Thursday
Session 1 | Room A (Live Stream) | Online via Zoom |
External Influences on Peace and Development
11:10 – Baloch Nationalism and Peace Interval, 1977-1988: Analysing the Role of Internal and External Factors (72106)The decade of 1977-1988 in Balochistan’s history saw a period of perceptible peace or silence. During Zia’s regime, the Baloch national rights movement was weakened and the Baloch nationalists split into three or more parties. This period after the height of insurgency, gave rise to a situation that necessitated Zia’s policy of co-option with Balochs. This article deals with the question that, how Balochistan remained peaceful during the decade of 1977-88, despite the fact that during these years Balochistan has witnessed eleven years long period of military rule. In this paper the author argues that Gen Zia’s unfolded plans to desensitize the alienated Baloch by a multi-faceted strategy aimed at co-opting the leaders into office and more significantly, providing maximum political space for the religious parties in Balochistan along with the external factors i.e Soviet war in Afghanistan proved productive for establishing a peace interval in the province. Authors: 11:35 – Characterization of the Partnership for Development Between ASEAN and Chile (72579)In 2019, Chile was the first Latin American country to achieve ASEAN development partner status. This new status represents an opportunity to get closer in a comprehensive way. This study aims to characterize the implementation process of the development partnership between Chile and ASEAN. Attention will be paid to the role of the key players and to identify the main dynamics that have been developing since this new status was achieved. Authors: 12:00 – A Study on Interaction Between Land ASEAN States and China After the Cold War – Centered on the GMS Mechanism (71865)The Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation (GMS) is a key focus for integrating the regional economy of Southeast Asia and an important clue for studying regional integration in Southeast Asia. This paper aims to explain the causal mechanism behind the development of the GMS, that is, why GMS has been able to withstand the systemic stimuli of different eras and continue to play a role, expand the scope of cooperation, and promote regional integration in Southeast Asia while effectively addressing the development gaps and conflicts of interest among its member countries. This paper traces the development process of the GMS mechanism in different periods and backgrounds, and finds that the degree of economic interdependence, political mutual trust, and the development of ASEAN norms among member countries within the GMS have an impact on their internal cognition and decision-making, thus injecting impetus into the development of the GMS mechanism. Authors: | Room B (Live Stream) | Online via Zoom |
Societal Peacebuilding and Cooperation
11:10 – Youth in Bangladesh and Future Opportunities (70819)The youth population is the backbone of any country. Youth in a country is a viable and potential human resource not only in population structure but also in social structure. May the countries in Asia be on the list of developing countries, but the countries of the region have an increasing demographic share of the youth in the general population. In Bangladesh, the youth population occupies almost 40% of the total population. However, they cannot play significant roles in the country’s socioeconomic development and change due to the many problems it faces and the lack of support from the government. Even though the government has established plans and programs for youth welfare, they face many economic and cultural obstacles that stop them from moving forward. This research will not only present the problems that the young generation face in Bangladesh but also make suggestions to improve their future. Authors: 11:35 – Cooperation among Environmental Organizations in an Illiberal Regime: The Case of Hong Kong (70595)Cooperation within civil society in illiberal regimes is very difficult considering the fact that even independent social activism can pose serious risks. Nevertheless, activists from different parts of the society have frequently worked together under such circumstances. This paper will study this in a rapidly autocratizing system which has recently moved to illiberal authoritarianism. In Hong Kong, which once boasted a lively civil society, cooperation has a long history even if it has often been weak, issue specific, and difficult to sustain. The introduction of the National Security Law in 2020 has made it much more difficult. Many organizations, including alliances between different organizations such as the Civil Human Rights Front, have dissolved as a consequence. This paper will probe to what extent there is still space for cooperation within civil society by focusing on cooperation between different environmental organizations, a field that has been considered relatively less sensitive. Two alliances are the focus of this paper. Authors: 12:00 – The Trend of Betonamujinron Research in Japan: Implications for Mutual Cultural Understanding and Policy (72404)The increasing number of foreign residents in Japan is a positive factor contributing to the country’s sustainability, but it also poses policy and social challenges arising from inadequate mutual cultural understanding. Notably, with the