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308 results in Books and Monographs

Page 9 of 16

By Design or Accident
  • Reflections on Asian Security
  • Daljit Singh
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    07 July 2010
  • Asia is rising and will wield greater economic and strategic weight in world affairs. However Asia also faces numerous challenges like poverty, domestic instability, deficiencies in governance and the rule of law, inter-state disputes and rivalries, and military build-ups, to name just a few. The celebration of Asia's rise would be premature if it is not accompanied by lasting peace and cooperation between states and justice and prosperity at home. The achievement of this happy state of affairs will require continuation of wise and pragmatic leadership, especially among the major powers. This collection of essays reflects on some of the major political and security issues in the region in recent times, including the balance of power among the major powers, American engagement and policies in Asia, India's rise, the global war on terrorism, the Iraq war, domestic developments in some countries as well as ASEAN's efforts to build regional peace and security.

Management of Success
  • Singapore Revisited
  • Edited by Terence Chong
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    25 June 2010
  • In 1989, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) published the milestone volume Management of Success: The Moulding of Modern Singapore, edited by Kernial Singh Sandhu and Paul Wheatley, which delved into a wide variety of issues that were integral to the growth of modern Singapore. The world that Singapore faced in 1989 has changed irrevocably. Meanwhile, within Singapore, the city-state has seen two prime ministerial transitions and the installation of third generation leaders who have articulated their vision for the twenty-first century. This new volume serves to update and review public policies from the early 1990s onwards. It gathers prominent thinkers and scholars on Singapore to examine issues of leadership and policy; economic restructuring; societal transformation; foreign relations and national identity. It seeks to outline the impending challenges of the twenty-first century, and to demonstrate a clear trajectory of intellectual analysis of contemporary Singapore for students and scholars alike.

Reinventing Thailand
  • Thaksin and His Foreign Policy
  • Pavin Chachavalpongpun
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    25 June 2010
  • From 2001 to 2006, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra transformed Thailand's international role from one of obscurity into a kind of regional hegemon. Thaksin's diplomatic ambitions were reflected in his myriad of grandiose foreign policy initiatives, designed to locate Thailand at the forefront of regional politics and reinstall the Thai sphere of influence over weaker neighbouring states. He abolished the traditional bending-with-the-wind foreign policy, revamped the Thai Foreign Ministry, and empowered Thai envoys through the CEO Ambassadors programme. But in this process, Thaksin was accused of exploiting foreign policy to enrich his business empire. Thaksin's reinvention of Thailand as an up-and-coming regional power was therefore tainted by conflicts of interest and the absence of ethical principles in the country's foreign policy.

Islamization and Activism in Malaysia
  • Julian C.H. Lee
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    14 May 2010
  • Islamization and Activism in Malaysia examines aspects of the increasing political and social profile of Islam in Malaysia and describes how different kinds of activists in Malaysia have sought to protect fundamental liberties and to improve the state of democracy in Malaysia. In particular, focus is paid to activists who engage with electoral process, the law and the public sphere, and in particular, to movements that cut across or combine these realms of action.Spanning the period of the Prime Ministership of Abdullah Badawi, Julian C. H. Lee's grounded analysis examines the most important issues of that period including the freedom of religion case of Lina Joy, the Islamic state debate, and events surrounding the 8 March 2008 general elections.

Islam, Education and Reform in Southern Thailand
  • Tradition and Transformation
  • Joseph Chinyong Liow
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    12 May 2010
  • "Few books address the sensitive issue of Islamic education with empathy as well as critical distance as Joseph C. Liow's Islam, Education, and Reform in Southern Thailand. He examines global networks of religious learning within a local Thai as well as regional Asian context by brilliantly revealing the intersections between religion, politics and modernity in an accessible and illuminating manner. Traditional educational institutions rarely receive such sensitive and balanced treatment. Liow's book is a tour de force and mandatory reading for policy-makers, academics and all of those interested in current affairs." - Ebrahim Moosa, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, Department of Religion, Associate Director, Duke Islamic Studies Center (DISC), Duke University, USA

Poverty and Social Protection in Indonesia
  • Edited by Joan Hardjono, Nuning Akhmadi, Sudarno Sumarto
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    04 May 2010
  • This book consists of papers that present the findings of research done by the SMERU Research Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia. Most describe the effects on the poor of the Indonesian economic crisis of 1997-98 and the response of the Indonesian government in the form of a Social Safety Net consisting of poverty mitigation programs. With the gradual recovery of the economy after 2000, the Indonesian government began reducing subsidies for fuel products and has channelled budgetary savings into a new series of targeted social protection and poverty alleviation undertakings that include unconditional cash transfers. The effectiveness of Indonesia's poverty alleviation programs has, however, been reduced by the difficulty of targeting beneficiaries accurately because of a lack of reliable, up-to-date poverty figures. In many instances unsuitable targeting methodology has been compounded by bad governance at the local level, while the introduction of regional autonomy, accompanied by the decentralization of authority to the district level, has formed a further complicating factor.

