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Full-Text Articles in Asian Studies

How To Understand China: The Dangers And Opportunities Of Being A Rising Power, William A. Callahan Oct 2005

How To Understand China: The Dangers And Opportunities Of Being A Rising Power, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

china’s situation lends itself to hyperbole. the people’s republic of china (prc) has the largest population in the world, the fastest growing economy in the world, the largest army in the world, the largest middle class in the world, a permanent seat on the united nations security council, a manned space programme, a nuclear arsenal, and so on. but analysts, commentators and policymakers have yet to decide just how to understand china.


Religious Schools: For Spirit, (F)Or Nation, Lily Kong Aug 2005

Religious Schools: For Spirit, (F)Or Nation, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper I draw attention to the study of 'unofficially sacred' sites in geographies of religion, which provide significant insights into the construction of religious identity and community, and the intersections of sacred and secular. I show that such sites deserve as much attention as places of worship (the more conventional focus in the geographical study of religion) in our understanding of the place of religion in contemporary urban society. In particular, using the case of Islamic religious schools in Singapore, I examine how Muslim identities and community are negotiated within multicultural and multireligious contexts, and particularly within one …


Re-Presenting The Religious: Nation, Community And Identity In Museums, Lily Kong Aug 2005

Re-Presenting The Religious: Nation, Community And Identity In Museums, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper examines the roles that museums play as 'unofficially sacred' places, underscoring or challenging the religious life of a people and 'nation'. It focuses on three key questions: (1) Do sub-national and transnational religious formations pose a challenge to or present opportunities for nation-building strategies, and what part do museums play in this struggle? (2) In what ways do re-presentations of religion in museums contest or reinforce religious community and identity? and (3) What challenges do museum displays pose to the understanding of religious meanings? This paper explores these three key questions about the intersection of religion with politics …


Estimating Party Policy Positions: Japan In Comparative Context, Michael Laver, Kenneth Benoit Aug 2005

Estimating Party Policy Positions: Japan In Comparative Context, Michael Laver, Kenneth Benoit

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper first reviews a number of epistemological and methodological issues relating to the estimation of party policy positions, particularly in a comparative context, with special reference to the methodology of ‘expert surveys’. It is argued that expert surveys, as systematic summaries of the views of country specialists, have a particular role in assessing the content validity of other types of estimates of party policy positions. The paper moves on to analyze the positions of Japanese political parties in a comparative context, using results from a new 47-country expert survey. Attention is paid both to the substantive policy content of …


The Discourse Of Vote-Buying And Political Reform In Thailand, William A. Callahan Mar 2005

The Discourse Of Vote-Buying And Political Reform In Thailand, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Political reform movements have grown up as part of democratic transition in many societies. Liberal political reformers typically seek to change legal and institutional mechanisms in order to "clean up" the irrationality and corruption of the regime. This essay uses the Thai case to critically examine these issues by interrogating the central role that the discourse of vote buying plays not just in Thai politics, but in the project of political reform itself. Indeed, in the 1990s vote buying turned from being one of many campaign tactics into the guiding metaphor of the "political disease" not simply of elections, but …


Social And Cultural Geographies Of South-East Asia, Tim Bunnell, Lily Kong, Lisa Law Feb 2005

Social And Cultural Geographies Of South-East Asia, Tim Bunnell, Lily Kong, Lisa Law

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The paper is an overview of English language publications that discuss what might be considered 'social' and 'cultural' geographies in Southeast Asia over the past two decades. We have strategically chosen two major themes that help us shape the mass of material into digestible strands: (1) the politics of social and cultural change; and (2) constructing identities. The former addresses various politics: the politics of nationhood; the politics of national development; the politics of cultural sites; the politics of urban change; and the politics of the global-local.


Introduction: China, Ltd, William A. Callahan Feb 2005

Introduction: China, Ltd, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The study of Chinese nationalism is very popular--both in China and the West. This article introduces a special section of seven articles (four of which are in this issue) on 'The Limits of Chinese Nationalism', arguing that our understanding of nationalism in China is problematic. This special section aims to explore the limits of many of the statements about Chinese nationalism that have now become 'common sense': the rise of Chinese nationalism, nationalism filling an ideological vacuum, elites manipulating nationalism to gain legitimacy, and so on. Using critical IR theory this Introduction explores the concept of limits to argue that …


Questioning Proximity: East Asian Tv Dramas In Indonesia, Charlotte Setijadi Jan 2005