trends of labor migration and international student mobility, the Vietnamese population in Japan has rapidly increased ten-fold from over 44,000 in 2011 to 450,000 in 2021 (MOJ, 2021), becoming the second most populous foreigner group. In Japan, there seems to be an increased interest in researching about Vietnam and Vietnamese people. We conducted a rapid literature review to investigate this trend by searching Google Scholar using relevant keywords for the period from 1965 to 2023. Our results revealed a clear increasing trend in the number of publications conducted in Japan related to "betonamujinron", or the field of study that focuses on the characteristics, culture, customs, and values of Vietnamese people. We found that the trend has been particularly prominent over the last decade. Our research suggests that there is an increasing interest in Japan in understanding foreign characteristics and culture. This trend can help promote mutual cultural understanding and pave the way for more effective policies that can address the challenges associated with the growing diversity of Japan's population. Authors: 12:25 – Inclusive Shame for Peaceful Coexistence: Historical Reconciliation with Reciprocal Non-domination in Northeast Asia (71866)Investigating the sentiment of apology fatigue in Japan, a number of scholars have argued that any type of collective shame, driven by the demand for official apology over Japan’s wartime atrocities, needs not be a prerequisite for historical reconciliation in Northeast Asia. Apparently, we are facing a paradox of shame. Shaming is a powerful weapon for rectifying historical injustices, while it falls prey to nationalist backlash. Nevertheless, the politics of anti-shame that tends to neutralize wartime atrocities with national interest cannot be ethically justified. By rendering Hannah Arendt’s view of shame with respect to the Holocaust in Northeast Asian context, this paper suggests an alternative type of “inclusive shame,” through which the victim and the victimizer are placed in the status of reciprocal non-domination to reconsider human vulnerability rather than power asymmetric, that can provide an entry into peaceful coexistence through historical reconciliation that would not otherwise exist. Authors: |
Session 2 | Room A (Live Stream) | Online via Zoom |
Geopolitics and Security
13:05 – German Security and Energy Policy and Its Change in Ukraine War (72082)Researchers have debated that the Ukraine War has been a struggle of "democracy vs. authoritarianism" between western countries and Russia. However, it is questionable if this view reflects the real situation. Moreover, the foregoing researches do not clarify the change of German security and energy policy from the idea level. Authors: 13:30 – Analyzing Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outlook (72950)After much speculation and anticipation, Bangladesh unveiled its "Indo-Pacific Outlook (IPO)," on 24th April, 2023 a day before the Prime Minister's visit to Japan Bangladesh, which mostly echoed Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)” and emphasized a free, open, peaceful, secure, and inclusive Indo-Pacific for the shared prosperity of all. The United States, which originally conceived and floated the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), has been urging Bangladesh for the last few years to join them in implementing the IPS. Being at the nodal point of South Asia and Southeast Asia, Bangladesh's access to the Indo-Pacific is critical considering global trade, exploring economic opportunities, and developing connectivity, however, amid rivalry and varieties of geo-economic interests of multiple countries. This paper tries to examine Bangladesh’s Indo-Pacific Outlook, challenges, and prospects considering its engagements with the USA, Japan, China, and India and will provide policy recommendations. Authors: 13:55 – The US-China Rivalry in the Maritime Domain: The Case of South China Sea (72087)The US-China rivalry apart from being at the global sphere is also prevalent in the maritime domain in the South China Sea (SCS). SCS is important for the global trade and commerce that is marred by the unresolved maritime disputes between China and the Southeast Asian states, mainly Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. In the last couple of years, there has been increasing naval presence as China is asserting its position and ignoring that of other claimant states that has led to the US intervention. For the US, China’s growing naval presence poses challenge for the global trade by hampering the freedom of navigation, creates security predicaments to its allies in the region and challenges its preeminent maritime power in the Western Pacific. The paper examines the US-China rivalry in SCS that has implication on the region and aggravates the conflict. Authors: 14:20 – Securitization and Regional Strategy: The Role of Non-traditional Security in China’s Track 2 Diplomacy in Southeast Asia (72049)Since the 1990s, China has expanded its regional engagement strategies in Southeast Asia. One such approach is track 2 diplomacy which focuses on multilateral security dialogues and aims to support and strengthen official diplomacy. An important question related to China's choice of track 2 diplomacy is the role of non-traditional security (NTS) in regional security issues shared by China and ASEAN, and how these issues have been framed by China to connect the NTS agenda to its national security. Through securitization theory, this article looks at three areas of China-ASEAN relations where track 2 diplomacy has been utilized: (1) the South China Sea (SCS) issue, (2) transnational crimes and counterterrorism, and (3) subregional cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This study finds that securitizing these areas has led to the inclusion of the NTS agenda in China’s regional diplomatic strategies which, in turn, has led to track 2 diplomacy becoming a viable response to the emerging NTS threats in these regional security issues. Authors: | Room B (Live Stream) | Online via Zoom |
