Asian Review of Political Economy最新文献

Geopolitical awakening in Africa: leveraging South–South cooperation in a multipolar world 非洲地缘政治觉醒：在多极世界中利用南南合作

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-05-04 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-026-00079-7

Salum Mussa Haruna

{"title":"Geopolitical awakening in Africa: leveraging South–South cooperation in a multipolar world","authors":"Salum Mussa Haruna","doi":"10.1007/s44216-026-00079-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-026-00079-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Africa’s engagement with the international system is undergoing a significant shift as states and regional institutions increasingly pursue strategic autonomy within an emerging multipolar order. This article examines how African actors leverage South–South cooperation and regional integration to advance developmental sovereignty and geostrategic diversification, moving beyond portrayals of the continent as a passive recipient of external influence. Drawing on qualitative document and policy analysis and a structured set of illustrative case studies—including China–Africa, India–Africa, Turkey/Gulf–Africa partnerships, and intra-African cooperation through African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and regional economic communities—the study traces how Africa is expanding its bargaining capacity, institutional coordination, and development-centred diplomacy. Particular attention is given to Tanzania as an illustrative site where sovereignty-oriented policy positioning and regional engagement reflect broader continental strategies. The findings suggest that while South–South cooperation can widen Africa’s strategic options and support development priorities, it also generates new risks of asymmetry, fragmentation, and dependency substitution if not managed through transparent governance and coordinated institutional frameworks. The article concludes that Africa’s growing agency in global governance depends on sustained regional cohesion, bargaining capacity, and knowledge sovereignty rather than on multipolarity alone.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-026-00079-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147829436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Democratic decay by design: how political dynasties rewrite the rules of power in Indonesia? 民主的衰落是故意的：政治王朝如何改写印尼的权力规则？

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-04-07 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-026-00076-w

Bambang Widiyahseno, Yusuf Adam Hilman, Samodra Wibawa

{"title":"Democratic decay by design: how political dynasties rewrite the rules of power in Indonesia?","authors":"Bambang Widiyahseno, Yusuf Adam Hilman, Samodra Wibawa","doi":"10.1007/s44216-026-00076-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-026-00076-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Contemporary political dynasties pose unprecedented challenges to democratic governance by developing sophisticated mechanisms that manipulate institutions while preserving electoral legitimacy. This study examines Indonesia's Jokowi era (2014–2024), where systematic content analysis of 847 media articles and elite interviews reveal \"adaptive dynastic politics\"—a distinct phenomenon transcending traditional patronage through contextual legitimacy construction, institutional hybridization, digital coordination, and strategic coalition management. The analysis documents Indonesia's democratic deterioration from 57/100 to 56/100 (Freedom House) through systematic dynastic consolidation. Constitutional engineering enabled family succession despite age requirements, while coordinated pressure achieved 81% parliamentary control and comprehensive digital operations commanded 90-billion-rupiah government resources. While these mechanisms proved highly effective, our findings also record significant counterbalancing forces from civil society, independent media, and judicial factions whose resistance—though largely unsuccessful—reveals the contested nature of this erosion. Process tracing establishes clear causal pathways connecting these adaptive mechanisms to measurable decline across democratic institutions, political competition, civil liberties, and electoral integrity. Adaptive dynastic politics differs fundamentally from democratic backsliding by strengthening rather than destroying beneficial institutions while systematically weakening threatening ones. The paper concludes by examining mechanism durability into the Prabowo-Gibran era, suggesting they have become structurally embedded and are being repurposed for new political ends, offering essential insights for understanding institutional manipulation across developing democracies worldwide.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-026-00076-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147642638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Innovating the global payment system through “greater BRICS cooperation” 通过“深化金砖合作”创新全球支付体系

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-04-01 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-026-00075-x

Yang Lyu

引用次数: 0

Deconstruct discursive power of the BRICS: a comparative legal discourse analysis on the obligations of states in respect of climate change 解构金砖国家话语权：各国应对气候变化义务的法律话语比较分析

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-03-10 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-026-00074-y

