The developmental states of Asia—South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore—have been widely recognized for their successful COVID-19 governance. However, despite these successes, a closer examination reveals significant differences in their strategic responses and the medical resources mobilized. This article explains the different governance approaches taken by the three developmental states. We argue that the pre-crisis industrial coordination capacity of each developmental state plays a crucial role in determining both whether and which medical resources can be mobilized during emergencies. Through comparative case studies and within-case process tracing, we demonstrate how pre-established industry-level coordination capacities enabled Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore to strategically prioritize the production and mobilization of test kits, masks, and vaccines, respectively, especially in the initial phase of the pandemic. This article emphasizes that a country’s domestic production capacity, an often-overlooked institutional factor, can facilitate a more efficient response in a short period of time and significantly strengthen crisis management efforts.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Social Sciences
Propagandists discredit political ideas that rival their own. In China’s state-run media, one common technique is to place the phrase so-called, in English, or 所谓, in Chinese, before the idea to be discredited. In this research note we apply quantitative text analysis methods to over 45,000 Xinhua articles from 2003 to 2022 containing so-called or 所谓 to better understand the ideas the government wishes to discredit for different audiences. We find that perceived challenges to China’s sovereignty consistently draw usage of the term and that a theme of rising importance is political rivalry with the United States. When it comes to differences between internal and external propaganda, we find broad similarities, but differences in how the US is discredited and more emphasis on cooperation for foreign audiences. These findings inform scholarship on comparative authoritarian propaganda and Chinese propaganda specifically.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Social Sciences
This review discusses the book “Singapore is still not an island” by the veteran of Singaporean diplomatic service Bilahari Kausikan. According to the reviewer, this work forms a broad canvas of knowledge and presents a dynamic picture of international relations. The author introduces the
reader to a multidimensional, multifactor world of current political and partly economic processes and outlines a unique set of markers (phenomena) that define the DNA of the modern era. His analysis allows us
to see its entire “genome”. He uses an inductive method, developing his narrative from the particular to the general, describing the core of Singapore’s foreign policy and placing it within regional and global trends.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The article is devoted to assessing the contribution of the Chinese diaspora to the economic development of the PRC from the moment of its formation in 1949 to the present. The author proves that the state was the initiator of the “PRC – diaspora” relations from the very beginning. For more than 70 years, the country has managed to develop and successfully implement its diaspora policy. In turn, the overseas Chinese, due to their patriotic feelings, caring for relatives in the PRC, as well as pragmatic interests, provided China with significant assistance in the form of investments, technologies, donations, and promotion of the Chinese projects and initiatives abroad. The author studied the materials of the XX Congress of the CPC (October 2022) and the two sessions held in March 2023 (the session of the NPC and the CPPCC), analyzed a number of interviews of representatives of the Chinese diaspora, who closely followed the course of these events, and concluded that the interest of the overseas Chinese in the PRC is now very high. Representatives of the business circles of the Chinese diaspora see the new opportunities provided by China, and, what is of fundamental importance, are confident in its chances of success in today’s international realities.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
Gunnar Stange, Raffaella Pagogna, Harald Sterly
et al.
In the debates over environmental impacts on migration, migration as adaptation has been acknowledged as a potential risk management strategy based on risk spreading and mutual insurance of people living spatially apart: migrants and family members that are left behind stay connected through a combination of financial and social remittances, joint decision-making and mutual commitment. Conceptualizing migration as adaptation through the lens of translocal livelihood systems enables us to identify the differentiated vulnerabilities of households and communities. COVID-19 and the restrictions on public life and mobility imposed by governments worldwide constituted a complex set of challenges for translocal systems and strategies, especially in the Global South. Focusing on examples, we highlight two points: first, the COVID-19 crisis shows the limits of migration and translocal livelihoods for coping with, and adapting to, climate and environmental risks. Second, as these restrictions hit on a systemic level and affect places of destination as well as origin, the crisis reveals specific vulnerabilities of the translocal livelihood systems themselves. Based on the translocal livelihoods approach, we formulate insights and recommendations for policies that move beyond the narrow, short-term focus on the support of migrant populations alone and address the longer-term root causes of the vulnerabilities in translocal livelihoods systems.
The essay tells about a landmark event in Russian-Vietnamese relations – the opening of a bronze monument to the leader of the Vietnamese people Ho Chi Minh on June 30, 2023 in St. Petersburg on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his first arrival in Russia. Thanks to Ho Chi Minh, Russian-Vietnamese relations from the very beginning acquired the character of “relationships of special solidarity”.
The author reveals the personality traits of Ho Chi Minh and his ideology. First of all, it is historical optimism and absolute faith in the victory of a just cause – the freedom and independence of Vietnam, as well as humanity and rare modesty. He had truly unlimited authority among his people, but it was not a cult of personality.
The author concludes that Ho Chi Minh deeply studied the practical experience of the October Revolution, which allowed him to blaze a path in leading the Vietnamese revolution that most closely corresponded to the peculiarities of the political development of Vietnam and the national mentality.