E-democracy
13:05 – Denunciation in the Xi Jinping Era: An Analysis of State-Society Relationship (72048)Since the inception of the Xi Jinping era, denunciation has witnessed a significant surge in China. With the centralization under Xi Jinping, the prevalence of denunciations is anticipated to rise further. Although research on denunciation in Europe has gradually amassed since the 1990s, there remains a dearth of studies on this phenomenon in China, the world's largest authoritarian state. Chinese researchers often avoid politically-related denunciation inquiries due to limited freedom of speech. In contrast to Europe, denunciation in China primarily targets local political elites, and the government provides financial incentives for such denunciations. Concurrently, state propaganda underscores the material benefits associated with denunciation. The Chinese government has established a dedicated organization for handling denunciations and, more recently, mass organizations to mobilize the public for denunciation. However, the state's encouragement of denunciation has afforded the populace alternative avenues for rightful resistance, distinct from those previously available. The masses can choose to denounce directly to the party or simultaneously with petitions to investigate and penalize the denounced political elites and reclaim their rights. This study employs quantitative text analysis and case studies to substantiate these findings, highlighting the evolving state-society relationship in China during the Xi Jinping era, as evidenced by the dynamics of denunciation. Authors: 13:30 – “Fake News” Through the Lens of the State: A Thematic Analysis and Illustration of the Non-decision by the Duterte Administration (72080)While being regarded as the "social media capital of the world", The Philippines is also infamous for being the “patient zero" of the fake news crisis. Despite several proposals, the Philippines is yet to enact legal measures against fake news. This study presents the case of the Philippines as an illustration of non-decision and mobilization of bias by Bachrach and Baratz (1963). Thematic analysis of the news articles published by the Philippine News Agency paints a covert move by the Duterte administration to control the fake news crisis and narrative to benefit their vested political agenda. While there were calls and efforts by the state, primarily by the Presidential Communications Operations Office, in reality, these only mask the simultaneous attacks on dissidents, the press, and the opposition. Our analysis of 145 online news articles from August 2017 to June 2022, tells how the Duterte administration took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic vis-à-vis the proliferation of fake news to justify its draconian and arbitrary rule. Authors: 13:55 – Consolidating People’s Voices for Participation in National Elections: An Assessment and Bridging of Identified Gaps Through ICT Initiatives (72068)In addressing the politically contested elitism in the Philippines, this paper discusses the idea of bridging populist demands to national governance and explores Information and Communications Technology (ICT) resources as a tool for reaching populist overtones. In the discussion, a possibility has been shown with the inclusion of ICT resources to empower local citizens in their participation of sharing their piece to national legislations as well as integrating an ICT strategy to accommodate these various demands. However, there are a lot of realities to be acknowledged like the existence of several populist idea “gaps.” This paper highlights 1) that populist demands and opinions are possible opportunities for dialogue, consultation, coordination, and collaboration with other public and private institutions and agencies; 2) a need to establish and re-build strategies for ICT inclusion even in the rural communities - a springboard to widen the work of e-governance in the country. Authors: 14:20 – From the Screen to the Ballot Box: Comparative Experiences of Electoral Disinformation on Social Media in Southeast Asia (72078)The use of social media for political purposes is not a new phenomenon. The 2016 presidential elections in the United States is an initial case of how “fake news” spread on social media platforms such as Facebook can affect electoral outcomes. Recent elections held in the Southeast Asia region have also witnessed how the propagation of political disinformation on social media can impact electoral and other democratic processes. In the Philippines, events surrounding the May 2022 presidential elections showed the biggest, most organized, and most polarized electoral use of social media in the country to date. The same observation holds true in concluded and upcoming elections within the region such as Malaysia in 2018, Indonesia in 2019, and Thailand this 2023. This paper thus seeks to compare and contrast the cases of these four countries grappling with the problem of electoral disinformation on social media. This paper focuses on enabling factors that create the environment for the cultivation and spread of disinformation, prevalent disinformation narratives within the context of elections, steps undertaken to address this problem, and the corresponding impacts of this issue on democracy. Authors: |