Islamism and Democracy in Indonesia
  • Piety and Pragmatism
  • Masdar Hilmy
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    27 April 2010
  • Most scholarly works conducted within the period of post-New Order Indonesia have underlined the fact that Indonesian Islamists reject the notion of democracy; no adequate explanation nonetheless has been attempted thus far as to how and to what extent democracy is being rejected. This book is dedicated to filling the gap by examining the complex reality behind the Islamists' rejection of democracy. It focuses its analysis on two streams of Islamism: the two Islamist groups that seek 'extra-parliamentary' means to achieve their goals, that is, MMI and HTI, and the PKS Islamists who choose the existing political party system as a means of their power struggle. As this book has demonstrated, there are times when the two streams of Islamism share a common platform of understanding and interpretation as well as an intersection where they are in conflict with one another. The interplay between contested meanings over particular theological matters on normative grounds and power contests among the Islamists proves to be critical in shaping this complexity.

Political Reform in Indonesia after Soeharto
  • Harold Crouch
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    06 April 2010
  • Three decades of authoritarian rule in Indonesia came to a sudden end in 1998. The collapse of the Soeharto regime was accompanied by massive economic decline, widespread rioting, communal conflict, and fears that the nation was approaching the brink of disintegration. Although the fall of Soeharto opened the way towards democratization, conditions were by no means propitious for political reform. This book asks how political reform could proceed despite such unpromising circumstances. It examines electoral and constitutional reform, the decentralization of a highly centralized regime, the gradual but incomplete withdrawal of the military from its deep political involvement, the launching of an anti-corruption campaign, and the achievement of peace in two provinces that had been devastated by communal violence and regional rebellion.

Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia
  • Elections, Institutions and Society
  • Edited by Edward Aspinall, Marcus Mietzner
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    06 April 2010
  • Alternately lauded as a democratic success story and decried as a flawed democracy, Indonesia deserves serious consideration by anyone concerned with the global state of democracy. Yet, more than ten years after the collapse of the authoritarian Suharto regime, we still know little about how the key institutions of Indonesian democracy actually function. This book, written by leading democracy experts and scholars of Indonesia, presents a sorely needed study of the inner workings of Indonesia's political system, and its interactions with society. Combining careful case studies with an eye to the big picture, it is an indispensable guide to democratic Indonesia, its achievements, shortcomings and continuing challenges.

Nowhere to Hide
  • The Great Financial Crisis and Challenges for Asia
  • Mah Hui, Michael Lim, Lim Chin
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    12 March 2010
  • This book takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the great financial crisis of 2007-09. It combines the disciplines of economics, finance, sociology and politics to analyse the causes, consequences and challenges of the crisis. The authors propose that the causes of the crisis should be understood at three inter-related levels - the level of theory and ideology; the level of financial industry practices and malpractices; and finally the level of structural imbalances in the international economy. Above all, the book is historical and holistic in perspective. This book is an excellent read for the critical layman interested in understanding the causes that underlie the global financial crisis. The authors combine the inquisitive and critical mind of a scholar and the lucid writing style of a journalist. The book provides a perspective on the crisis that is both practical and down to earth and at the same time, rigorous and holistic. Khor Hoe Ee, Chief Economist, Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development, and former Assistant Managing Director, Economics, Monetary Authority of Singapore The authors trace the rise of finance and its domination over the real economy, the consequences of financial innovation and deregulation for systemic fragility, and the failure of conventional economic and financial theory to analyse and anticipate the consequent dangers. Their main original contribution is to relate these Western market developments to recent trends in the East Asian region and to call for appropriate systemic reforms, not only to avoid similar future crises, but also to address other underlying development and analytical problems. K.S. Jomo, Assistant Secretary General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations In linking wealth and income distribution to financial instability, this book makes an important point that is often missed in the debate on the crisis. Central Banks have become strongly opposed to the idea of accommodating wage demands with the help of monetary easing, but they have been increasingly tolerant, or even supportive, of debt-financed consumption and asset inflation. Indeed, by serving to concentrate wealth further in the hands of a small rentier class, while protecting that class from the risks of debt defaults, they are only adding to systemic pressures that give rise to serious financial crises.Yilmaz Akyuz, Special Economic Advisor, South Centre, and former Chief Economist at United Nations Conference for Trade and Development