Ho Chi Minh initiated the strategy of a united front of national liberation. The Viet Minh Front, created by him in May 1941, was open to all Vietnamese patriots, regardless of their class and social affiliation. It was under the flags of the Viet Minh that the August Revolution of 1945, one of the most bloodless revolutions in world history, won.
The author shows the significance of Ho Chi Minh’s political activity alternately in Russia and China in 1923–1940, and then the decisive role of the two socialist powers in the victorious end of the long-term war of Resistance of the Vietnamese people against the colonialists. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh, according to
the author, had a hard time with the steady deterioration of Soviet-Chinese relations in 1950–1960. This was reflected, in particular, in his Political Testament.
The essay shows that in the years preceding the victory of the August Revolution in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh spent more than six years in the USSR. After becoming the President of the DRV, he also repeatedly visited the Soviet Union. It is no coincidence that he was called both in Vietnam and in Russia a man who “laid the foundation of fraternal friendship” between the peoples of our countries and contributed in every possible way to its development and strengthening.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The work in the area of public diplomacy in the Chinese direction began in the USSR immediately after the formation of the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (transliteration – Vsesoyuznoe Obshchestvo Kul'turnoy Svyazi s Zagranicey, VOKS) in 1925. That year was a relatively favorable time for the start of cultural and scientific contacts in terms of interstate relations and the internal political situation in China. Through the Soviet diplomatic missions VOKS started a distribution of its bulletins, photographic materials for organizing exhibitions, articles for placement in the Chinese press, established book exchanges between the major libraries. Contacts were established with a number of scientists and cultural figures. VOKS participated in the reception of official delegations arriving in the USSR, providing a cultural program and acquaintance with the achievements of the Soviet country after the October Revolution. O.D. Kamenevа, the chairman of VOKS, played a driving role in this process. The plans included the organization of a representative office of VOKS in Beijing or the organization of a Friendship Society, as well as societies for rapprochement with the USSR, Russian language courses. However, the situation in China soon changed dramatically in the direction of reaction. The break in the united front of the China Communist Party and the Guomindang in 1926, the coup by Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, the expulsion of Soviet diplomats that followed, and the break in diplomatic relations in 1929 temporarily made the cultural exchange between the USSR and China impossible.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The article provides a thesis description of the reports presented at the 15th anniversary conference of the Association of Japanologists, which was held on December 16, 2022 in the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The conference is traditionally devoted to contemporary problems of Japan, its relations with other countries, with special attention paid to Russian-Japanese relations. At the 2022 conference two plenary reports and more than 30 reports were made in four thematic sections, covering a wide range of issues of Japanese studies. In particular, attention was paid to topical issues in politics, economics and regional security. For the first time, within the framework of the conference of the Association of Japanologists, a session was held dedicated to the issues of linguistics.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The territorial disputes over Senkaku/Diaoyudao and the Kuril Chain are interrelated from historic, legal and political points of view. Both groups of islands are claimed by Japan, and the US participates in the territorial disputes over them as the 3rd party. Russia and China assert that the Kuril Chain and Senkaku/Diaoyudao are the territories controlled by them. At the global level both states take effort in defying US-Japan alliance and thereby maintaining strategic balances. Japan, which doesn’t preserve status-quo, pursues to strengthen tension in North-East Asia in the framework of US – Japan alliance. The US, participating in Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese territorial disputes as the 3rd party, enforces its own initiative policies conductive to its interests to Japan. By the way, based on these intergovernmental relations, territorial disputes in North-East Asia are mutually linked to confrontational aspects of the South China Sea. In this situation of intergovernmental contradiction, the peaceful settlement of territorial disputes should be posed in the framework of multilateral strategic talks, as exemplified by ASEAN-centered institutions.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The migration flows connecting Thailand and Europe have constructed social spaces in which different stereotypes regarding Thais and Europeans emerge, perpetuate, and circulate, thereby affecting to various extents the lives of these individuals. To challenge these stereotypes, the present Special Issue takes into account the mechanisms of social categorization at transnational and local dimensions in three critical steps. First, it adopts an inclusive stance by not limiting itself to heterosexual relationships involving Thais and Europeans. Second, it shifts the scholarly gaze from marriage and family issues to Thai migrants’ mobilities in spatial, social, and intergenerational terms. And third, it highlights Thai migrants’ engagement in the labor market as intimate workers and entrepreneurs to uncover the factors shaping their (re)productive labor and social incorporation in their receiving countries. Using an intersectional approach, this Special Issue presents six empirically grounded case studies to unveil often-neglected dimensions and complexities of Europe-Thailand transnational migration.
