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The article discusses and reviews two documents titled "Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government's White Paper" and "Strong and Secure: A Strategy for Australia's National Security". It mentions that "Australia in the Asian Century: Australian Government's White Paper" describes the three assumptions regarding the future economic position of Asia in the global landscape and its reduction of interdependence on other nations leading to negligible conflict.

Research on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has hitherto attracted scholarly attention and debate by both regional and international scholars working in area studies, such as international relations and Asia-Pacific/Southeast Asia studies. Confined to area studies, scholarly research on ASEAN is limiting because the parameters of research are invariably locked into issues related to economics, politics, security, and trade development in and around the region. Notably, education has been an under-researched topic. On the cusp of its 40th anniversary ASEAN envisages the formation of an ASEAN identity and socio-cultural community. As a point of departure from area studies, this paper engages in "regionalist thinking" about ASEAN, education and identity making. This "regionalist thinking" is, however, only thinkable and imaginable with reference to the "global," because as a region ASEAN, whether perceived in geographical or in spatial terms, is part of the global sphere in which it is embedded. I argue in this paper that while historically education and schooling are directly related to the imaginaries of nation building and national identity making, the call for the creation of an ASEAN identity and the formation of a socio-cultural community requires that nation states in the region deparochialize education and redesign pedagogies that "teach and learn beyond the nation." (Contains 3 notes.)

Several education hubs have emerged in Asia and the Middle East in recent years with a specific focus on cross-border higher education. Through considerable efforts in policy planning and generous funding, these hubs aim to transform a country or city into an eminent destination for education, research, and training. The inherent design of these hubs raises many questions about higher education's contribution to international relations as large numbers of local and foreign actors congregate. Specifically, some education hubs are leveraging cultural heritage and colonial legacy as an instrument of soft power by emphasising shared cultural identities and values. By engaging in cultural diplomacy, education hubs seek to exert influence on the international stage. However, assumptions about shared identities and values as well as the prevailing political climate of the local society present serious challenges for policy implementation. Alternatively, an education hub can also engage with international actors based on an enduring faith in the venture of science to propel the knowledge economy--another kind of norm that underpins soft power. This paper compares Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong as education hubs that engage in soft power and cultural diplomacy.

This paper is a review of scholarship found in the pages of The Pacific Review over the last 30 years. It does so in three ways: (1) it highlights issues in the theory and practice of the international relations, strategic studies, political culture and political economy of the Asia Pacific region. (2) It looks at change in the region over time by an analysis of the shifting fortunes of the major regional powers, namely Japan, China and Indonesia and the challenges they, and China in particular, post to US regional hegemony. (3) It looks at regional process reflected in the fate and fortunes of the regional integrative project in the key policy domains of trade, finance and the environment. The paper concludes with a reflection on the strains on the regional political and economic orders by the rise in nationalist politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The principal goal of the article is to examine how Singapore, one of the East Asian tiger economies, has attempted to diversify its higher education system by developing "transnational education" in the island state. Design/methodology/approach: With particular reference to the most recent education reforms and changing higher education governance in Singapore, this article focuses on how the Singapore government has changed its higher education governance models in enhancing the global competitiveness of its higher education system by adopting more pro-competition policy instruments and allowing the growth of transnational education in the city state. Findings: The findings suggest the choice of policy tools (the choice of market forces in higher education and the rise of transnational education in the present case) is highly political and governments should pay particular attention to the particular socio-economic and socio-political contexts of their countries when making such choices. Originality/value: The paper shows that the role of government in East Asia is still important, especially when there is a strong need for government to set up appropriate regulations, social protection and welfare, hence, governments in East Asia are very much conceived as a complement to the markets.

This article deals with the assumptions and implications of the Malaysian policy for "learning from Japan". The article explores the ways in which this policy has effectively been operated in drawing a new geography of "Asia", dislodging colonial legacies in the region and countering the consolidation of other regional blocs. Cross-national educational interaction has increasingly been a key issue in international relations. After the end of the Cold War, the traffic of people, commodities and information is blocked less and less by the barriers of state political ideologies, and has begun to hinge on new notions of boundaries. Free trade blocs are formed by agreements among "neighbours", sharing economic advantage and the quality of basic values, such as "democracy" and "human rights". Such communal values play a powerful role in the redefinition of "us" and the legitimisation of regional societies. The vigour of cross-national educational transfer in the past two decades, as will be argued, has effectively been used for the formation of new identities of individual nations and for the promotion of new aspirations for the regional alliances. (Contains 3 tables.)

