Abstract
The existing literature on foreign policy formulation suggests that individual leaders in small and politically unstable states exert a disproportionate impact on foreign policy-making. Some analysts further contend that personalized foreign policy decision-making is more likely to suffer from discontinuities. This article, however, argues that the foreign policies of small and politically unstable states exhibit considerable variation in terms of constancy. It does so by offering a comparative study of the foreign policies of the Philippines and Thailand towards China. It demonstrates that the Philippines’ policy towards China underwent significant changes in the last few years of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and that bilateral relations deteriorated rapidly after Benigno Aquino III came to power in 2010. In contrast, Thailand has maintained a cordial relationship with China despite domestic political turmoil since 2006. This article suggests that neither the shift in the distribution of capabilities nor the presence or absence of territorial disputes sufficiently explains this variation. It argues that the personalization of foreign policy and economic dependence are two important factors that determine constancy and change in the foreign policies of small states towards major powers.
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Country or Region: Thailand
Sermcheep, Sineenat, and Suthiphand Chirathivat
Abstract
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is Thailand’s current priority and the AEC Blueprint is being progressively implemented in the country. However, different domestic economic interests have contributed to the slow pace of implementation. Three case studies — the agricultural sector, the logistics industry, and the mobility of medical professionals — are used to illustrate this. To move the AEC beyond 2015 and to enhance consensus-building during the community-building process, this paper puts forth the following policy recommendations: (i) the Thai government should enhance awareness of the community-building process and convey more details about the AEC to stakeholders and the general public; (ii) closer consultation and more integrated relationships between the government and stakeholders should be fostered; (iii) the government should formulate policies to improve the competitiveness of the affected stakeholders and industries to reduce the adverse impact from the AEC.
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Kawai, Masahiro, Peter J. Morgan, and Pradumna B. Rana
Summary
The global financial crisis of 2007-2009 exposed flaws and shortcomings in the global economic architecture, and has sparked an international debate about possible remedies for them. The postwar global architecture was essentially guided by the major developed economies, and was centered around the IMF, the GATT – the predecessor of the WTO – and the World Bank. Today, however, the balance of economic and financial power is shifting toward the emerging economies, especially those in Asia, and both global governance and economic policy thinking are beginning to reflect this shift. This book addresses the important question of how a regional architecture, particularly one in Asia, can induce a supply of regional public goods that can complement and strengthen the global public goods supplied through the global architecture. These public goods include institutions to help maintain financial stability, support more open
trading regimes and promote sustainable economic development.
Southgate, Laura
Abstract
This article investigates the history of ASEAN’s relationship to external intervention in regional affairs. It addresses a specific question: What was the basic cause of the success of ASEAN resistance to the Vietnamese challenge to ASEAN’s sovereignty from 1978-1991? ASEAN’s history is understood in terms of a realist theoretical logic, in terms of the relationship between an ASEAN state with the most compelling interests at stake in a given issue, which I call a ‘vanguard state,’ and selected external powers. Using the Third Indochina War (1978–1991) as a case study, this article contends that ASEAN’s ability to resist violations to the sovereignty of Thailand from a Soviet-backed Vietnam is a consequence of high interest convergence between Thailand, and a designated external power, China.
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Pitakdumrongkit, Kaewkamol
Abstract
This article studies the roles of Association of Southeast Asian Nations country coordinators in shaping negotiation outcomes, which have been under-examined. A question: ‘What makes an effective coordinator?’ is explored. ‘Effectiveness’ is the ability to shape outcomes in one’s direction. This paper argues that a coordinator’s effectiveness is rooted in resource management, not resource possession. To be effective, the coordinator must turn the resources at hand into bargaining leverage vis-à-vis the others. To validate the argument, this paper demonstrates how Thailand, taking advantage of its coordinator position, advanced the talks on the Code of Conduct of the South China Sea resulting in the first formal consultation in September 2013.
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Walter, Andrew, and Xiaoke Zhang
Summary
The increasing economic and political importance of East Asia in the global political economy requires a deeper analysis of the nature of the capitalist systems in this region than has been provided by the existing literature on comparative capitalisms. This volume brings together conceptual and empirical analyses of the evolving patterns of East Asian capitalism against the backdrop of regional and global market integration and periodic economic crises since the 1980s. Focusing on China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand, it provides an interdisciplinary account of variations, continuities, and changes in the institutional structures that govern financial systems, industrial relations, and product markets, and that shape the evolution of national political economies.
