New Trends in the ASEAN Countries

Political and economic trends in post-Cambodia ASEAN converge in a new regionalism that seeks, not only to expand membership to include all the Southeast Asian countries (bar East Timor), but to redefine the intra-ASEAN tariff regime in tandem with the economic dynamism of the region. As highlighted by Vietnam\u27s accession to ASEAN membership in 1995, the grouping also seeks to establish a new security regime, albeit with active US participation. Such widening and deepening of ASEAN has not been without attendant problems, however, ranging fron national-territorial issues to universalist claims from within and without the region for greater rights than those conferred by mere economic development

Research Agenda for the Lao People\u27s Democratic Republic

It has to be said that just as Laos is one of the least developed countries of Southeast Asia, a product of war and revolution as much colonial neglect, it is also one of the least studied countries. The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, to sketch the broad lines of the development problem facing Laos under the stewardship of the People\u27s Democratic Republic(Lao PDR) and, second, to reach some understanding of the actual state of social science research on Laos. Looking to the future, the article also offers certain speculations as to the priorities for a research agenda on this country, especially given the looming ecological crisis confronting this profoundly polyethnic society as it joins the growth economies of the region, albeit on unequal terms

Indonesia in 2013

Ahead of upcoming elections, expectations ran high in 2013 across the archipelago for a highly pluralistic electorate. With China as a leading trading partner, the backdrop for Indonesia was steady economic growth, albeit checked by a sliding currency, a current account deficit, and a depressing culture of corruption. Mixing commerce and geopolitics, China, the U.S., and Japan all turned to Indonesia to expand their influence

The Great Vietnamese Famine of 1944-45 Revisited

This article revisits the great Vietnam famine of 1944-45 in light of flaws in human agency as well as destabilization stemming from war and conflict. Although the great famine was never construed as a war crime by the Allies, the question of blame, alongside agency or lack of it, was an issue between the French and the Viet Minh in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese surrender and entered into propaganda recriminations. Both Japan and France were blamed. As one of the least well known tragedies arising out of the Pacific War, this article adopts a general truth-seeking approach to the disaster, not only as a contribution to war and memory studies, but equally to the literature on famine prevention

Re-enter the United Nations

On 23 June 2006 the UN proudly launched its Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) seeking to reverse a situation where international efforts to rebuild war-torn societies had, more often than not, failed. Mindful of such cases as Haiti, Cambodia, Somalia, and Liberia, where security deteriorated once international support was withdrawn, obviously the drafters of the PBC had much to learn from the East Timor (Timor-Leste) example. This was highlighted by the massive civil unrest sparked off in East Timor in early 2006, returning to world attention in February 2008 with the near assassination of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL) president and the continuing humanitarian crisis.Initially, only Burundi and Sierra Leone came under the purview of the PCB, although emergency funding had also been advanced to Ivory Coast and the Central African Republic. In December 2007, Guinea-Bissau, became the third country to win PBC support as a state in danger of backsliding into violence. Given the ad hoc nature of past UN missions in East Timor/Timor-Leste, the hybrid character of security operations conducted independent of the UN flag, and the general lack of governance capacity inside the new nation, this article explicitly argues in favor of extending PBC commitment to Timor-Leste.Le 23 juin 2006, l’Onu a fièrement lancé sa Commission de consolidation de la paix (CCP), cherchant à inverser une situation dans laquelle les efforts internationaux visant à reconstruire les sociétés qui étaient dévastées par la guerre avaient, le plus souvent, échoué. Gardant à l’esprit des cas tels que celui d’Haïti, du Cambodge, de la Somalie et du Liberia, où la sécurité s’était détériorée dès le retrait de l’aide internationale, il est évident que les rédacteurs de la CCP avaient beaucoup à apprendre de l’exemple de Timor oriental (Timor-Leste). Ceci a été souligné par les troubles civils importants qui se sont déclenchés, au début de l’année 2006, à Timor oriental, lesquels ont attiré à nouveau l’attention du monde entier en février 2008, avec la tentative d’assassinat du président de la République démocratique du Timor-Leste (RDTL) et la crise humanitaire qui se poursuit.A l’origine, seuls le Burundi et la Sierra Leone bénéficiaient du dispositif de la CCP, bien que des financements d’urgence aient également été avancés pour la Côte d’Ivoire et la République centrafricaine. En décembre 2007, la Guinée-Bissau, est devenue le troisième pays ayant obtenu le soutien de la CCP, en raison du danger, pour cet État, de retomber dans la violence. Étant donné la nature ad hoc des précédentes missions de l’Onu à Timor oriental/Timor-Leste, le caractère hybride des opérations de sécurité menées indépendamment du drapeau de l’Onu et le manque général d’une capacité de gouvernance au sein de la nouvelle nation, cet article argumente explicitement en faveur de l’extension de l'engagement de la CCP à Timor-Leste.No dia 23 de Junho de 2006, as Nações Unidas criaram orgulhosamente a sua Comissão de Manutenção da Paz (CMP), com o objectivo de inverter a situação onde os esforços internacionais para reconstruir as sociedades devastadas pela guerra têm muitas vezes falhado. Sem esquecer casos como os do Haiti, do Cambodja, da Somália e da Libéria, onde a segurança se deteriorou quando a ajuda internacional se retirou, obviamente os criadores da CMP tiveram de aprender muito com o exemplo de Timor-Leste. Isto foi realçado pela agitação civil em grande escala desencadeada no início de 2006, atraindo de novo as atenções mundiais em Fevereiro de 2008 com a tentativa de assassinato do presidente da República Democrática de Timor-Leste (RDTL) e a continuação da crise humanitária. No início, apenas o Burundi e a Serra Leoa estiveram sob a alçada da CMP, apesar do fundo de emergência também ter sido atribuído à Costa do Marfim e à República Centro-Africana. Em Dezembro de 2007, a Guiné-Bissau tornou-se no terceiro país a obter o apoio da CMP como um estado em perigo de voltar a enfrentar a violência. Tendo em conta a natureza ad hoc das missões anteriores das Nações Unidas em Timor-Leste, o carácter híbrido das operações de segurança dirigidas de maneira independente em relação à bandeira das Nações Unidas e a falta geral de capacidade de governação da nova nação, este artigo defende o alargamento do compromisso da CMP em Timor-Leste