The bio-medical model of 'mental health' and 'mental illness' that relates to the relationship between wellbeing and distress informs psychopathology and dominates conceptualisation in many Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic (WEIRD) populations. This paper aims to critique the model, questioning the appropriateness of psychopathology as a conceptual framework when working as a Western trained clinician with populations such as in China, Japan, Asia, the Middle-East and Africa. The paper also considers the cultural appropriateness of western notions of psychopathology when working inter-culturally in relation to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, and the Review of the Implementation of the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of international and collaborative publication trends in prominent behavior‐analytic journals has been a topic of interest for behavioral researchers. This paper focuses on publication trends from 1997 through 2020 in three prominent journals: Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), and Perspectives on Behavior Science (PBS). The variable of interest was the percentage of articles published per geographical category—Australasia/East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, and Africa. The results showed that 79, 96, and 87% of the published articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were conducted by researchers with a North American affiliation. Furthermore, 12, 4, and 4% of the articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were coauthored by at least two researchers from different geographical categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asia's security environment is changing rapidly. Over the past five years or so, the security order has become increasingly unsettled as it is buffeted by a complex array of forces. The region is entering a period of growing rivalry and animosity states are uncertain over the strategic intentions of great and rising powers, nationalism is an increasingly pervasive force, and military spending has been ramping up in many countries over the past decade. That the security environment is changing is unarguable. But what is the extent of these changes? And what are the implications of these shifts for regional states? This paper introduces the special issue "East Asia's Contested Security Order". It begins by discussing the broad contours of the changing East Asian security order and what is at stake for regional powers. It then introduces the seven articles in this edition that challenge existing conceptualisations of the East Asian security order, articulate diverse perspectives on that order held by regional, middle and smaller powers, examine their complex and different security strategies that contribute to shaping the regional order, and consider the extent to which the regional security order may be said to be "contested". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

East Asia's security order is experiencing significant change as it moves from a stable and peaceful geopolitical setting into one of increasingly open contestation. There is no scholarly consensus about the core character of East Asia's old security order, thus making analysis of this period of change especially challenging. The aim of this paper is two‐fold. Firstly, it seeks to provide some order to the broader debate about East Asia's regional security environment. Secondly, it provides a novel account of East Asia's security order that better captures the key dynamics at play in the region than the literature currently does. The paper's first part discusses the different types of security orders identified by scholars and analysts. The second examines the ways in which scholars have attempted to explain East Asia's security order and explores the key forces that they have argued shaped their form. The third part develops a distinctive account of Asia's security order which focuses on the interplay of domestic and international factors and argues that it was the political consensus that existed across the region about its structure and purpose that made the region stable and it is the breakdown of that consensus that is destabilising East Asia today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ties between Latin America and Asia by moving beyond the homogenisation of the two regions through elevating the importance of opposition to a third party, in this case an "imperialist" and developed North. In contrast to normative analyses based on outmoded conceptions of world history, it proposes an intellectual exercise that problematises the interregional bond by placing the emphasis on heterogeneities rather than broad bush approaches that ignore the complex and diverse national and regional realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There had been constant efforts by nation-states to explain the States’ behaviour and the complexities of the international political system. Realism and Liberalism emerged as notable theories to understand these complexities. Realism focused on power acquisition, Liberalism stressed economic development and cooperation. As the global political landscape became more complex during the cold war days as a result of the emergence of new states- different theories and ideas were marked obscure. The academic insights of neorealism and new liberalism set new parameters to evaluate the state’s behaviour during the cold war days. There were again more practical efforts in post-cold-wars days by the academic community of international relations to restudy the changing behaviour of states with a new lens of analysis. It paved the way for both offensive and defensive realism. This paper investigates. Mearsheimer’s offensive realism as the offshoot of neorealism. It further develops a critical appraisal based on deductive research methodology to evaluate the reliability of this theoretical offshoot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has witnessed an increasing nexus between the European Union's trade and foreign policy toward Asia. On the one hand, the EU has sought to deepen economic cooperation with its key Asian partners since this region has become central to the EU's economic growth. On the other hand, the EU has increasingly used its trade policy as a foreign policy tool to pursue its geopolitical interests in Asia. Against this background, the paper seeks to examine the dynamics of trade relations between the EU and its Asian partners by adopting the role theory. Using this theory, this paper aims to provide a holistic understanding of how the EU's changing role in the EU-Asia trade relations has affected its pursuit of economic as well as geopolitical interests in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the closing decade of the 20th century the myriad challenges posed by infectious disease in a globalized environment began to be re-conceptualized as threats to national and human security. The most widely applied model for identifying and responding to such threats is securitization theory, as proposed by the Copenhagen School. Although its analytical framework is generally accepted, its utility remains contested; especially in non-European and non-state settings. The papers in this special edition have several aims: (1) to analyse ways by which Asian states and international organizations have identified health challenges as security threats, (2) to draw upon the securitization model as a way of understanding the full extent to which these states and international organizations have responded to the health threat, and (3) to identify areas where the theory might be strengthened so as to provide greater analytical clarity in areas of health security. This paper acts as a broad introduction to a set of papers on ‘Unhealthy governance’ and explores some of the key findings from the subsequent papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the pattern of the upper level of the world city network of knowledge as published in a series of earlier papers. The authors' aim is to update the findings and relate to the general world city discussion. The article addresses how the structure of the world cities of knowledge network has changed since 2000 in favour of south-east Asian and south European cities. The authors use bibliometric data on the world's 100 largest cities measured in terms of research output. The article also discusses the concept of world cities as an understanding that many cities are global service centres.