While the volume encompasses a range of different cases, specific issues, and diverse methodologies, all the chapters address two dominant themes – the continuities and changes in the institutional underpinnings of capitalist development and the main driving forces behind them. The book thus provides an integrated analysis of how changing institutional practices in business, financial, and labour systems interact and affect the evolution of capitalist political economies in the region.
Tan, Andrew T. H
Abstract
The article reports on the development of naval capabilities in the Straits of Malacca, the world’s most important and strategic waterway, as a consequence of the growing importance of maritime security. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand responsible for the security of the Straits of Malacca, and as such enhanced their naval power. It is said that one quarter of the world’s trade and half the world’s oil pass through the Straits of Malacca. The Malacca Straits Patrol aims at countering piracy and terrorist threats to shipping.
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Storey, Ian
Summary
Since the early 1990s and the end of the Cold War, the implications of China’s rising power have come to dominate the security agenda of the Asia-Pacific region. This book is the first to comprehensively chart the development of Southeast Asia’s relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from 1949 to 2010, detailing each of the eleven countries’ ties to the PRC and showing how strategic concerns associated with China’s regional posture have been a significant factor in shaping their foreign and defence policies. In addition to assessing bilateral ties, the book also examines the institutionalization of relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.
The first part of the book covers the period 1949-2010: it examines Southeast Asian responses to the PRC in the context of the ideological and geopolitical rivalry of the Cold War; Southeast Asian countries’ policies towards the PRC in first decade of the post-Cold War era; and deepening ties between the ASEAN states and the PRC in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Part Two analyses the evolving relationships between the countries of mainland Southeast Asia – Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia – and China. Part Three reviews ties between the states of maritime Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei and East Timor – and the PRC. Whilst the primary focus of the book is the security dimension of Southeast Asia-China relations, it also takes full account of political relations and the burgeoning economic ties between the two sides. This book is a timely contribution to the literature on the fast changing geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region.
Sovacool, Benjamin K
Summary
This Handbook examines the subject of energy security: its definition, dimensions, ways to measure and index it, and the complicating factors that are often overlooked.
The volume identifies varying definitions and dimensions of energy security, including those that prioritize security of supply and affordability alongside those that emphasize availability, energy efficiency, trade, environmental quality, and social and political stewardship. It also explores the various metrics that can be used to give energy security more coherence, and also to enable it to be measured, including recent attempts to measure energy security progress at the national level, with a special emphasis placed on countries within the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), countries within Asia, and industrialized countries worldwide.
This Handbook:
- Broadens existing discussions of energy security that center on access to fuels, including “oil security” and “coal security.”
- Focuses not only on the supply side of energy but also the demand, taking a hard look at energy services and politics along with technologies and infrastructure;
- Investigates energy security issues such as energy poverty, equity and access, and development;
- Analyzes ways to index and measure energy security progress at the national and international level.
- This book will be of much interest to students of energy security, energy policy, economics, environmental studies, and IR/Security Studies in general.
Simpson, Adam
Summary
Across the world states are seeking out new and secure supplies of energy but this search is manifesting itself most visibly in Asia where rapid industrialisation in states such as China and India is fomenting a frantic scramble for energy resources. Due to entrenched societal inequities and widespread authoritarian governance, however, the pursuit of national energy security through transnational energy projects has resulted in devastating impacts on the human and environmental security of local populations. These effects are particularly evident in both Thailand and Myanmar (Burma), which, located at the crossroads of Asia, are increasingly engaged in the cross-border energy trade.
Based on extensive fieldwork and theoretical analysis this ground-breaking book proposes a new critical approach to energy and environmental security and explores the important role that both local and transnational environmental movements are playing, in the absence of effective and democratic governments, in providing ‘activist environmental governance’ for energy projects throughout the region. By comparing the nature of this activism under two very different political regimes it delivers crucial theoretical insights with both academic and policy implications for the sustainable and equitable development of the South’s natural resources.