Questioning Proximity: East Asian Tv Dramas In Indonesia, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The study of transnational cultural flows has been of continuing interest among media and communication researchers, with recent studies focusing on cultural flows within geographically and culturally adjacent nations. It is often suggested that the level of “cultural proximity” that exists determines the success of cultural exchange between countries regarded to possess similar cultural traits. This notion, that local audiences will have preference for cultural commodities from countries with which they share cultural ties in recognition of their own culture, has enjoyed much intellectual currency in recent times, especially in relation to analyses of regional media markets. The danger of …


Western Corporate Forms And The Social Origin Of Chinese Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks, Wai Keung Chung Jan 2005

Western Corporate Forms And The Social Origin Of Chinese Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks, Wai Keung Chung

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Do Rural Land Markets Increase Inequality? Evidence From A Chinese Province, Qian Forrest Zhang Jan 2005

Do Rural Land Markets Increase Inequality? Evidence From A Chinese Province, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using a 2001 provincial survey, we find that disparities in land-rights distribution have greatly increased in rural China, and the growth of land markets is directly responsible for that. The land markets tend to concentrate land in those who can more efficiently use it. This translates disparities in land-rights distribution to magnified inequality in farm income. However, such widening disparities caused by land markets have compensatory effects on overall rural inequality, as land markets tend to bring up families who would fall at the bottom of income distribution in the absence of such markets. Expansion of markets, in this case, …


A Hundred Flowers Bloom: The Reemergence Of The Chinese Press In Post-Suharto Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon Jan 2005

A Hundred Flowers Bloom: The Reemergence Of The Chinese Press In Post-Suharto Indonesia, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Defining (Multiple) Selves: Stories From The Field, Chang Yau Hoon Jan 2005

Defining (Multiple) Selves: Stories From The Field, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The ‘Self’ in late-modernity is never singular but multiplies across different discourses, practices and positions. It is constructed through difference. It is only through a relation to the ‘Other’ that the ‘Self’ can be defined. This paper endeavours to map the endless negotiations of my ‘Self’ as male Australian academic of Chinese descent, a Malaysian citizen, a Bruneian resident, and an Indonesian specialist, over a period of fieldwork in Jakarta in 2004. It discusses how I defined my multiple ‘Selves’ to different individuals and communities, how they in turn defined me, and how these constructions were always shifting. Depending on …


Religious Processions: Urban Politics And Poetics, Lily Kong Jan 2005

Religious Processions: Urban Politics And Poetics, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, I will explore the ways in which processions, by their very visibility, foreground the relationships between the secular and the sacred, while contributing to a construction of identity and community, and simultaneously surfacing fractures therein. Using the example of multireligious yet secular Singapore, I will examine (a) the state's management of religious processions, including the regulation of time and space for such events, as well as regulations over noise production; (b) the tactics of adaptation, negotiation and resistance that participants engage in at an everyday level in response to the state's ideologies, policies, laws and strategies; (c) …


Economic Transition And New Patterns Of Parent-Adult Child Coresidence In Urban China, Qian Forrest Zhang Dec 2004

Economic Transition And New Patterns Of Parent-Adult Child Coresidence In Urban China, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study uses national data from the 1996 Life History and Social change in Contemporary China survey (N = 3,087) to gauge the effect of the economic transition on parent-adult child coresidence in urban China. Previous studies find that, thanks to state actions, traditional patterns in coresidence persisted in post-Mao urban China. This study still finds high levels of coresidence. China's aging population, coupled with an underdeveloped social security system, means that the traditional role of family will remain strong. It also uncovers three new patterns, however, best explained as caused by changes in the economic realm. First, the coresidence …


Development Of Land Rental Markets In Rural Zhejiang: Growth Of Off-Farm Jobs And Institution Building, Qian Forrest Zhang, Qingguo Ma, Xu Xu Dec 2004

Development Of Land Rental Markets In Rural Zhejiang: Growth Of Off-Farm Jobs And Institution Building, Qian Forrest Zhang, Qingguo Ma, Xu Xu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We employ survey data collected in 2001 in Zhejiang province to investigate patterns and determinants of land market development. Previous studies have noted the correlation between growth of off-farm jobs and rental-market development at the aggregate level, but failed empirically to demonstrate mechanisms at the disaggregate level. Our analyses find concrete evidence at the household level connecting developments in labour and land markets. Growth in off-farm jobs allow rural households to transfer labour out of farming and prompt them to relinquish land rights, generating a supply of land that drives rental activities. We also go beyond interactions between factor markets …


Remembering The Future: Utopia, Empire And Harmony In 21st Century International Theory, William A. Callahan Dec 2004