This collection of papers focuses on the domestic and international politics of Australia's recent engagement with Asia. The theme of Asian engagement appears to be of particular pertinence to the current study of Australian politics given numerous pronouncements that we are entering an 'Asian century' during which key Asian economies will gain greater ascendancy and certain Asian states will come to play a more prominent role in global politics. We employ the idea of 're-engagement' in order to show how engagement with Asia has been turned to again and again by Australian governments, albeit in different political and strategic contexts. This collection aims to consider the politics of re-engagement from a number of different theoretical positions, as well as from a number of different perspectives (be it international relations/foreign policy, domestic politics, identity politics, or from the perspective of bilateral Asian partners). Emphasis is placed not simply on the foreign policy prerogatives behind re-engagement but also on the implications of the 'Asian century' for domestic politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia's growing share of the global economy provides one of the strongest themes in contemporary analysis of international affairs. The remarkable economic achievements of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan over the past 50 years have been compounded more recently by the rise of the Chinese and Indian economies. While the significance of this change in the way international wealth is shared was beyond doubt before the onset of the current global financial crisis, many commentators expect that when the world eventually emerges from the crisis Asia's share of the global economy will have grown even further. This shift clearly has strategic importance: economic decisions made in Asia, whether by governments or business, are now more important for the rest of the world than they have been for centuries. If military power were moving in the same direction, and at the same pace, the strategic consequences would be even greater. This paper examines trends in Asian military spending and modernisation. It begins with a summary of defence spending among Asian countries.1 It next considers the nature of the capabilities and equipment they are acquiring, and comments on the way in which forces are being structured, commanded, and managed. It then comments on the range of different factors that are driving military spending and modernisation in Asia, and offers particular comment on China in this regard. The paper then concludes with brief comments on United States and Australian military spending and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on theoretical framework that addresses the transnational character of refugee problems, analyzes the causes of refugee movements. Holds that despite the common perception that refugees flee danger that emanates from an agent within the country of origin, the danger often results from international conflicts. (GC)

