Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pride And Protectionism: U.S. Trade Policy And Its Impact On Asia, Mark Zandi, Steve Cochrane, Ryan Sweet, Ruth Stroppiana, Katrina Ell

Asian Management Insights

U.S. trade policy and its impact on Asia.

Many of the trade policies of the United States President Donald Trump’s administration are aimed at addressing the perceived adverse impact of trade on the country’s manufacturing employment, and improving trade deals the President sees as not being in U.S. interests. These appear to be worthwhile goals, but crafting trade policy to address them is difficult.

Retrospective: A Historiographical Aesthetic In Contemporary Singapore And Malaysia, Kian Chow Kwok

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In an interview published a month before his passing, Hayden Whitesuggested historical studies had finally arrived at an “era of the image,” givenhow long it took for historians to recognize the potentialities of photographyand subsequently cinema and post-cinema as not just historical objects butalso modes of doing history. White cited queer history as an example ofcomplicating the binary between the object and method of historical study,enabling new approaches to understanding history and historiography(Ethan Kleinberg and Hayden White on the Practical Past, Part 2, published onYouTube, February 5, 2018).

Book Review: Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority And Ethical Improvement In Aceh, Indonesia (By David Kloos) & Chinese Ways Of Being Muslim: Negotiating Ethnicity And Religiosity In Indonesia (By Hew Wai Weng), Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Indonesian Islam has earnedsomething of a bad reputation in recent times. Amid reports of risingintolerance against religious minorities, terrorism attacks, high-profileblasphemy cases and the growing political influence of hard-line Muslim groups,it is easy to take an alarmist stance and assume that Indonesia’s approximately225 million Muslims are heading down the path of puritanism. Indeed, evenseasoned analysts of Indonesia often forget that Indonesian Islam isheterogeneous, and that the everyday experiences of Muslims from differentsocio-cultural backgrounds are extremely diverse. This is why Hew Wai Weng’sand David Kloos’ respective books are much-needed additions to contemporaryscholarship on Islam in Indonesia.

Producing The Self-Regulating Subject: Liberal Protection In Indonesia’S Migration Infrastructure, Andy Scott Chang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Labour protection has become a dominant agenda in global migration governance, particularly for sending countries whose diasporic citizens are denied political rights in host states. Despite having limited authority to arbitrate extraterritorial disputes, sending countries like Indonesia have deployed novel techniques of statecraft to improve migrant protection. Through the prism of the professional competence exam and pre-departure orientation seminar, this article investigates the Indonesian state's regulatory practices that focus on migrant conduct. Although outbound domestic workers are subject to a prolonged process of skill formation, other Indonesian contract workers pursue emigration upon acquiring basic legal knowledge without undergoing accreditation. While …

All Eyes Will Be On How Heng And His 4g Team Lead Singapore, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan said the choice of Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat as the People’s Action Party’s first assistant secretary-general should not come as a surprise as he was the only fourth-generation (4G) leader to be made a full Minister upon winning his maiden election in 2011, helming the Education Ministry between 2011 and 2015. He opined that Mr Heng’s 4G team will have to stamp their distinctive collective identity and leadership ethos as governance becomes increasingly complex.

Has Patronage Lost Its Punch In Malaysia?, Sebastian Carl Dettman, Meredith L. Weiss

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The personalistic linkages that generally define Malaysian politics come into sharp relief when candidates confront the imperative of winning office. Malaysia’s 14th general election (GE14), as other previous iterations, saw politicians emphasize their ‘personal touch’ and offer a barrage of targeted promises. Yet these relationships are not confined to elections and reflect deep connections between voters and politicians – not only for politicians in the long-dominant Barisan Nasional coalition, but also for the newly victorious Pakatan Harapan parties. The authors of this article draw on original survey data to show the embeddedness of these relationships beyond elections. In GE14, the …

Candidate-Centric Systems And The Politicization Of Ethnicity: Evidence From Indonesia, Colm A. Fox

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

When and why do electoral candidates politicize ethnicity? From the literature, we might expect this behaviour to occur during democratic transitions or under proportional rules. However, empirical support for these arguments is mixed. This article presents a new approach, arguing that candidate-centric rules offer candidates incentives to politicize ethnicity. The argument is tested in Indonesia with empirical evidence drawn from coding newspaper reports on campaign events, endorsements and group appeals. Indonesia used party-centric rules from 1997 to 2004, and even though the country democratized during this period, the politicization of ethnicity actually declined. I show how party-centric rules, coupled with …

Process-Tracing Research Designs: A Practical Guide, Jacob Ricks, Amy H. Liu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Process-tracing has grown in popularity among qualitative researchers. However, unlike statistical models and estimators—or even other topics in qualitative methods—process-tracing is largely bereft of guidelines, especially when it comes to teaching. We address this shortcoming by providing a step-by-step checklist for developing a research design to use process-tracing as a valid and substantial tool for hypothesis testing. This practical guide should be of interest for both research application and instructional purposes. An online appendix containing multiple examples facilitates teaching of the method.

