Asia Maior最新文献_第2页

Iran 2019-2020: The double impact of crippling sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic 伊朗2019-2020年:严重制裁和新冠肺炎大流行的双重影响

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/18

Luciano Zaccara

引用次数: 0

Timor-Leste in 2020: Containing the pandemic in a changing political environment 2020年的东帝汶:在不断变化的政治环境中遏制疫情

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/08

R. Feijó

{"title":"Timor-Leste in 2020: Containing the pandemic in a changing political environment","authors":"R. Feijó","doi":"10.52056/9788833138282/08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52056/9788833138282/08","url":null,"abstract":"In 2020 Timor-Leste became a successful case of managing to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the early diligent action undertaken by the state authorities, albeit with significant popular resistance to the harsh measures imposed. Following a brief introduction, the second section of this article deals with the manner in which Timor-Leste faced the pandemic and ended the year without a single fatality. The impact of the pandemic, however, was severe on several fronts. The third section examines the political impact of the realignment of partisan forces that sustain the government;the eviction of Xanana Gusmão, the charismatic leader of the Resistance, from the inner circle of power and the ensuing political polarity along new lines. It also examines the redefinition of the status of the president of the Republic in the political system emerging from two sources: the partisan links and an important statement by the Constitutional Court. The fourth part delves into the economic performance, given that the Petroleum Fund was able to sustain extraordinary withdrawals to finance ad hoc measures to combat the pandemic as well as provide the needs of a country that lived for most of the year without a regular budget. Public spending being critical to the economic performance, it comes as no surprise that GDP contracted by almost 7%. While new outlooks of economic policy have been announced, the sluggishness of previous options was still apparent in 2020. The last section deals with international relations and miscellaneous comments on the perception of Timor-Leste in the international arena, including relations with the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia and Australia, and the vision expressed at the UN Annual General Assembly.","PeriodicalId":36510,"journal":{"name":"Asia Maior","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70659955","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}

引用次数: 0

India 2020: Under the COVID hammer 2020年的印度:在新冠疫情的打击下

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/12

Diego Maiorano

引用次数: 0

Foreword. Asia in 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact 前言。2020年的亚洲:COVID-19大流行及其影响

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/00

F. Boni

{"title":"Foreword. Asia in 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact","authors":"F. Boni","doi":"10.52056/9788833138282/00","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52056/9788833138282/00","url":null,"abstract":"[...]most countries implemented a set of measures that resulted in a «global lockdown rush»4 that were characterized by a high degree of policy convergence – aside that is from a few notable exceptions discussed below. Governments throughout Asia had to impose strict lockdowns, while simultaneously pouring vast amounts of resources to boost testing capacity and provide financial support to businesses and families. Visible adverse effects are already conditioning both younger workers – who have suffered greater job losses than other age categories – and women, especially in relation to the gender pay gap, which has widened further.6 ------------ The economic and social downturn just outlined, coupled with the measures implemented by countries to stop the spread of the virus, concealed and, in some cases exacerbated, a number of pre-existing trends, already affecting most Asian countries.7 The overwhelming focus on the handling of the pandemic, and the emergency powers that governments had to assume to contain the spread of the virus, provided authoritarian governments and leaders with the ideal opportunity to increase their grip on power. According to the latest Freedom House data, 78 countries globally saw a decline in their democratic score, with only 28 showing improvement.","PeriodicalId":36510,"journal":{"name":"Asia Maior","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70659828","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}