Korea's Changing Roles in Southeast Asia
  • Expanding Influence and Relations
  • Edited by David I. Steinberg
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    12 February 2010
  • The Republic of Korea's global expansion has been mirrored by its interest and presence in Southeast Asia. From trade, investment, aid, tourism, to the cultural "Korean wave", its various roles have blossomed and its influence has grown. The ASEAN region has not only affected Korean foreign policy, but also many aspects of Korean life, from the migration of Southeast Asian industrial workers to marriages and the curricula of academic institutions. This volume explores various aspects of these new relationships and their importance to all concerned parties. It brings together a group of specialists who have documented the growing interlocking roles between Korea and ASEAN and its constituent states in detail. These developments have profound implications for relations in the East and Southeast Asian regions, and for the world as a whole.

Australia's Foreign Economic Policy and ASEAN
  • Jiro Okamoto
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    12 February 2010
  • In this book, Jiro Okamoto explores the development of Australia's foreign economic policy towards ASEAN. He examines in detail decisive factors such as changes in the international and regional environment and the replacement of a dominant policy coalition with another in Australia's domestic policy process. His analysis shows that the shifts in Australia's ASEAN policy have not only closely reflected changes in Australia's overall foreign economic policy orientation, but that Australia's ASEAN policy strongly drove the change at key junctures. His work also offers important insights into the prospect of an "inclusive" economic integration process in East Asia. Although Australia's foreign economic policy has been an important element in regional economic cooperation, its inclusion in the East Asian integration process still remains ambiguous.

The Singapore Lion
  • A Biography of S. Rajaratnam
  • Irene Ng
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    12 January 2010
  • "Irene Ng has written a book that gives a comprehensive portrayal of Mr Rajaratnam - one of Singapore's outstanding leaders who played a crucial part in the momentous and crisis-ridden transition to independence. This is a book about the man and his wisdom. One would fail to appreciate him until one reads this absorbing book and reflects on the acuity and breadth of his insights and his wisdom." - S. R. Nathan, President of Singapore"In the course of a 33-year career in diplomacy, I met many great leaders. Having done so, I can confidently assert that S. Rajaratnam was one of the greatest leaders I met. Sadly, few in Singapore understand how great Rajaratnam was. This well-researched comprehensive volume by Irene Ng therefore fills a real need. Both Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans will benefit a lot from reading it." - Kishore Mahbubani, Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore "Rajaratnam is one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore. He was Singapore's first and longest serving foreign minister. He was a rebel and a revolutionary. He was an intellectual and a man of action. In this wonderful book, Irene Ng tells the story of this remarkable leader of Singapore. I found the book both enjoyable and insightful." - Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large, Singapore

ASEAN's Myanmar Crisis
  • Challenges to the Pursuit of a Security Community
  • Christopher Roberts
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    28 December 2009
  • "This is the first comprehensive study of the tensions for ASEANs security community concept arising from Myanmar's membership of ASEAN. Too much commentary about Myanmar is agenda-driven; this study is objective, meticulously researched, and finely balanced. Being an 'outsider', Christopher Roberts recognizes the dynamics that characterize these complex relationships, and analyses them with care and insight." - Trevor Wilson, former Australian Ambassador to Myanmar (2000-03); Visiting Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra

Lim Kim San
  • A Builder of Singapore
  • Asad-ul Iqbal Latif
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    22 December 2009
  • Lim Kim San's name is linked inextricably to Singapore's public housing. This is entirely appropriate because he played a crucial role in the success of the Housing Board, which transformed both the country's physical landscape and gave Singaporeans a tangible stake in the future of their young nation. However, important though Lim's role was at the Board and as Minister for National Development, it was not his sole contribution to Singapore. He made a decisive difference in several other key areas, including Finance, and Interior and Defence. This biography draws on Lim's Oral History Interview, which was made accessible to the author, the Hansard, Lim's speeches, and newspaper clippings, in addition to fresh interviews conducted with other Singapore leaders who had worked with Lim. The result is a composite picture of a great Singapore leader.

