International and Area Studies Commons^™

Why Smes Should Aim At Becoming Exporters, Hian Teck Hoon

Research Collection School Of Economics

In the fortnightly series entitled 'Engage SMU profs', Professor Hoon Hian Teck, Associate Dean of the School of Economics, answers the questions: Should SMEs aim to become exporters rather than serve only the domestic market? What are the benefits to SMEs in doing so? Does the smallness in size limit their productivity growth? Are there any channels for SMEs to get assistance from the authorities, and what are these? He commented that if more of our local SMEs look towards the international marketplace and sell to foreign markets, not only will Singapore's GDP be boosted, local businessmen will also get …

Growth And Inequality In Singapore, Kong Weng Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

While the strategy of openness had earned Singapore rapid economic growth, upward social mobility, and possibly decreasing inequality in the early years of development, the more recent years saw increasing inequality and with it an underlying possibly diminished upward intergenerational mobility due to skill-biased growth processes, skill-biased parental influence, liberalization in the education industry, and structural changes in the society which hurt the human capital accumulation of children in families under economic and intra-household stresses. In particular, the paternal influence on educational aspiration and attainment is more pronounced than the mother’s. Non-Chinese and youths from disrupted families are worse off …

Singapore Business And The Gulf: Un Tour D’Horizon, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred How

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Never more newsworthy in business circles has been the Gulf Region than in recent decades; from the region's vast economic strength and meteoric development, to the events of the financial crisis and the ongoing 'Arab spring'. A rich environment in every way – business, cultural, and socio-political – the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) provide a fascinating subject for academic study from a wealth of perspectives. Some of these perspectives are well-explored; others, markedly less so, the business dimension of this unique and complicated market regrettably among them. While a favored subject of our own research, the comparative …

Moving Forward In Sierra Leone: Community-Based Factors For Post Conflict Development, Whitney Mcintyre Miller

Education Faculty Articles and Research

War and conflict, while not manifested as economic or natural disaster, often bring the same consequences and damages and require similar capacity building. This article discusses the following four community-based factors, which contributed to the postconflict development of two communities in Sierra Leone, West Africa: (a) the inclusive involvement of community members for development and construction projects, (b) the use of culturally responsive practices in community building, (c) leadership that is directly connected with the community, and (d) the combination of traditional and local development practices with western and governmental practices. These factors were derived from an intensive five-week qualitative …

Spray-Paint Angst In A Tropical Paradise: Street Art In Costa Rica, The Switzerland Of Central America, Lena E. Reich

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Can You Hear Her Now? Changing The Discourse On Women's Rights In Jordan, Jessica L. Anderson

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Community Development Challegnes In Rural Guatemala, Maryam Jamali

Capstone Collection

In Guatemala women and youth often do not enjoy the same privileges that men do making it harder for them to be involved in the social sphere and in control of decision-making in their lives. Gender based inequality, certain cultural norms, and general structural weakness and impunity are factors that important to analyze and take in consideration in regards to the challenges that women face in Guatemalan society. This paper aims to analyze the question of community development challenges in rural Guatemala. Specifically, focus will be placed on the major obstacles that affect women and youth in community development, presenting …

Racial Disparities In Sentencing In The U.S. And Georgia, Kamal Rattray, Nicole Lee

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Incarceration represents the ultimate use of coercive power, and in the state of Georgia, that power is being disproportionately levied upon people of color, particularly African Americans.1 According to 2011 statistics from the Georgia Department of Corrections, the total prison population statewide was approximately 53,341 inmates. The majority of that number were Blacks (33,069 inmates), followed by Whites (17,752 inmates), Hispanics (2,306 inmates) and other ethnic groups.

Changing Faces, Changing Voices: Hispanics And Georgia’S Spanish-Language Media Environment, D. Xavier Medina Vidal

Georgia Journal of Public Policy

Nathan Deal’s successful 2010 campaign to become Georgia’s 82nd governor included a promise to enact an Arizona-style immigration enforcement law in Georgia, a promise he kept when he signed HB 87 into law in May 2011. To be sure, the high saliency of immigration law enforcement and policy reform in Georgia has much to do with rapid growth of the state’s Hispanic population in recent years.

Book Review: A Passion For Facts By Tong Lam, Maggie Clinton

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Tong Lam’s engaging new study A Passion for Facts analyzes the processes by which modern modes of apprehending and ordering the social world were forced upon and ultimately embraced by Chinese political and intellectual elites during the late Qing and Republican periods. Lam focuses on the rise of the “social survey” (shehui diaocha) as a means of knowing and constituting a new object called “society” (shehui), as well as the epistemological violence of imperialism that rendered the social survey a seemingly natural way of investigating the world. By the time the Nationalists assumed state power in 1927, Lam argues, “seeking …

Book Review: Superstitious Regimes By Rebecca Nedostup, Stefania Travagnin

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Superstitious Regimes is an interdisciplinary work that sheds new light on the interaction between the state-body and the religion-body in early twentieth-century China, with a focus on the Nanjing Decade (1927-1937). Nedostup develops her analysis from both a diachronic and synchronic perspective. The author underlines shifts and continuities between a few historical periods: Sun Yat-sen’s time, the early years of the Nanjing Decade, the late years of the Nanjing Decade, and the post-Nanjing Decade.