Remembering The Future: Utopia, Empire And Harmony In 21st Century International Theory, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using a comparative approach to international relations theory, this article examines how ancient ideas are being recycled to describe world order in the 21st century. In particular, it provides a thick description of three models of utopia in global politics - Great Harmony and Harmony-with-difference from China, and Empire from Hardt and Negri. Using an unexplored set of Chinese-language texts, the article first excavates how Communist Party intellectuals in China have been writing about the ancient Confucian ideal of Great Harmony as a way of promoting the Peoples Republic of Chinas role as a Great Power in the 21st century. …


The Impact Of War And Wartime On Transition To Adulthood: Vietnam, 1940-1990, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan Apr 2004

The Impact Of War And Wartime On Transition To Adulthood: Vietnam, 1940-1990, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

During the latter half of the 20th century, Vietnam experienced nearly continuous wars, including the Vietnam War (1965-1975). Wars afflicted young Vietnamese adults most and left profound imprints on the life course of those who survived. Based on the 1995 Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, my study uses the life course approach to document how war affects the timing and sequencing of early life course transitions for the Vietnamese growing up between the 1940s and the 1990s. The life course transitions examined include leaving school and entering labor force and first marriage and first birth. I study the impact of war by …


How To Be Chinese: Ethnic Chinese Experience A 'Reawakening' Of Their Chinese Identity, Chang Yau Hoon Apr 2004

How To Be Chinese: Ethnic Chinese Experience A 'Reawakening' Of Their Chinese Identity, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The post-Suharto era is an exciting period for Chinese Indonesians and other minority ethnic groups in Indonesia. After over three decades of cultural and political repression, Chinese Indonesians are now being given the opportunity to express their identity. The re-emergence of Chinese religion, language, and press in Indonesia since the end of the New Order, has had a significant impact on the development of ethnic Chinese identity. The strongly anti-Chinese sentiment expressed in the May 1998 riots in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia, including the looting of Chinese-owned shops and businesses and the racially-motivated rapes, drastically altered the position of …


Diasporic Tycoons, Outlaw States And Beijing Bastards: The Contingent Politics Of Greater China, William A. Callahan Mar 2004

Diasporic Tycoons, Outlaw States And Beijing Bastards: The Contingent Politics Of Greater China, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


National Insecurities: Humiliation, Salvation And Chinese Nationalism, William A. Callahan Mar 2004

National Insecurities: Humiliation, Salvation And Chinese Nationalism, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While I was researching the South China Sea disputes between China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, I came upon an unlikely refer ence. In an otherwise hard-nosed analysis of the issue, a noted Chi nese expert cited a book called the Atlas of Shame. This odd juxta position of security studies, territoriality, and emotion piqued my interest, and I asked a friend in Beijing to track down this curious book. Once I got a copy of the Atlas of the Century of National Humili ation in Modern China, the correct title, I was fascinated by what seemed to be a unique …


A Regional Approach To Human Security In East Asia: Global Debate, Regional Insecurity And The Role Of Civil Society, James T. H. Tang Jan 2004

A Regional Approach To Human Security In East Asia: Global Debate, Regional Insecurity And The Role Of Civil Society, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The concept of human security as a new paradigm presents a particular challenge for East Asia. While the region experienced dramatic political, economic and social transformations in the last few decades, much of the region’s key security concerns are state-focused. In fact East Asian regional security structures that are products of the Cold War era have remained largely intact.


Revisiting The Asian Values Argument Used By Asian Political Leaders And Its Validity, Chang Yau Hoon Jan 2004

Revisiting The Asian Values Argument Used By Asian Political Leaders And Its Validity, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Providing Health Care For Older Persons In Singapore, Peggy Teo, Angelique Chan, Paulin Straughan Jun 2003

Providing Health Care For Older Persons In Singapore, Peggy Teo, Angelique Chan, Paulin Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Health care social policy in Singapore has passed the burden of care to the individual and the family on the rationale that it would enable the state to contain the costs of long-term care by channelling some of its funds to community services and to providing essential health services to all Singaporeans and not just the older group. While a wide array of services has come into existence, there is a lack of integration between the available resources and needs of the individual/family and what has been availed at the community and state levels. Part of the problem lies in …


Cultural And Socioeconomic Influences On Divorce During Modernization: Southeast Asia, 1940s To 1960s, Charles Hirschman, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan Jun 2003