Prelude to the First Indochina War: New Light on the Fontainebleau Conference of July-September 1946 and Aftermath

In the wake of the Viet Minh“August Revolution”of 1945 leading to the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), the French government began negotiations with both the Viet Minh and the Nationalist Chinese for a return of the French army to Vietnam north of the 16th parallel. In this transaction, the Viet Minh revealed themselves willing to accept French rule to rid Vietnam of Chinese occupation, especially as Ho Chí Minh feared it would become permanent. As a less well remembered phase of modern Vietnamese history, this article steps out the three key conventions surrounding the Franco-Viet Minh entente, namely, the Accords signed in Hanoi on March 6, 1946，its diplomatic sequel at Dalat in May 1946 and, finally, the Fontainebleau Conference in August-September the same year. It then traces the breakdown of the entente, with especial reference to the events in Haiphong and, in highly summary form, the military sequels down until the French denouement at Dien Bien Phu

Re-enter the United Nations: A role for the Peacebuilding Commission in East Timor?

On 23 June 2006 the UN proudly launched its Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) seeking to reverse a situation where international efforts to rebuild war-torn societies had, more often than not, failed. Mindful of such cases as Haiti, Cambodia, Somalia, and Liberia, where security deteriorated once international support was withdrawn, obviously the drafters of the PBC had much to learn from the East Timor (Timor-Leste) example. This was highlighted by the massive civil unrest sparked off in East Timor in early 2006, returning to world attention in February 2008 with the near assassination of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL) president and the continuing humanitarian crisis. Initially, only Burundi and Sierra Leone came under the purview of the PCB, although emergency funding had also been advanced to Ivory Coast and the Central African Republic. In December 2007, Guinea-Bissau, became the third country to win PBC support as a state in danger of backsliding into violence. Given the ad hoc nature of past UN missions in East Timor/Timor-Leste, the hybrid character of security operations conducted independent of the UN flag, and the general lack of governance capacity inside the new nation, this article explicitly argues in favor of extending PBC commitment to Timor-Leste

Ho Chi Minh and Komatsu Kiyoshi 小松清 in Paris: A Reprise

Having arrived in France in 1921, the young student of French, Komatsu Kiyoshi 小松清, made the acquaintance of Ho Chi Minh. While briefly acknowledging Komatsu\u27s career as literateur through the French Popular Front years, specifically the article raises a series of questions as to the depth of Komatsu\u27s relationship with Ho Chi Minh. Especially as revealed by French police documentation, such concerns his links with communist and anarcho-syndicalist networks in Paris ‒ Japanese included ‒ and his surprising remembrance of Ho Chi Minh as published in a Hanoi newspaper in 1944, prior to throwing in his lot with the Vietnamese nationalist-communist cause.創刊第100巻記念号Essays in Commemoration of the 100th Volum

Brunei Darussalam: Dynastic Fallout, Economic Crisis and Recovery ?

With its small population base, and vast reserves of oil and natutal gas, Brunei Darussalam has been able to lever its economy into providing an enviable standard of living for its population and mega-billions for its ruling Royal family. Brunei Darussalam also shares the external vulnerabiiities of oil producer states. This article seeks to structurally expose these vulnerabilities with specific reference to the dynastic crisis of 2001-2002･ It also seeks to explain how the Sultanate recovered from this crisis without, however, precluding future crisis and even collapse whether from domestic(dynastic) or ext ernal shocks

VAST: An ASKAP Survey for Variables and Slow Transients

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar scintillation, radio supernovae and orphan afterglows of gamma ray bursts. In addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of five seconds and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. Submitted for publication in Pub. Astron. Soc. Australi