Review Of Daniel Chua, Us-Singapore Relations, 1965-1975: Strategic Non-Alignment In The Cold War, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The history of U.S.-Southeast Asian relations during the Cold War is dominated by studies of American involvement in Vietnam. If understandable, this state of affairs is nevertheless regrettable. For, even though U.S. cold warriors viewed the fates of Southeast Asia’s states as interconnected and pursued a containment strategy focused on the entire region, scholars of U.S. foreign relations with Southeast Asia pay outsized attention to Vietnam. There remain disappointingly few major works on U.S.-Indonesian relations despite years of American interference in Indonesia due to its huge population, the one-time prominence of its Beijing-oriented communist party, and firm American support for …

Anwar Ibrahim: Forgiveness, Character And Values Can Rescue Malaysia, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Anwar returned to the political fray for the country's youth despite the threat of imprisonment; they can rebuild the country with principles and tenacity of purpose

Review Of Ang Cheng Guan, Southeast Asia’S Cold War: An Interpretative History, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Ang Cheng Guan’s Southeast Asia’s Cold War: An Interpretive History makes a welcome scholarly contribution to the field. As he rightly points out in the introduction to his book, the “voluminous” literature concerned with the Cold War in Southeast Asia has too long centered on the United States, European decolonisation, and/or the Sino-Soviet competition for Hanoi’s loyalty.

The Pyramid Of Nonprofit Responsibilities: The Institutionalization Of Organizational Actorhood Across Sectors, Shawn Pope, Patricia Bromley, Alwyn Lim, John W. Meyer

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Observers have noted that organizations in allsectors, whether business, nonprofit, or government, havebeen moving toward rationalized structures that presupposeand express empowered organizational actorhood. Wedraw upon neo-institutional theory in this paper to extendthe argument: The arrival of organizational actorhood hasprecipitated a concomitant, cross-sectoral movementtoward organizational social responsibility. Whereasexisting research has tended to theorize the social responsibilities of businesses, we develop a pyramid conceptualschema to array the social responsibilities of nonprofits.We then document the coevolution of organizationalactorhood and responsibility across both sectors with ametastudy of nearly 200 extant surveys. We chart theinstitutionalization of a slate of formal structures thatexpress organizational actorhood (i.e., …

Conceptualizing And Measuring Women’S Political Leadership: From Presence To Balance, Devin K. Joshi, Ryan Goehrung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article conceptualizes an innovative understanding and measurement of women's political leadership, theoretically justifies its application, and analyzes contemporary variation in its patterns through comparative case studies. In recent years, scholars of comparative government have studied with great interest the election of female prime ministers and presidents (e.g., Derichs and Thompson 2013; Jalalzai 2013) and cross-national variation in female members of parliaments (MPs) and cabinets (e.g., Bauer and Tremblay 2011; Paxton and Hughes 2017; Suraj, Scherpereel, and Adams 2014). Yet, when it comes to regions beyond Europe and the Americas, comparative empirical analysis of women's political leadership (WPL) across national-level …

Conceptualizing And Measuring Women’S Political Leadership: From Presence To Balance, Devin K. Joshi, Ryan Goehrung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article conceptualizes an innovative understanding and measurement of women's political leadership, theoretically justifies its application, and analyzes contemporary variation in its patterns through comparative case studies. In recent years, scholars of comparative government have studied with great interest the election of female prime ministers and presidents (e.g., Derichs and Thompson 2013; Jalalzai 2013) and cross-national variation in female members of parliaments (MPs) and cabinets (e.g., Bauer and Tremblay 2011; Paxton and Hughes 2017; Suraj, Scherpereel, and Adams 2014). Yet, when it comes to regions beyond Europe and the Americas, comparative empirical analysis of women's political leadership (WPL) across national-level …

Capacities And Customization In Policy Design, Ishani Mukherjee, Azad Bali

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Most policy designers face complex and intractable challenges that require assembling the mostappropriate set of policy instruments to address complex policy goals, especially when sometimesthese goals may emerge out of unforeseen policy problems. In the ideal case of policy design, themost suitable instruments can be chosen and assembled into new policy packages that are appropriately calibrated and customized to address the new policy problem context. Such exceptionaldesign circumstances would also mean that relevant policy actors and organizations engaged inthe design activity are endowed with the necessary analytical, operational and political policycapacities.

