 he inherited economic chaos, Read more…
Author: Maria Monica Wihardja, Bank Indonesia
Indonesia’s participation in the G20 Summit in Los Cabos was focused, strategic and effective. Despite these positives, criticism of Indonesia’s approach is not unwarranted.
Indonesia’s approach was focused because it concentrated on three major issues: its ‘middle-way’ approach to balancing austerity and job creation, financial inclusion and infrastructure investment. Read more…
Author: Hiroshi Fukurai, University of California
In 2009 Japan introduced two systems of lay adjudication: a quasi-jury system (saiban-in seido) and a grand jury system, the Prosecution Review Commission (kensatsu shinsakai or PRC).
Much public and scholarly attention has been paid to the quasi-jury trials, where six citizens and three professional judges decide on criminal matters. Read more…
Author: Vikas Kumar, Azim Premji University; Alok Tiwari, Mathura, and Ragupathy Venkatachalam, University of Trento
India is suffering from policy paralysis due to a crisis of credibility across the political system. The world’s largest democracy is threatened by a growing disconnect between the electorate and elected representatives, which is expressed as distrust and a general sense of a lack of accountability of the latter.
Read more…
Author: Leonid Petrov, University of Sydney
Koreans commemorated the tragic beginning of the Korean War (1950–53) on 25 June.
What began as a civil war for unification soon escalated into an international war — a protracted Cold War conflict and a surrogate World War III. Read more…
Authors: Ian Buchanan and Christopher Findlay, AUSPECC
As the politically and economically diverse Asian Pacific states adjust toward post-Cold War institutional structures and alliances, Australia faces renewed policy making and economic cooperation challenges.
It is precisely this diversity of economic interests and political systems that dictates the mode of engagement and the degree of centralised control over the ‘scripts’ used by the actors who exercise influence over the region through various policies and fora.
Read more…
Author: Bharat Dahiya, UN-HABITAT and AIT
The rapid demographic expansion of Asian cities that came with sustained economic growth made it a textbook example of the positive correlation between urbanisation and economic growth.
Asian cities are now home to over half of the world’s urban population, or 1.76 billion people. Read more…
Author: Minquan Liu, ADBI
Since 1978 China has consistently registered unprecedented rates of economic growth compared with both its own past record and those of other countries.
From 1978 to 2009, for example, while the average world growth rate was 2.7 per cent, China’s was 9.5 per cent. Read more…
Author: Maria Monica Wihardja, Bank Indonesia
The Japanese saying, ‘the name speaks for itself’, appears to reflect accurately the current global economic and geopolitical landscape.
Asia — meaning ‘sunrise’ in Greek and ‘east’ in Assyrian — is clearly rising, and the time has come for the ‘Asian Century’. Read more…
Author: Razeen Sally, ECIPE
Economic freedom is often glossed over in discussions about the many facets of the ‘Asian century’, but market liberalisation is a crucial enabler of Asia’s current awakening.
There is much unfinished business, for economic freedom remains substantially repressed across Asia. Expanding it is vital. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
India seems to have found itself in the enviable position of being courted by both the US and China, thus confirming its status as the ‘swing state’ of Asia.
Two recent meetings highlight India’s emerging role in Asian security. Read more…
Author: Chayut Setboonsarng, CARI
The great philosophical question about the elements of a perfect democracy and their relation to capitalism remains unsettled, and is likely to remain thus.
Yet the recent history of Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand calls for a more practical conversation about the nature and extent of democratic transformation in Southeast Asia. Read more…