引用次数: 0

The Philippines 2020: The gamble of the populist leadership 2020年菲律宾:民粹主义领导人的赌博

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/07

Esther Mary L. Calvo, Y. Y. Yonaha

{"title":"The Philippines 2020: The gamble of the populist leadership","authors":"Esther Mary L. Calvo, Y. Y. Yonaha","doi":"10.52056/9788833138282/07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52056/9788833138282/07","url":null,"abstract":"The year 2020 was an eventful one for the Philippines. Still recovering from the aftermath of the Taal volcano eruption, the country soon faced a public health crisis. Contrary to Duterte’s belief that the new coronavirus (COVID-19) would just die a natural death, the pandemic turned out to be one of the greatest challenges the Philippine government has ever had to face. As the country’s cases increased rapidly, the government, handicapped by the long-standing institutional problems in the country’s educational and healthcare sectors, scrambled to implement a national lockdown to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. After struggling to contain the pandemic, it then opened the economy prematurely. At the same time, the country witnessed a power struggle for the Speakership of the House of Representatives as well as massive corruption in the state health insurance agency, PhilHealth. But what caught the public off-guard was Duterte’s UN address upholding the Permanent Court Arbitration’s ruling on the West Philippine Sea;more importantly, the unexpected passage of the repressive Anti-Terror Law that originally was not considered an urgent legislation. Despite public outrage over the mismanagement of the crisis and the passage of the Anti-Terror Law, Duterte’s approval and trust ratings remained unscathed.","PeriodicalId":36510,"journal":{"name":"Asia Maior","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70659898","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}

引用次数: 0

Myanmar 2020: Elections in a pandemic 缅甸2020:大流行病中的选举

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/10

Matteo Fumagalli

{"title":"Myanmar 2020: Elections in a pandemic","authors":"Matteo Fumagalli","doi":"10.52056/9788833138282/10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52056/9788833138282/10","url":null,"abstract":"The year 2020 in Myanmar was not substantively different from that of so many other countries. The year was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, its socio-economic impact and the government’s attempt to cushion its effect and fight against it. The authorities sought to seal off the country from the spread of the Coronavirus from March onwards and managed to contain the first wave quite successfully. After the summer, though, the country experienced a surge in cases and deaths, also among migrant workers abroad. In their efforts to provide relief and support to households and businesses, the authorities were assisted by donors, international financial institutions and key allies such as China. Yet, the impact was severe. Two other issues were also of great significance. Parliamentary elections were held on 8 November. The National League for Democracy (NLD) secured another landslide victory again, just like in 2015. Aung San Suu Kyi’s star status domestically remains unchanged and was boosted by her appearance at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings in 2019 and during the pandemic. At the same time, more than a vote for the NLD per se, the vote appeared to be the reflection of what the party stood against: the military. The Tatmadaw’s protests during the campaign and after the elections lay the ground for an escalation of the tensions between the two. The clashes in Rakhine state between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar army intensified up to the point that the parliamentary and local elections had to be cancelled in some townships. A Japan-brokered ceasefire later in the year opened the way for negotiations and gives some cause for optimism for reducing hostilities and violence.","PeriodicalId":36510,"journal":{"name":"Asia Maior","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70660097","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}

引用次数: 0

Sri Lanka 2019-2020: Extremism, elections and economic uncertainty at the time of COVID-19 斯里兰卡2019-2020年:2019冠状病毒病期间的极端主义、选举和经济不确定性

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/15

Shamara Wettimuny

{"title":"Sri Lanka 2019-2020: Extremism, elections and economic uncertainty at the time of COVID-19","authors":"Shamara Wettimuny","doi":"10.52056/9788833138282/15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52056/9788833138282/15","url":null,"abstract":"Sri Lanka in 2019 and 2020 was characterised by Islamist violence and its aftermath, a presidential and general election, and COVID-19. This article traces the internal, economic and foreign policies of Sri Lanka chronologically and thematically across the two years under examination. These policies were deeply interconnected during two of the most tumultuous years in Sri Lanka’s recent history. The impact of the tragic Easter Sunday bombings, the presidential and general elections, and the pandemic had a significant bearing on Sri Lanka’s economic well-being and its foreign policy trajectory. Following the general election in August 2020, the new government passed the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, which removed democratic checks and balances on the powers of the executive president. Meanwhile, restrictions on religious freedoms in response to COVID-19 triggered widespread protests, and anti-minority hostility and discrimination. The economy, which was stagnant at the beginning of 2019 went into decline after successive internal and external shocks. Foreign policy was adjusted with changes in government, and in response to great power competition in South Asia. Sri Lanka, at the end of 2020, was in a more precarious situation than it was before 2019, in terms of the state of its democracy, economic stability, public health, and inter-communal relations.","PeriodicalId":36510,"journal":{"name":"Asia Maior","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70660263","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}