Policy Design And Non-Design: A Continuum Of Formulation Modalities, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Public policies are the result of efforts made by governments to alter aspects of behavior—both that of their own agents and of society at large—in order to carry out some end or purpose. They are comprised of complex arrangements of policy goals and policy means matched through some decision-making process. These policymaking efforts can be more, or less, systematic in attempting to match ends and means in a logical fashion or can result from much less systematic or rational processes. ‘Policy design’ implies a knowledge-based process in which the choice of means or mechanisms through which policy goals are given …

Beyond Oil: Saudi Vision 2030 And Saudi-South Korean Relations, Inwook Kim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s bid for economic and social transformation, has been quietly gathering renewed interest in South Korea amid the unfolding drama with the nuclear program of its northern brethren. The latest sign of this engagement occurred when minister Khalid al-Falih of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources (MOEIMR) met with president Moon Jae-In on May 4 of this year. Their 35-minute private reception was rare for a minister’s meeting, according to a Blue House official, signifying that interest in Saudi Vision 2030 is at the highest possible level. During his visit, al-Falih also met …

Agents, Principals, Or Something In Between? Bureaucrats And Policy Control In Thailand, Jacob Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the aftermath of the 2006 and 2014 Thai coups,observers declared the resurrection of the bureaucratic polity. Bureaucrats,though, remained influential even during the period of 1992-2006, when electedpoliticians were thought to command the Thai state. Bureaucratic involvement inpolitics poses a challenge for dominant political science theories ofpolitician-bureaucrat relationships, which draw heavily from principal-agentframeworks. I apply agency theory to Thailand, testing three differenthypotheses derived from the theory. Examining legislative productivity andcontrol over bureaucratic career trajectories, I find that elected politiciansincreasingly acted as principals of the Thai state from 1992 through 2006, andto a lesser degree from 2008 to 2013. Thai bureaucrats, …

Who Doesn’T Want Democracy? A Multilevel Analysis Of Elite And Mass Attitudes, Brandon Gorman, Ijlal Naqvi, Charles Kurzman

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Despite its global rise in popularity, a significant number of people still oppose democracy. The present study evaluates three competing theories of opposition to democracy—developmentalist, culturalist, and elitist—using a series of multilevel regression models that combine individual- and country-level variables. Results of our statistical analyses suggest that (1) country-level indicators of social, political, and economic development are unrelated to individual support for democracy; (2) macro-cultural factors have mixed effects on individual support for democracy; and (3) individual income and education have strong effects on individual support for democracy, but this relationship is mediated by country-level economic development. Specifically, we find …

Long-Term Impacts Of Parliamentary Gender Quotas In A Single-Party System: Symbolic Co-Option Or Delayed Integration?, Devin K. Joshi, Rakkee Kuttikadan Thimothy

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent years scholars have shifted their attention from the causes behind parliamentary gender quotas to their consequences for women’s descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. We contribute to this literature by focusing on long-term effects of gender quotas in the context of an authoritarian one-party system. Here we contest dominant theoretical explanations which posit that gender quotas in authoritarian states primarily serve the goals of symbolic co-option and window-dressing. Rather, we argue that while authoritarian adaptation may motivate the introduction of gender quotas, these quotas may result over time in what we call a delayed integration process featuring a gradual …

Long-Term Impacts Of Parliamentary Gender Quotas In A Single-Party System: Symbolic Co-Option Or Delayed Integration?, Devin K. Joshi, Rakkee Kuttikadan Thimothy

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent years scholars have shifted their attention from the causes behind parliamentary gender quotas to their consequences for women’s descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. We contribute to this literature by focusing on long-term effects of gender quotas in the context of an authoritarian one-party system. Here we contest dominant theoretical explanations which posit that gender quotas in authoritarian states primarily serve the goals of symbolic co-option and window-dressing. Rather, we argue that while authoritarian adaptation may motivate the introduction of gender quotas, these quotas may result over time in what we call a delayed integration process featuring a gradual …

Is All Politics Local? Determinants Of Local And National Election Campaigns, Colm A. Fox

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent decades election campaigns have shifted their focus from the local to the national level, increasingly featuring party leaders, labels, and national platforms. Despite this trend, there remains significant variation in the local/national orientation of campaigns across countries and parties. This article tests several propositions on why campaigns adopt a local or national orientation by analyzing a unique collection of more than 12,000 geocoded Thai election posters. Specialized software was used to measure the spatial proportions of visual and textual content on each poster. Using Thailand’s mixed electoral system to enable a controlled comparison of electoral rules, I demonstrate …