Even though many African and Asian countries share a common history of European colonialism and thus a model of economic development shaped within the aegis of center-periphery analysis, many Asian countries have been able to ride through the burden of center-periphery economics and built more successful political economies than most African countries. This state of affairs has often led many African analysts to point to Asian success stories like China and South Korea for comparative analysis and often see these Asian countries as models of socio-economic and socio-cultural success to emulate. In particular, Africans in the Diaspora, especially Africans in China, tend to compare very frequently the socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions of their host countries with those of their source countries. This paper outlines and discusses how a group of Africans living in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia see Korea and Korean culture through the prism of Korean television dramas, which constitute a popular cultural phenomenon among Hong Kong/Asian youths. Through qualitative and quantitative survey methods, participant-observation, and questionnaire surveys, the paper reports on how African community members of Hong Kong and others think of Koreans. We show that Africans draw a lot of comparisons between Korean and African ways of conceptualizing the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of EU-Asia relations, the EU has tried to export its regional integration model for decades. As regards this, the ASEAN has been the natural partner of the EU. This article gives an overview on how the EU has linked its regional integration efforts with the intention of transforming regional conflicts in the (East) Asian region in the past and today. It shows that the EU has in the past relied on active model setting and positioning in order to 'export' its regional integration approach. Recent developments, however, show that this approach has been abandoned. Although there has been a recent increase in EU policy papers on the region, the EU is currently embracing a rather soft approach based on socialization efforts when it comes to East Asian conflict issues. The paper concludes by stating that this is both the result of a cautious EU 'shying away' from adopting any precise position on pressing Asian security issues and of an adaptation of the EU approach towards a more modest modus operandi of mutual 'sharing of experiences and best practices.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper engages critically with the increasing importance of South–South cooperation and the shift from African–European to African–Asian interaction. It argues that South–South cooperation is too often framed in a spatial logics of regional integration and transregional cooperation and thus reproduces spatial understandings that are characteristic for African–European relations but misplaced in the context of African–Asian relations. Moreover, it analyses perceptions about the difference of European and Asian cooperation partners amongst political and societal elites in Kenya and Tanzania, arguing that instead of a shift from African–European to Afrasian spaces of interaction, the two mutually coexist and fulfil complementary functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools provide an ideal setting for early, accessible intervention according to research conducted in developed countries for adolescents experiencing adverse mental health (MH). Many schools in South Asia, however, lack structured and standardized school counselling services. Research indicates that where services do exist, students are reluctant to access them due to perceived high risks and low benefits in MH help seeking. This paper explores the challenges experienced in MH provision from the perspective of school counsellors. A qualitative approach was chosen, and three main themes emerged from the data using the thematic analysis: negative perceptions of MH and counselling, the unwillingness to invest in MH services, and the challenges inherent in the system itself. The findings reveal cultural implications behind these challenges and suggest grassroots level initiatives that can be implemented within schools to reduce the barriers to service provision without the need for legislative changes at a national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the evolution of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), focusing in particular on newly endorsed institutional provisions for the common gas market (CGM) of the EAEU. The article is organized as follows. First, it outlines a conceptual framework informed by institutional theory. Second, it incorporates necessary insight into manifold developments related to integration among those post-Soviet economies which up to this point have been less definite in setting their agenda for formal economic association with the EU and examines the determinants for Eurasian integration. Third, it explains the principal institutions and model for the proposed CGM. Fourth, the paper discusses institutional complementarity and institutional change as they relate to the process of the CGM's formation. The study demonstrates that institutionally homogeneous EAEU economies display their intention to model the CGM by exploiting their existing complementarity in the gas sector, but assume the necessity of some institutional changes. The article concludes that institutional conversion and institutional drift (as they relate to market structure and pricing, respectively) will be the types of changes required to enforce complementarity in the process of materialization of the proposed CGM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Regulatory convergence and cooperation among medical product regulatory authorities are essential to delivering safe and efficacious products quickly to patients. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need for streamlined regulatory approval processes—which can be achieved in part through regulatory convergence and cooperation—both to accelerate availability of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics and to maintain the availability of the existing medical products unrelated to COVID-19. Methods: The Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Life Sciences Innovation Forum (LSIF) established the Regulatory Harmonization Steering Committee (RHSC) in 2008 to advance regulatory convergence among APEC's 21 member economies. Key performance indicators (KPIs) were developed in 2018 to measure convergence. Results: This paper reports survey results collected from KPI tracking in March 2020 from medical product regulatory authorities in all 21 APEC economies concerning areas of regulatory practice in which they could converge and cooperate. For example, from 2008 to 2020, there was a 14.3% increase in the number of APEC member economy regulatory authorities sharing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Certificates and a 28% increase in the number of regulatory authorities accepting multisite licenses in that same period. In addition, this paper explores how APEC economies could realize a maximum level of regulatory convergence and cooperation. Conclusions: Convergence efforts within APEC can accelerate availability of medical products including that related to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, while maintaining the availability of the existing medical products unrelated to COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. New KPIs and capability building are to be considered to enable a new era of innovation ushered in by COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]