Islamism in Indonesia
  • Politics in the Emerging Democracy
  • Bernhard Platzdasch
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    25 November 2009
  • The fall of President Soeharto in May 1998 and the introduction of multi-party democracy by President BJ Habibie have unleashed religious parties (both Islamic and Christian) in Indonesian politics. This study shows that the Islamist agenda of the Islamist parties is overshadowed by their political pragmatism. This book is a must-read account on the rise and failure of the Islamist struggle in Indonesia's emerging democracy. Platzdasch's work is without a doubt a significant and timely contribution to a better understanding of Islamic politics in contemporary Indonesia. - Professor Azyumardi Azra, Professor of History & Director, Graduate School, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Realizing the ASEAN Economic Community
  • A Comprehensive Assessment
  • Edited by Michael G. Plummer, Siow Yue Chia
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    11 November 2009
  • The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) constitutes the most ambitious programme of economic cooperation in the developing world. Its goal is to create no less than a free flow of goods, services, foreign direct investment, and skilled labour, as well as a freer flow of capital, throughout the region. Implementing this agenda will be technically and politically difficult. Hence, understanding the potential economic "payoff" is of the essence. The goal of this book is to assess empirically the likely economic effects of the AEC on the ASEAN Member States and associated stakeholders. It mobilizes a number of techniques to do so, and finds that the likely effects will be large, even greater than the anticipated effects of the Single Market Program in Europe, for example. The AEC will help the region improve competitiveness, facilitate the creation of production networks, foster the diffusion of 'best practices', and help ASEAN project its interests more effectively in an increasingly integrated, global economy.

Looking East to Look West
  • Lee Kuan Yew's Mission India
  • Sunanda K. Datta-Ray
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    27 October 2009
  • When P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh launched India's "Look East" policy, it was only the first stage of the strategy to foster economic and security cooperation with the United States. But "Looking East" became an end in itself, and Singapore a valid destination, largely because of Lee Kuan Yew. He had been trying since the 1950s to persuade India's leaders that China would steal a march on them if they neglected domestic reform and ignored a region that India had influenced profoundly in ancient times. With his deep understanding of Indian life, close ties with India's leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru on, and sound grasp of realpolitik, Lee never tired of stressing that Asia would be "submerged" if India did not "emerge". Looking East to Look West recounts how India and Singapore rediscovered long-forgotten ties in the endeavour to create a new Asia. Singapore sponsored India's membership of regional institutions. India and Singapore broke diplomatic convention with unprecedented economic and defence agreements that are set to transform boundaries of trade and cooperation. This book traces the process from the earliest mention of Suvarnadbhumi in the Ramayana to Lee Kuan Yew's letter to Lal Bahadur Shastri within moments of declaring independence on 9 August 1965, from the Tata's pioneering industrial training venture in Singapore to Singapore's Information Technology Park in Bangalore. It explains the part Lee played in India's emergence as a player in the emerging Concert of Asia. History comes alive in these pages as Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, who had eight long conversations with Lee Kuan Yew, tells the story in the words of the main actors and with a wealth of anecdotes and personal details not available to many chroniclers.

Different Voices
  • The Singaporean/Malaysian Novel
  • Rosaly Puthucheary
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    22 October 2009
  • The Different Voices: Singaporean/Malaysian Novel, focuses on the challenges that face a novelist in the literary representation of a multilingual environment. The early writers used strategies like vernacular transcription and mimetic translation. However, the close readings of twelve selected novels by non-European writers from 1980 to 2001 indicate the increasing use of strategies like lexical borrowings, code mixing, code switching and varieties of Singapore-Malayan English, instead. Puthucheary asserts in her book that the methods of language appropriation have a direct connection to how the writer conveys the multilingual nature of the Singapore-Malayan society through the speaking person while developing the central theme of the novel. The book maps out the verbal artistic representation of the speaking person and the correlation between speech and character in a multilingual environment.

Plugging into Production Networks
  • Industrialization Strategy in Less Developed Southeast Asian Countries
  • Edited by Ikuo Kuroiwa
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    21 October 2015
    Print publication:
    22 October 2009
  • This work focuses on how less developed economies in Southeast Asia, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), can establish links with neighbouring countries and participate in production networks. It also takes a look at links between Singapore and the Batam-Bintan-Karimun (BBK) Special Economic Zone in Indonesia. Leading Southeast Asian economies have achieved rapid economic growth by participating in production networks organized by multinational enterprises. It is thus crucial for less developed economies in Southeast Asia to improve their investment climate, attract foreign direct investment, and form competitive industrial clusters. Service link costs must also be reduced substantially to make production fragmentation economically feasible. The authors in this book discuss these issues and provide policy recommendations.

Page 9 of 16