Bisley, Nick
Summary
This book provides a systematic analysis of the current state and future trajectory of security cooperation in the world’s most economically dynamic and strategically uncertain region. It explains the rapid rise of a complex array of security mechanisms in Asia and argues that their limited influence on Asian states’ security policy derives from a combination of institutional and diplomatic shortcomings, as well as the broader mistrust and strategic uncertainty evident in the region. As such, the paper argues that Asia presently has a fractured security architecture and that this likely to remain the case in the short term. Although current security cooperation is not providing substantive reassurance to many regional powers, indeed it is to some degree masking the growing wariness among many regional powers, institutional mechanisms can contribute to the creation of a stable regional order in Asia and the prospects of such efforts are politically plausible, but by no means inevitable. Provided they are well designed and have sufficient political capital invested in them, security institutions can be capable of providing regional security public goods that are not available through other means, and which the region will need if it is to be able to make good on its potential.
Jha, Ganganath
Abstract
Thailand has been witnessing political uncertainties ever since the ouster of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Although the 1997 Constitution of Thailand was one of the best in terms of evolving democratic institutions and Thaksin was one of the most popular leaders, yet the system could not work. Thaksin was disliked by the traditionally entrenched elite who joined together to remove him arbitrarily from power in which the military and the Royal Privy Council took a prominent part. The system that was adopted under military rule did not like to retain the 1997 constitution but decided to replace them with a new constitution (2007), in which the interests of the military were protected and promoted. In the evolving permutations and combinations, two groups—Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts—have emerged to oppose each other, often violently, to offer thesis and anti-thesis for and against Thaksin and his brand of politics. This article has tried to understand the dynamics of power politics in Thailand, the rise of the Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts and the emerging problems that Thailand will have to address in the future.
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De, Prabir
Summary
The Mekong countries comprising Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam grew rapidly during the last decade. With the exception of the years of global financial crisis, magnitude of growth rates and duration are remarkable in Mekong history. Given a long historical and cultural link between India and Mekong countries, there are ample scopes for cooperation and so also potential gains. Regional economic integration has become a powerful tool to foster trade and link markets across borders, and is seen as a complimentary path to strengthen the globalisation process. India has taken steps on its passage towards economic integration, particularly with Southeast and East Asian countries. Ever since the adoption of Look East Policy (LEP) by India, the partnership with ASEAN countries in general and countries in Mekong region in particular has made significant progress. The growing partnership India and ASEAN is also viewed in the context of growing importance of South-South cooperation. The challenge is to translate recent gains into lasting progress through successful regional cooperation.
This book analyses the India-Mekong cooperation in light of growing ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership. It addresses the prospects and challenges concerning the India-Mekong relations and provides a framework for deepening the economic partnership in Mekong region. The book will serve as a knowledge product for policymakers, academics, private sector experts and regional cooperation practitioners; and is a must-read for anyone interested in the regional economic cooperation between India and Mekong region.
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Goh, Evelyn
Abstract
Why have Southeast Asian states’ threat perceptions regarding China been reduced significantly over the last 15 years? This article argues it is the result of astute Chinese diplomacy, successful Southeast Asian regional security strategy, and the relative restraint exercised by the major regional powers. The paper is divided into three sections that first outline Southeast Asian strategic imperatives and Chinese strategic aims in the region; followed by an analysis of Southeast Asian views of the consequences of China’s rise in the military, political, and economic realms; and an analysis of Southeast Asian responses to the China challenge with regard to their larger regional security strategies. It concludes with outstanding questions about the strategic implications of China’s rise for the region.
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Li, Mingjiang
Abstract
China has a strong interest in pursuing a smart power strategy towards Southeast Asia and has worked laboriously to engage with regional countries economically, socially, and politically. But China has been only partially successful in achieving its goals in the region. This paper argues that China’s security policy towards Southeast Asia significantly contradicts many other objectives that Beijing wishes to accomplish. Given the deep-seated, narrowly-defined national interests of the Chinese military in the South China Sea disputes, it is likely that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will continue to pose the main obstacle to the effective implementation of a Chinese smart strategy in Southeast Asia.
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