Session 3 | Room A (Live Stream) | Online via Zoom |
Porous Borders and People
15:00 – Buoyancy: The Cross-border Online Gambling Linkages Between China and the Philippines (71684)Although China constitutes the largest market in Asia for the online gaming industry, since gambling is banned in China, the industry’s operation centers are dispersed throughout Southeast Asia, especially in the Philippines, where gambling has always been legal. In its efforts to control the participation of Chinese citizens in this burgeoning “illegal” industry, the Chinese government has been monitoring the issuance of visas and conducting investigations overseas. In this paper, we make a case study of the gambling industry in the Philippines to elucidate how China is expanding its influence in Southeast Asian private sector service industries, such as entertainment and online services. Furthermore, we examine the related literature on political and diplomatic geography to elucidate the role played by the Chinese embassy and consulates in the Philippines regarding how this territorialization of the online gambling industry has been used to enhance Chinese influence in the Philippines and beyond. Authors: 15:25 – Contesting Humanity: COVID 19 and the Precarity of Rohingya Refugees (71875)There has been a ubiquitous presence of large scale patterns of migration in recent years leading to the creation of the most cited term ‘refugee crisis’. While most scholarly work has engaged with movements from global South to global North, this article seeks to unpack refugee camps as a distinct form of exclusionary and violent governance exercised by states in Global South itself. Drawing on Achille Mbembe’s work on necro politics and Sara Ahmed’s concept of stranger fetishism; turning to the Rohingya refugees in India for analysis, this article illustrates how geographical spaces- ‘migrant camps’ function as sites of maintaining national sovereignty against the culturally imagined threat. The paper establishes how migrants are simultaneously visiblised and invisiblised by the state making their everyday existence precarious during the COVID 19 crisis. Authors: 15:50 – Examining the Role of Civil Society Organizations on ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Agenda-Setting: Projecting a Post-Pandemic Trajectory (72057)Prior to the 1990s, the ASEAN region was hostile to human rights civil society organizations (CSOs) and the discourse that they brought. This hostility dissipated with the end of the Cold War. ASEAN's grudging shift to soften its stance towards human rights was brought about not only by global trends and the openness of ASEAN member-states and officials. Several scholars have also noted the contribution of CSOs in this progress. With ASEAN’s shift, CSOs had been active to realize their desire to institutionalize a human rights mechanism in the region. Their campaign reached its peak with the inauguration of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) in 2009. Despite this development, CSOs’ participation in human rights institutionalization became limited. It was only in 2015 when AICHR adopted guidelines to facilitate engagement with CSOs. As of 2021, 30 organizations are affiliated with AICHR. This paper seeks to provide an initial assessment on the extent of the role of CSOs in shaping AICHR's human rights agenda. Two time-periods are examined: (1) initial years of AICHR-CSO relations (2015-2019); and (2) pandemic years (2020-2023). This is accomplished through a thematic analysis of official statements gathered from AICHR and partner CSOs during official engagements. The analysis likewise projects the post-pandemic prospects in human rights agenda-setting of AICHR-CSO relations. Authors: 16:15 – Liberal Convergence or Differential Exclusion? Path Dependency in Migration Policy (72065)The rapid industrialization of countries in East Asia and the resulting labor shortage is challenging established theories in research on migration policy. Studies argue that the persistence of temporary inclusion of migrants in this region contests the liberal convergence thesis, which suggests that democratization inevitably leads to more open migration policies. This article revisits the theoretical debate with attention to conceptual equivalence across time and space. In a comparative policy study of South Korea and Japan, we examine the development of temporary labor migration programs (Employment Permit System and Specified Skilled Worker program) and demonstrate how the two countries alternately intersect and diverge throughout time and across dimensions of policy. The findings challenge path dependent theories of migration policy and highlight the significance of historically informed and empirically equivalent analysis of migration policies. Authors: | Room B (Live Stream) | Online via Zoom |