Xisheng Wang

{"title":"Deconstruct discursive power of the BRICS: a comparative legal discourse analysis on the obligations of states in respect of climate change","authors":"Xisheng Wang","doi":"10.1007/s44216-026-00074-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-026-00074-y","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This article explores the ongoing influence of colonialist legacies in contemporary climate governance, highlighting that although the colonial system has ended, its legal and knowledge discourse still profoundly shape global climate politics. Climate litigation is not only a legal tool but also a means of discourse construction. The Western legal framework strengthens its authority in global climate governance through its dominant position in knowledge production, thereby marginalizing the countries of the Global South. To break this hegemony of Western knowledge's universalization and objectification, the Global South must establish an autonomous knowledge system. The article argues that the BRICS countries, as a typical practice of South-South cooperation, play an important role in challenging Western narratives and providing alternative governance models. The article takes the request for the \"Consultation Opinion on the Obligations of States in Climate Change\" adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2023 and submitted to the International Court of Justice as the research background, emphasizing that this historic case provides a unique opportunity to observe the discourse construction and knowledge system of the BRICS countries. This article intends to answer two questions: (1) What is the core discourse of the BRICS countries in climate governance? (2) How are these discourses constructed? Through analysis, this article emphasizes the core position of the knowledge system in legal and political discourses and points out that only by promoting a turn in epistemology can the power structure in global climate governance be changed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-026-00074-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147441000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The “black box” strategy: China’s opacity signaling game in rare earths (REES) “黑匣子”战略：中国在稀土（REES）领域的不透明信号游戏

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-03-09 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-026-00073-z

Dwayne Woods

{"title":"The “black box” strategy: China’s opacity signaling game in rare earths (REES)","authors":"Dwayne Woods","doi":"10.1007/s44216-026-00073-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-026-00073-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Rare earth elements (rees) are abundant in the Earth’s crust but difficult to access technologically. This creates a strategic imbalance that China has exploited not just through dominance in production but also by maintaining deliberate opacity. This paper introduces a dynamic signaling model in which nondisclosure of quotas, patents, and regulations serves as a recurring tactic that increases uncertainty, prompts cautious hedging, and results in unpredictable timelines for diversification among rival countries. Static costly-signaling models cannot fully describe this ongoing process; instead, pooling equilibria based on nondisclosure prevail, supported by super-modular effects through various layers of opacity. Monte Carlo simulations show that opacity can halve the likelihood of reaching resilience within 15 years and broaden the range of possible diversification timelines, shifting expected completion times by more than 4 years. Policy scenarios suggest that transparent procedures are most effective in enhancing resilience, while excessive opacity can backfire by causing panic-driven diversification.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-026-00073-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147441053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Beyond the textbooks: myth or reality of education's role in asian democratization? 教科书之外：亚洲民主化中教育角色的神话还是现实？

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-02-09 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-025-00070-8

Seungwoo Han

{"title":"Beyond the textbooks: myth or reality of education's role in asian democratization?","authors":"Seungwoo Han","doi":"10.1007/s44216-025-00070-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-025-00070-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Mass education is commonly viewed as a foundation for democratic development, assumed to cultivate democratic values. However, the political trajectories of many Asian countries challenge this premise. This study reassesses the relationship between mass education and democratic development using panel data and applies both linear interaction models and difference-in-differences designs. While findings show a positive association between education and democratic development in Europe, the relationship is absent in much of Asia. These results suggest that education’s political effects are not inherently democratizing but depend on its institutional and historical context. In particular, where education expanded under centralized, non-democratic regimes, it often reinforced authority rather than enabled democratic engagement. The absence of sequencing between state-building and democratic reform emerges as a critical factor limiting democratic consolidation. This study highlights the need to move beyond universalist assumptions and instead examine how education interacts with regime type and institutional development across different regions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-025-00070-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147337573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Mutual norm socialization through knowledge-security restrictions in Sino-German academic cooperation 中德学术合作中知识安全约束下的相互规范社会化

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-02-08 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-026-00072-0

Igor Sevenard

{"title":"Mutual norm socialization through knowledge-security restrictions in Sino-German academic cooperation","authors":"Igor Sevenard","doi":"10.1007/s44216-026-00072-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-026-00072-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>China’s 2021 <i>Data Security Law</i> and the 2023 revision of the <i>Counter-Espionage Law</i> frame most cross-border knowledge flows as matters of national security. Germany’s approach, evolving in parallel, embeds research security within a broader “de-risking” agenda that characterizes China as a systemic rival. Often operationalized through managerial guidelines, this approach is increasingly underpinned by binding EU export control and data regulations aimed at protecting data, technology, and personnel from unwanted foreign access. Against the backdrop of a wider global trend toward securitizing academic collaboration, this study asks how security-oriented regulations reshape the discourse of Chinese and German academic actors working in their respective settings, how research-security standards filter into the written rules and public statements of partner institutions, and what mutual or asymmetric forms of socialization emerge. Combining Copenhagen-School securitization theory with Johnston’s model of socialization as well as middle-power role theory, the study traces norm diffusion across the bilateral research space through a mixed-method design. It triangulates qualitative content analysis of policy and institutional documents (2019–2025) with process-tracing of regulatory changes across three critical temporal breakpoints (2021, 2023, 2024) that represent distinct phases of legalization and securitization. Evidence suggests that Chinese and German institutions selectively borrow each other’s security lexicon and procedural templates, which produces reciprocal yet uneven norm internalization. This raises transaction costs, narrows epistemic communities, and frames collaboration as strategic competition. By showing that knowledge-security rules act as vectors of mutual socialization rather than unilateral control, the article refines securitization theory for middle-power contexts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-026-00072-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147337341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The return of Trump’s threat: a new episode of the US-China trade war 特朗普威胁的回归：中美贸易战的新一幕