The profound social and political changes that took place in China at the turn of the 19th
century led to a significant reappraisal of spiritual and aesthetic values in the society. The Western culture
infiltration contributed to the reform movement and encouraged new trends in the Chinese visual arts. The artists who returned to China after studying abroad created various associations and art schools. They tried to find new forms and merge the heritage of traditional Chinese painting with the achievements of Western art. In the beginning of the 20th century Beijing becomes the center of social transformation in China and the source of a new cultural movement.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
Les violations graves et massives des droits de l’homme sont la marque caractéristique de l’exploitation des ressources naturelles au Kivu, à l’est de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC). Les minerais y sont très abondants, certains sont stratégiques pour le développement de l’industrie mondiale, mais ils ne profitent ni à l’Etat ni au peuple congolais. Bien au contraire, ils sont devenus la source de leurs malheurs. Cette étude tente d’expliquer les raisons profondes qui sont à la base de cette tension entre l’exploitation des minerais au Kivu et le respect des droits humains. L’analyse se focalise sur les droits à la paix, à la sécurité, à la santé, à un environnement sain et au développement. Elle relève essentiellement de la sociologie du droit, qui permet de capter des faits empiriques, les comportements des acteurs qui interviennent dans ce secteur, et de leur donner une signification en droit congolais, de manière à saisir la portée et les facteurs qui influent sur l’application ou l’inapplication de celui-ci. En fin de compte, cette étude propose des pistes juridiques de solution pour mettre fin à cette situation qui compromet actuellement toute perspective d’instauration de l’Etat de droit. La RDC devrait notamment être plus interventioniste, prendre directement lui-même le contrôle de certaines activités minières, mettre de l’ordre dans ses services administratifs de contrôle et réprimer sévèrement les infractions pénales qui se commettent dans ce secteur.
Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica
Le Comité de règlement des différends (CRD) de l’Autorité de régulation des marchés publics (ARMP) constitue une nouvelle institution devant contribuer à la mise en œuvre de la législation sur la commande publique en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC). Cette étude vise à examiner sa nature juridique et sa distinction, du point de vue organique et fonctionnel, des cours et tribunaux. Elle tente également d’identifier quelques leçons que l’on peut déjà tirer de la pratique qui forme sa « jurisprudence » depuis qu’il est à pied d’œuvre en 2013. Il est démontré que le CRD dispose d’importants pouvoirs administratifs qui le singularisent et le démarquent des cours et tribunaux avec lesquels il n’est en position ni de dualité ni de complémentarité de compétences. Il s’agit plutôt d’une institution administrative dont la création en tant qu’organe technique de l’ARMP procède de la volonté de moderniser l’administration publique et de déconcentrer le système de traitement des recours administratifs en matière de contentieux des marchés publics pour plus de transparence et d’efficacité aussi bien que pour une meilleure protection des droits garantis aux citoyens. En dernière analyse, l’étude démontre que la « jurisprudence » du CRD est riche en ce qui concerne notamment la délimitation de la portée de sa propre compétence et le droit qu’il applique aux litiges qui sont soumis à son appréciation. A cet égard, sa contribution à la protection de l’Etat de droit en RDC mérite d’être particulièrement saluée.
Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica
A l’aune de la définition d’une nouvelle réforme de la politique foncière en République Démocratique du Congo, la présente étude ouvre une piste de réflexion en vue de contribuer à la mise en œuvre d’une politique foncière adéquate susceptible d’assurer la protection juridique spéciale des communautés locales et peuples autochtones vivant autour des concessions forestières. Il analyse non seulement les efforts fournis par le législateur congolais en vue de construire un régime juridique spécial protecteur des peuples autochtones et des communautés locales à l’accès aux ressources naturelles, mais également offre les préalables avant la mise en œuvre d’un régime foncier spécial protecteur des peuples autochtones et des communautés des zones forestières (Communautés locales) en République Démocratique du Congo avec un essai des propositions.
Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica
Le droit dans les Etats africains de la zone franc se caractérise de plus en plus par une certaine complexité dont l’une des causes est l’appartenance de ces Etats à une multitude d’organisations d’intégration sous régionale. La présente étude s’est fixée pour objectif de démontrer comment l’engagement des Etats africains de la zone franc dans divers processus d’intégration sous régionale participe à la complexité de leurs droits. D’une part, au niveau du système normatif, l’on note une diversification des sources du droit et un brouillage des rapports entre lesdites sources. D’autre part, au niveau du système juridictionnel, l’on relève une reconfiguration du paysage juridictionnel et une diversification des rapports entre les juridictions.
Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica
Civil society plays an important role in checking government excesses. It is necessary for accountable and transparent governance. Nevertheless, the environment in which civil society operates across the globe is constantly shrinking. This paper provides for a brief history of stages of development of civil society in Uganda and a brief outline of the numbers of civil society organisations from inception. The paper asserts that the factors affecting the operating environment for civil society are both external and internal. The external factors include: perception of civil society as partisan, restrictive legal environment which mainly consists of the Non-Governmental Organisations Act, 2016, the Public Order Management Act, 2013, the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2005 as amended 2015, the Anti-Pornography Act, 2014, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2014; security and safety; reliance on donor funding and ignorance of the public due to information gaps. The internal factors include: non-compliance with legal requirements and internal governance issues. The paper concludes that civil society is partly to blame for the shrinking Civil Society Organisations (CSO) space. Finally, the paper notes that for civil society to survive amidst the shrinking political and civic space, capacity development as well as compliance with the laws by CSOs is necessary if they are cope with the emerging security threats. Further, there must be adoption and strengthening of security, cooperation and solidarity, delving into alternative sources of funding, co-operating with government and efforts geared towards amendment of restrictive legislation.
Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica