Issues & Studies最新文献

{"title":"Understanding South Korean Middle Power Diplomacy Discourses Through the Concept of Sadae (Serving the Great)","authors":"Y. Cho, William A. Callahan","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122500060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122500060","url":null,"abstract":"This study aims to examine South Korean middle power diplomacy discourses using premodern Korea’s diplomatic thinking-cum-practice of sadae (serving the great) as a heuristic device. It is argued that current discourses of South Korea as a middle power resonate with sadae because they strive to secure the existing liberal international order led by the West and the United States. It also argues that it is both necessary and healthy for South Korean middle power diplomacy studies to denaturalize its self-evident faith in the existing liberal international order—a not universal but particular order among several possible others in history—with South Korea celebrating and appropriating liberal values. This would prepare South Korean middle power diplomacy research to tackle uncertainty, difference, and pluralism in global politics while producing more responsible and responsive scholarship in international relations.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114397505","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"INDEX OF VOLUME 58, NOS. 1—4 (March, June, September, and December 2022)","authors":"","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122990016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122990016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123521840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Europe as a Normative Power in the Indo-Pacific: The Practice of Principled Pragmatism amidst US-China Competition","authors":"CHO-HSIN Su","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122500059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122500059","url":null,"abstract":"The Indo-Pacific region and its politics are now in obscurity, and the power dynamics of US-China competition have become well settled within a new concept of geopolitics. As an economic giant and a distinct power in IR, the EU’s position and strategy in the region are garnering attention. This paper starts by discussing the EU’s perceived systemic rivalry with China and its falling out with the United States, its Atlantic ally since the two World Wars. It then introduces the concept of Europe as a normative power in order to better understand the EU’s policies. It points out how “Normative Power Europe” (NPE) has adapted to its surroundings by introducing the concept of principled pragmatism concept in 2016. The paper then lays out the EU’s security strategies in Asia and highlights its narrative of strategic autonomy, referred to as the Sinatra doctrine. From there, it employs the notion of NPE and principled pragmatism to delineate the EU’s unique stance in the Indo-Pacific region and how it puts this principled pragmatism into practice. Finally, it analyzes how the EU has strategically applied these concepts to succeed in its own way amidst US-China competition in the Indo-Pacific.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131264110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Malaysia and Northeast Asia: What Drives Small-State Forward Diplomacy?","authors":"Cheng-Chwee Kuik, A. Ahmad, Ayman Rashdan Wong","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122400033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122400033","url":null,"abstract":"This paper adopts a two-level model to explain Malaysia’s forward diplomacy toward the Northeast Asian states, the larger economies beyond its immediate neighborhood of Southeast Asia. We contend that while such structural conditions as power dynamics drive and constrain the smaller state’s agency toward the Northeast Asian nations, their effects are filtered by domestic politics, specifically the ruling elite’s pathways of legitimation. The findings highlight that while diplomacy is almost always motivated by the imperatives of immediate reality and identity, there is a different genre of driver, that of nurtured necessity. This paper illustrates how Malaysia’s outlook toward the Northeast Asian states—and its resulting active and anticipatory diplomacy—has been more “discovered” than determined and why such diplomacy has been driven more by the elite’s domestic political needs than the idiosyncrasies of its leaders.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"113 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121704046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Strengthening the State through Crisis Management: Battles against the SARS and COVID-19 Pandemics in China","authors":"Guangming Jiang, Lynette H. Ong","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122500023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122500023","url":null,"abstract":"How do state leaders use crisis management to strengthen state infrastructural power? What explains the strategic choices of a state’s selective institutionalization of crisis measures? Crises offer unique opportunities for state-building, yet the role of crisis management in consolidating state power is underexamined. This paper explores these important issues by examining how the Chinese government has deployed wartime-like measures in battling the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19. While authorities in China have adopted unconventional measures in managing the crises, they have selectively normalized ad hoc practices and institutionalized certain measures to strengthen state infrastructural power once they have ended or been temporarily contained. Drawing on the frameworks of rational choice and historical institutionalism, our analysis suggests that the central government normalizes or institutionalizes measures that help to consolidate its control of the bureaucracy and enhance regime legitimacy.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115014478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can Independents Save Democracy in an Era of Polarization?: Evidence from Korea","authors":"Sung-Jin Yoo","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122500035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122500035","url":null,"abstract":"It is evident from the literature that political polarization has played a role in facilitating voter participation. While high participation in a representative democracy is beneficial, it becomes dangerous when this results from intense polarization. This is because polarization has a greater potential to undermine the principles of democratic pluralism. With data from the 21st Korean general assembly, I find that independent voters consider political issues to be important cues for participation even under extreme polarization. Short-term issues such as the government response to COVID-19 that have largely been the concern of independent voters, have had a significant effect on voter participation, and the evaluation of party nominations has also had an impact on turnout among independents. These findings show that Korean democracy has not been completely buried under the influence of polarization and that the political process of representative democracy in Korea is still operating normally thanks to the existence of independent voters.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126735606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Regime Change and Malaysia–South Korea Relations: Domestic and Structural Explanations of Mahathir Mohamad and Moon Jae-in’s Foreign Policy Reorientations","authors":"G. Govindasamy","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122400045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122400045","url":null,"abstract":"The idea that a change of government can alter the foreign policy orientation of a state is nothing new in international relations. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into the causal linkages between domestic political regime changes and foreign policy restructuring in Malaysia and South Korea. It assumes that regime changes allow for a greater propensity for the recalibration of foreign policy interests. Since the effectiveness of any bilateral cooperation depends on successful formulation and implementation, this paper dissects the transition, convergence and challenges in bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Both Mahathir Mohamad and Moon Jae-in saw a necessity to diversify economic partners that had resulted from the policies of previous administrations. While the basic elements of their foreign policy remained the same, both Malaysia and South Korea reevaluated their policies with regard to the international issues affecting their domestic interests. While relations had once been transactional at best, the convergence of the Look East Policy (LEP) 2.0 and the New Southern Policy (NSP) advanced bilateral relations for 22 months until the collapse of Mahathir’s government in 2020.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130418303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Emerging Dynamics in Malaysia-Japan Relations under the Second Mahathir Administration","authors":"Yew Meng Lai, R. Moorthy","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122400021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122400021","url":null,"abstract":"Japan and Malaysia established relations in 1957, the year Malaysia obtained independence from the British. Malaysia has largely benefited through many Japanese assistance programs, and in return, the country has remained one of Japan’s closest friends in Southeast Asia. During his first premiership, Mahathir introduced the Look East Policy (LEP) as a major foreign policy re-direction, moving away from the Western approach adopted by his predecessors. Nevertheless, bilateral relations plateaued during the reign of the two successive prime ministers Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak primarily as a result of the changing regional geopolitical landscape. Malaysia moved closer towards an emerging China. However, the May 2018 general election paved the way for Mahathir to resume control of the country for the second time after a lapse of 15 years. Within less than a year, Japan started to bounce back in Malaysia’s political and strategic sensors. Japan is set to play a greater role in the Malaysian economic landscape, especially with its assistance of low-interest samurai bonds to aid the debt-stricken new Malaysian government. For Japan, this rekindling of old friendship could not have been more timely and may translate into greater support to Japan’s initiatives for regional peace and for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. This paper examines the evolving trends in bilateral relations between Japan and Malaysia in the second Mahathir administration. More specifically, it explicates the external and domestic sources which have affected and recalibrated Malaysia’s Japan policy in the context of a shifting regional strategic milieu as well as an evolving post-election domestic political landscape. This paper contends that the emerging dynamics and trajectories in Malaysia’s relations with Japan under the nascent “Mahathirism 2.0” period have been primarily shaped by the country’s ruling elite’s perceptions of her external conditions in the context of East Asia’s changing power dynamics, tempered by their domestic political considerations and leadership traits/idiosyncrasies. It further argues that despite the newly-minted Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s visible foreign policy adjustments indicating a possible shift of emphasis from China towards Japan, such recalibrations are yet to alter the fundamentals of Malaysia’s Northeast Asia policy generally and its Japan policy specifically, an area in which the effects of structural conditions (proximity, power asymmetry, rivalries and uncertainties) continue to be informed by the Malaysian ruling elite’s domestic political considerations as they strive as much to optimize the country’s external interests as to consolidate their domestic legitimation.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128915564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is There an Authoritarian Advantage in Pandemic Response? A Comparative Case Study of China’s Responses to SARS-CoV-1 (2003) and SARS-CoV-2 (2019)","authors":"J. Schwartz","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122500011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122500011","url":null,"abstract":"Effective pandemic response has become an increasingly important focus for research in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there are a number of variables that may be considered as influencing effective response, this paper focuses on the potential impact of an “authoritarian advantage” in achieving an effective response in the period prior to pharmaceutical interventions being available with China as a case study. In essence, this paper explores whether China enjoys an authoritarian advantage, and if so, how it functions. This study compares China’s SARS-CoV-1 (2003) response with its SARS-CoV-2 (2019) response by exploring the impact of the authoritarian advantage on the state’s ability to effectively engage three key explanatory variables — centralized decision-making powers, public support and media engagement.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127287246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Malaysia’s Relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming Bilateral Ties, Renegotiating Economic Collaboration, Reasserting Security Interests","authors":"Ngeow Chow Bing, N. Jamil","doi":"10.1142/s1013251122510018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1142/s1013251122510018","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines Malaysia’s evolving relations with China during the second Mahathir administration from 2018 to 2020 in political, economic, and security aspects. While much of the foreign media portrayed the unprecedented change of government in May 2018 as an instance of “pushing back” against China, this paper refutes this simplistic view. It argues that while there were uncertainties in bilateral relations in the initial period following the election, the “Mahathir 2.0” administration ultimately renewed and reaffirmed its relationship with China on a positive note. Economically, the Mahathir 2.0 administration sought to renegotiate Malaysia’s economic relationship with China to align it with its political economy agenda. In terms of security, Prime Minister Mahathir had at first sought to form a new normative framework but later came to adopt a more assertive stand in the South China Sea dispute. At the same time, he showed a continued (but cautious) willingness to engage in defense diplomacy and military-to-military relations with China. This paper analyzes these developments in light of the theoretical framework of neoclassical realism which takes into account the systemic, domestic, and personal factors in influencing the country’s foreign policy. It also interprets these developments as exercises in hedging by a small power in an age of increasing uncertainty.","PeriodicalId":274099,"journal":{"name":"Issues & Studies","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123810228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}