引用次数: 0

India 2020: Confronting China, aligning with the US 2020年印度:对抗中国，与美国结盟

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/14

M. Torri

{"title":"India 2020: Confronting China, aligning with the US","authors":"M. Torri","doi":"10.52056/9788833138282/14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52056/9788833138282/14","url":null,"abstract":"During 2020, India’s foreign policy was unaffected by the COVID-19 and dominated by two key developments, on whose analysis this article is focussed. One was the turning for the worse of the India-China relation, of which the heating up of the Himalayan border, which saw clashes between the militaries of the two countries, was at the same time cause and effect. The other key foreign policy development in the year under review was the tightening of the India-US connection, which, in 2020, increasingly looked as a de facto anti-China military alliance. The India-China confrontation is tackled by dwelling on three points. The first is the history of the incidents and clashes along the Himalayan border, whose seriousness is proven by the fact that, for the first time in 45 years, there were losses of human life. Then, a main objective cause of turbulence along the China-India border, namely the undefined nature of the de facto border (the so-called LAC, Line of Actual Control) is examined. Finally, the two mirror-like explanations of the border crisis are scrutinised. Then, the focus of the analysis moves on, zeroing on the India-US connection. It highlights the bizarre situation which, during the year under review, saw the worsening of the economic connection between the two nations – a direct result of US President Trump «America First» policy – coupled, however, by their growing military closeness. The fact that this apparently contradictory process resulted in something akin to a de facto military alliance, and the institutional developments that fleshed it out are examined. Finally, the fact is underlined that, even if largely unrecognised by Indian politicians and public opinion, the tightening of the US-India military alliance resulted in India’s loss, or at least drastic diminution of its vaunted «strategic autonomy». As a proof of this, the unravelling of the India-Iran strategic ties is examined.","PeriodicalId":36510,"journal":{"name":"Asia Maior","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70660216","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}

引用次数: 0

Afghanistan 2020: The US-Taliban peace deal, intra-Afghan talks and regional implications 2020年阿富汗:美国与塔利班的和平协议、阿富汗内部谈判和地区影响

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/17

F. Boni

{"title":"Afghanistan 2020: The US-Taliban peace deal, intra-Afghan talks and regional implications","authors":"F. Boni","doi":"10.52056/9788833138282/17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52056/9788833138282/17","url":null,"abstract":"The year 2020 was a landmark year for Afghanistan. The country witnessed the signing of the peace deal between the US and the Taliban as well as the beginning of intra-Afghan negotiations that, for the first time since 2001, brought together representatives from the Taliban and the Government of Afghanistan. These two political milestones occurred in parallel to the long-delayed final announcement of the September 2019 Presidential elections results. This was followed by a power-sharing agreement signed on 17 May, which ended the political impasse deriving from the contested electoral outcome. In Afghanistan, like in all other countries in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the country’s economy and on people’s livelihood. Despite a prompt government response and the implementation of some very tough lockdown rules, Afghanistan’s weak health system and very limited testing capacity meant that the real scale of the negative impact of the pandemic was massive, albeit difficult to capture. With regards to Afghanistan’s international relations, the year under examination was characterized by continuity in the approach that regional powers, Pakistan, India and above all China, had towards Kabul. Each of these countries has continued supporting their preferred actors on the Afghan political scene, but the peace deal between the US and the Taliban has put Pakistan in a strong position, given the long-standing support that Islamabad provided to the fundamentalist Islamic militia.","PeriodicalId":36510,"journal":{"name":"Asia Maior","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"70659860","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}

引用次数: 2

Malaysia 2020: Democratic backsliding amid the COVID-19 pandemic 2020年马来西亚:新冠疫情期间民主倒退

Asia Maior Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI: 10.52056/9788833138282/09

S. Saleem

引用次数: 1