The Two Foundings Thesis, Sonu Bedi, Elvin T. Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Constitutional interpretation generates intense debates over rights and powers. Countless U.S. Supreme Court decisions, articles, and books discuss these debates. With regard to powers, these debates often center around a nationalistic view of the U.S. Constitution, where the U.S. Congress has broad and expansive powers, or a states’ rights view of the document, where Congress has narrow and limited powers.1 With regards to rights, these debates often center around an emphasis on a moral reading of various clauses2 versus an emphasis on originalism

Between Commerce And Empire: David Hume, Colonial Slavery, And Commercial Incivility, Onur Ulas Ince

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought has recently been reclaimed as arobust, albeit short-lived, cosmopolitan critique of European imperialism. Thisessay complicates this interpretation through a study of David Hume’s reflectionson commerce, empire, and slavery. I argue that while Hume condemned thecolonial system of monopoly, war, and conquest, his strictures against empiredid not extend to colonial slavery in the Atlantic. This was because colonialslavery represented a manifestly uncivilinstitution when judged by enlightened metropolitan sensibilities, yet also adecisively commercial institutionpivotal to the eighteenth-century global economy. Confronted by the paradoxical“commercial incivility” of modern slavery, Hume opted for disavowing the linkbetween slavery and commerce, and confined his …

The Quest For Recognition: Taiwan’S Military And Trade Agreements With Singapore Under The One-China Policy, Pasha L. Hsieh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the evolution of Taiwan’s relationship with Singapore since the 1960s as a unique case study in the Asia-Pacific. The theoretical concept of recognition in international relations (IR) and its nexus with international law are used to analyze the conclusion of the bilateral military and trade agreements absent diplomatic relations. The article argues that beyond security dimensions, the two states’ struggles for recognition exhibit the formation of national identities, which invigorate the claims for sovereign state status in global politics. First, this article explores the emerging notion of recognition in IR and sheds light on the significance of …

Review: How China Escaped The Poverty Trap By Yuen Yuen Ang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Two contrasting mistakes plague contemporary China studies as we try to fit Chinainto social science theory. On the one hand, we tend to apply theories derived fromthe West, fitting China’s square peg into theory’s round hole. In the process, wemiss something important about China, or conclude that China simply doesn’t fit.Dissatisfied with this, we sometimes conclude that China is unique, studying it in atheoretical vacuum, or inventing China-specific theories and concepts that are difficult to apply elsewhere.

H-Diplo Article Review Of Kosal Path. “The Politics Of China’S Aid To North Vietnam During The Anti-American Resistance, 1965-1969.” Diplomacy & Statecraft 27:4 (2016): 682-700, Frances Yaping Wang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

It is a national myth in China that Vietnam, a former brotherly ally, cold-bloodedly turned against China in the late 1970s despite the great sacrifice the Chinese people had made for Vietnam’s independence cause. The relationship deteriorated so drastically that the animosity culminated in a decade-long war between the two countries. Some blame the Le Duan government; others condemn the ingratitude of the Vietnamese people. There has been some faint self-examination within China of its insensitivity to Vietnam’s autonomy and of its assertion of superiority in the relationship. Others substantiate this claim to some degree. For example, Brantly Womack in …

New Forms Of Political Activism In Indonesia: Redefining The Nexus Between Electoral And Movement Politics, Dirk Tomsa, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article argues that new personality-centric movements have redefined the nexus between activism and electoral politics in Indonesia. It illustrates how these movements have challenged the role of political parties and consultants in electoral campaigning, and how their growing prominence may affect the future trajectory of Indonesian politics.

On The Uses Of Hume’S History, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Much of the conversation now coming to an end has centered on Hume's History of England and on his use of history to serve his political philosophical purposes. Dan Klein has appealed to the History by citing more and more chapters and verses to illustrate and reinforce his thesis that "mere liberty" was central to Hume's concerns. Nicholas Capaldi concurs (having originally advanced the claim that liberty was the default value for the pluralist Hume), suggesting that getting the historical narrative right was important for Hume, as it must be for all defenders of (mere) liberty. Capaldi's response to the …

Libertarian Paternalism Is Hard Paternalism, Shane Ryan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

I argue that libertarian paternalism is in fact paternalism, or hard paternalism, rather than a form of soft paternalism. I do so on the basis of an analysis of the paternalist act according to which the paternalist act needn’t violate the will of the agent who is the target of that act and the paternalist actor need only suspect that her action may improve the welfare of that target. The paper considers and rejects interpretations of libertarian paternalism as soft paternalism. I then provide an outline as to how libertarian paternalism may be reformed in light of the finding that …