Nedostup’s interdisciplinary study is of interest for a large readership: students and scholars of Chinese studies, Chinese politics, Chinese religions, and Chinese history would all benefit …

The French Prison System: Comparative Insights For Policy And Practice In New York And The United States, Lila Kazemian, Catrin Andersson

Publications and Research

Despite many differences between French and American correctional practices, the two countries have common challenges as well. This report offers a brief overview of the French prison system and describes how the elements of that system compare with the policies and practices of corrections agencies in New York and the United States.

Are Us Economic Variables Useful For Chinese Stock Market Forecasts?, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

How does the US economy affect China’s? While much had been written about the decoupling between developed and the emerging economies, one scholar has put forward a contrarian view.

Public Health Regulation: The Impact Of Intersections Between Trade & Investment Treaties In Asia, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

There has been an explosive growth of free trade agreements (FTAs) in recent years. The World Trade Report 2011 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) shows Asian members to be among the most active in signing preferential trade agreements. This unprecedented growth has attracted much academic and policy discussion on aspects such as their effects on trade liberalization, problems raised by specific trade and investment provisions, dispute settlement, and concerns over “regionalism”. Like such areas, public health regulation has been significantly affected by such treaties. FTAs, together with bilateral investment treaties (BITs), are rapidly forming a source of intersecting state …

Sri Lanka's Informal Religious Economy: Evangelical Competitiveness And Buddhist Hegemony In Perspective, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Existing religious economy models maintain that as religious regulation increases, levels of interreligious competition decrease. But new understandings of the market dynamics of religious oligopolies necessitate new understandings of religious competitiveness. A relational model of competitiveness using the case of evangelical Christianity in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka is proposed. In Sri Lanka the informal religious economy is defined by competitiveness among evangelical Christian groups and, although not recognized by the state, is closely regulated. The focus in this article is on the scalar determinations of evangelical competitiveness, patterns of secrecy and subterfuge, the formation of strategic extra-group networks that enable competitiveness, …

The Long-Term Impact Of War On Health And Wellbeing In Northern Vietnam: Some Glimpses From A Recent Survey, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Kim Korinek

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

War is considered one of the most intransigent obstacles to development; yet, the long-run effects of war on individual health have rarely been examined in the context of developing countries. Based on unique data recently collected as a pilot follow-up to the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, this study examines health status of northern Vietnamese war cohorts (those who entered adulthood during the Vietnam War and now represent Vietnam’s older-adult population). To ascertain whether and how war impacts old-age physical and mental health, we compare multi-dimensional measures of health among war survivors, including civilians, combatants, noncombatants, and nonveterans involved in militia activities. …

Myanmar: The Beginning Of Reform And The End Of Sanctions, Marco Bünte, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since March 2011, Burma/Myanmar has witnessed a liberalization of the press, the release of political prisoners and the initiation of a political dialogue between the regime on the one hand and the opposition and ethnic groups on the other. The reforms culminated in by-elections on 1 April 2012, which in turn resulted in a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). Overall, political reforms in Burma/Myanmar are being initiated from “above.” They are elite-driven and stem from the president and progressive members of the military-dominated party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The 5c Challenges Of Cohesion, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The outcomes and consequences of population policies affect all areas of Singaporeans' lives. At stake is not just how citizens perceive the Government or view a political party. At stake is the very quality of our lives in physical dimensions such as space and infrastructure support; economic dimensions such as jobs and taxes; and social dimensions such as inter-group relations and commitment to Singapore.

Is Nimby Flak An Excuse Not To Engage?, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

SMU Assistant Professor of Law and Nominated MP Eugene K B Tan, and Adjunct Professor of Strategy and Organisation Patrick H M Loh examine the recent opposition by members of the public to the building of facilities such as nursing homes, homes for the elderly and rehabilitation centres in their neighbourhoods.