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-01-26 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-025-00065-5

Achmad Rifa’i

{"title":"The return of Trump’s threat: a new episode of the US-China trade war","authors":"Achmad Rifa’i","doi":"10.1007/s44216-025-00065-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-025-00065-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The re-emergence of Donald Trump in the global political scene with the \"America First 2.0\" agenda has sparked a fresh round of the trade war between the United States and China. This study investigates the systemic impact of Trump's protectionist policies, particularly the reciprocal tariff policy announced in April 2025. Simulations of various tariff escalation scenarios between the two countries are conducted using the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) approach through the GTAP model. The findings show that reciprocal tariff increases are associated with significant declines in key economic indicators, such as GDP, investment, exports-imports, household income, and national welfare, with a greater impact on China. Sectoral analysis in the US reveals that labor-intensive sectors, such as textiles, has gained benefits while high-tech sectors suffered losses. On the contrary, China's energy sector has experienced growth due to import substitution. These findings confirm that extreme protectionist policies tend to be counterproductive, creating economic distortions, policy uncertainty, and undermining the global trade order. Finally, the study recommends a multilateral and data-driven approach as a more sustainable trade strategy amid rising global geopolitical tensions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-025-00065-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146082707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Reimagining East Asian multilateral cooperation in economy and security: an analysis of South Korea’s proposals in the 1960s 重新构想东亚多边经济与安全合作：对1960年代韩国提议的分析

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2026-01-19 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-026-00071-1

Junghoon Lee

{"title":"Reimagining East Asian multilateral cooperation in economy and security: an analysis of South Korea’s proposals in the 1960s","authors":"Junghoon Lee","doi":"10.1007/s44216-026-00071-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-026-00071-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>South Korea’s unrealized proposals in the 1960s remind us that the tension between bilateral dominance and fragile regionalism remains one of the central dilemmas of Asia’s order today. Yet scholarship has largely overlooked South Korea’s Cold War multilateral initiatives. This article investigates Seoul’s efforts to reshape regional economic and security arrangements amid escalating Cold War tensions, focusing on proposals for the Asian Common Market, the Asian and Pacific Council, and the Asia–Pacific Treaty Organization. Using archival documents, presidential speeches, and declassified U.S. records, and interpreted through a constructivist and a historical context lens, the analysis shows how South Korea sought to reframe its identity from a peripheral Cold War state to a regional leader by advocating economic integration and multilateral security. These proposals encountered significant resistance, especially from the United States and Japan, underscoring the limits of middle-power diplomacy in Cold War Asia. The article demonstrates that these unrealized initiatives not only highlight the constraints of U.S.-led bilateralism but also illuminate enduring tensions that continue to shape Asia’s regional order in the Indo-Pacific today.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-026-00071-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145993713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The South African case for a BRICS Plus treaty: optimising imbalanced trade, tariff barriers, and expansions 南非对金砖+条约的看法：优化不平衡贸易、关税壁垒和扩张

Asian Review of Political Economy Pub Date : 2025-12-17 DOI: 10.1007/s44216-025-00067-3

Bhaso Ndzendze

{"title":"The South African case for a BRICS Plus treaty: optimising imbalanced trade, tariff barriers, and expansions","authors":"Bhaso Ndzendze","doi":"10.1007/s44216-025-00067-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s44216-025-00067-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>South Africa joined BRICS with the aim of benefiting from enhanced trade with the grouping, which encompasses four of the largest economies in the world. This article undertook an empirical review to determine an answer to the following research question (RQ): whether South Africa’s exports to the original four BRIC/BRICs member countries had grown and diversified following its membership over the first fourteen-year timeframe (2010–2024)? Across these, decline was identified in the findings, demonstrating that South Africa’s participation in the group has performed below its potential and stated rationale. The article notes a growing trade deficit and lack of industrialised imports from South Africa, especially when compared with the EU and the US. This is shown to be mainly due to South Africa’s asymmetrical openness towards the BRICs, including having the single-lowest tariff rates towards the other four members at 4.9 to 5.3%, while the next lowest BRICs’ general tariff is at 10.3%. Against these findings, the article makes the case for a BRICS Plus treaty in order to eliminate any tariff and non-tariff barriers, as well as formulate realistic expectations and obligations for internal cohesion and external engagement based on credible commitment.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100130,"journal":{"name":"Asian Review of Political Economy","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s44216-025-00067-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145778505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0