Cultural And Socioeconomic Influences On Divorce During Modernization: Southeast Asia, 1940s To 1960s, Charles Hirschman, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The conventional model of a rising divorce rate during the process of modernization is a staple element of the sociological theory of the family. This generalization is challenged, however, by traditional high-divorce societies, primarily in Islamic Southeast Asia, which have experienced a decline in divorce with modernization. In this study, based on micro-level survey data, the authors explore the social roots of marital disruption in Indonesia and Malaysia and in another Southeast Asian society, Thailand, which has not been identified as a high-divorce society. Comparable survey data from the 1970s (from the World Fertility Survey) allow for an in-depth analysis …


The Culture Of Technology Of Singapore, Alwyn Lim Dec 2002

The Culture Of Technology Of Singapore, Alwyn Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The objective of this paper is to map the sociological context in which the cultural economy of technology of Singapore exists. Taking a socio-histori cal perspective, this paper argues that the development of Singapore as a technological 'intelligent island' must take centre stage in relation to the soci ological analysis of modern Singapore's political, economic, and socio-cultural structure. This involves a critique of theories of the information society and empirical research on East Asian developmental states. The aim is to chart the development of technology in Singapore, from its founding as a colonial port-city to its current status as an …


Food Groups And The Risk Of Colorectal Carcinoma In An Asian Population, Adeline Seow, Stella Quah, Denis Nyam, Paulin Tay Straughan, Terrence Chua, Tar-Choon Aw Dec 2002

Food Groups And The Risk Of Colorectal Carcinoma In An Asian Population, Adeline Seow, Stella Quah, Denis Nyam, Paulin Tay Straughan, Terrence Chua, Tar-Choon Aw

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

BACKGROUND. Singapore Chinese have experienced a rapid transition toward a pattern of disease in which lifestyle-related, chronic, degenerative diseases are major public health concerns. The rates of colorectal carcinoma have increased 2-fold over the last 3 decades. It has long been known that dietary factors play a role in the risk of this disease, although studies in Asian populations, with their unique dietary intake, have been few.METHODS. The authors conducted a population-based case-control study that included 121 Chinese patients with colorectal carcinoma and 222 healthy control participants who provided information on usual intake of major food groups in the preceding …


In Search Of Permanent Homes: Singapore's House Churches And The Politics Of Space, Lily Kong Aug 2002

In Search Of Permanent Homes: Singapore's House Churches And The Politics Of Space, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper focuses on one category of the 'unofficially sacred'-namely, those secular spaces which are used for worship and, in particular, residential spaces which are turned into 'house churches'. Using the case study of a house church in Singapore, the paper examines issues about the politics of religion in urban landscapes in a secular and simultaneously multireligious state. Contrary and in addition to current wisdoms about the politics of religious space, it is argued that various politics are observed: a politics of inclusion; a politics of hybridisation and in-betweenness; a politics of appropriation and nationalisation; and a politics of impermanence …


French Military Policies In The Aftermath Of The Yên Bay Mutiny, 1930: Old Security Dilemmas Return To The Surface, Tobias Frederik Rettig Jan 2002

French Military Policies In The Aftermath Of The Yên Bay Mutiny, 1930: Old Security Dilemmas Return To The Surface, Tobias Frederik Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper provides a brief summary of the Yên Bay mutiny of 10 February 1930, before examining its links to a wider insurrectionary attempt by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party in parts of Tonkin and the reasons why the attempted insurrection was to begin at Yên Bay but not in other garrison towns. It then places the mutiny in a context in which the use of Vietnamese soldiers in French service was necessary in order to maintain French supremacy as a colonial and protectorate power in French Indo-China. But instead of focusing on the mutiny itself and its causes, the main …


China And The Globalization Of Ir Theory: Discussion Of 'Building International Relations Theory With Chinese Characteristics', William A. Callahan Feb 2001

China And The Globalization Of Ir Theory: Discussion Of 'Building International Relations Theory With Chinese Characteristics', William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay examines current developments in International Relations theory in China. First it comments on Song Xinning's essay, agreeing that IR theory in China is limited by ideology, the dominance of policy-oriented research, and the state. But rather than seeing culture ('IR theory with Chinese characteristics') as a problem that can be solved by a more scientific approach to IR theory, the essay argues that the scientism of realism and IPE has similar problems. Thus the essay switches from the universals of science to the contingency of interpretation to understand global politics, drawing on recent books which combine IPE with …


International Studies In The 21st Century: Civilization, Ethics And Transnational Relations, William A. Callahan Jan 2001

International Studies In The 21st Century: Civilization, Ethics And Transnational Relations, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.