Shanghai’S Alternative Futures: The World Expo, Citizen Intellectuals, And China’S New Civil Society, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Civil society seems to be a dead issue in China because its formal aspects of mobilization and institutionalization are so tightly regulated by the party-state. This article looks to activities in and around the Shanghai World Expo (2010) to rethink the meaning of civil society and political action in China. Through an analysis of the Expo’s national, theme, and corporate pavilions, it shows how Beijing is planning a harmonious future for China and the world. Yet alongside this unified future, it examines how Shanghai’s citizen intellectuals – filmmaker Jia Zhangke, artist Cai Guoqiang, and blogger Han Han – are creating …

Ambitions Of A Global City: Arts, Culture And Creative Economy In 'Post-Crisis' Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper chronicles some of the key policies pertaining to the arts and culture in post-independent Singapore. A brief summary is first provided of the early (1960s and 1970s) cultural policy focusing on the harnessing of arts and culture for nation-building purposes, followed by the subsequent (1980s) recognition that the arts and culture had tourist dollar potential. The paper then expands on the cultural/creative economy policy of the 2000s, in which arts, heritage, media and design are recognized for their economic value (beyond their role in tourism to include their export value and their importance in attracting global workers). The …

China’S Futures And The World’S Future: An Introduction, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

China’s growing economic, political, and cultural power is an important global issue; Chinese people are increasingly interested in thinking about their country’s future as a world power. This article introduces the special issue ‘China’s futures – and the world’s future’ by discussing how futurology works in China. It argues that Chinese futures studies exhibit two general trends: (1) a shift from locating the future outside China to see China itself as the future, and (2) a shift from officials centrally planning the future to many different people dreaming about many different futures. The battle for the future thus is not …

From Retribution To Reconciliation, From Spoiler To Peace Envoy, Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Is there a tension between justice and peace? That debate I leave to my co-panelists, because the most interesting and important thing about this month's centerpiece, without a doubt, is not its well-judged (if slightly ill-informed) take on the ICC, but the name of the author at its end.

Building Effective Business Relationships In China, Roy Y. J. Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

China’s ways of doing business are becoming more Westernized. But non-Chinese executives still must work hard at building trust in relationships with their Chinese business partners.

Entrepreneurship Education Policies In Singapore, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Traditional Tests For Implication Of Terms Prevail In Singapore Despite ‘Acceptance’ Of Belize Test: Sembcorp Marine Ltd V Ppl Holdings Pte Ltd, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

There is an ongoing legal debate concerning the test governing the implication of terms in fact, prompted in no small measure by Lord Hoffmann’s influential speech in Attorney General of Belize v Belize Telecom. In Belize, Lord Hoffmann famously said that the question for a court considering whether a term should be implied is ‘whether such a [term] would spell out in express words what the instrument, read against the relevant background, would reasonably be understood to mean’. This has generally been regarded by judges3 and academics4 as subsuming the implication of terms within the broader rubric of ‘interpretation’. The …

Women’S Entry Into Self-Employment In Urban China: The Role Of Family In Creating Gendered Mobility Patterns, Qian Forrest Zhang, Zi Pan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

How did family characteristics affect women and men differently in self-employment participation in urban China? Analyses of national data show dual marriage penalties for women. Marketization made married women more vulnerable to lay-offs from state-sector jobs; their likelihood of being pushed into unskilled self-employment surpassed that of any other groups. The revitalized patriarchal family tradition favored men in family businesses and resulted in their higher rates of entering entrepreneurial self-employment. Married women who had the education to pursue entrepreneurial self-employment were constrained by family responsibilities to state-sector jobs for access to family services, and had much lower rates in entering …

The Abaya: Fashion, Religion, And Identity In A Globalized World, Elizabeth D. Shimek

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The abaya is a traditional robe worn by women in the Arab Gulf states as both a symbol of national identity and as a part of Islamic veiling customs. Over the last twenty years, partly due to exposure to Western couture fashion, the abaya has changed from a plain, voluminous black robe to a unique signifier of personal taste through variations in fabrics, cuts, colors, and detailing. This study explores both the physical and symbolic changes the abaya (and the industry surrounding it) has undergone, as well as how these changes both reflect and provoke the conflicts in identity residents …

The Landscape Of Singapore’S Insurance Contract Law: Initial Findings On The Use Of Authorities Of Reported Singapore Judgments Regarding Insurance Disputes From 1965 To 2010, Christopher Chao-Hung Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Initial findings of an empirical study of the citations of 80 reported Singapore insurance judgments between 1965 and 2010 show that Singapore courts have not developed a stronger character in the area of insurance law. Though British cases represent 363 of the 512 cases cited, we find that jurisdiction is not a predicator of whether a case is followed or distinguished. However, being a case decided by the UK Supreme Court (including the former House of Lords and Privy Council) is more likely to be followed by Singapore courts regarding insurance law. Nonetheless, Singapore judges cite more English textbooks than …

Waiting For A Funeral In Srebrenica: The Tenth Anniversary Of The Fall Of Srebrenica, Nicholas Hayes

Headwaters

No abstract provided.