Unraveling of Island Asia? : Governmental, Communal, and Regional Instability

by Vaughn, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9780275974589
• ISBN10: 0275974588
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers

Summary

This edited collection takes a primary focus on security issues in Oceania, but here the word "security" is expanded to include such topics as domestic Indonesian and Philippine instability, environmental degradation, the work of international crime syndicates, the generic problem of post-colonial state failure, and the always overhanging concern with China--in short all of the significant troubles roiling Island Asia today. Using this expanded notion of security and stability, the volume pulls in new anxieties about global warming, which may submerge half of the South Pacific microstates within the next 30 years, and pollution, which covers Indonesia nad Malaysia in thick smoke now visible from space, as well as traversing the more traditional security and economic issues. Vaughn and his contributors describe a 7,000-mile swath of wobbly island states ranging from the world's fourth most populous country to tiny bogus sovereignties in thrall to globalized criminals-through which more than $1 trillion worth of goods move each year. An important resource for scholars, students, researchers, and policy makers involved with Oceania and Asian studies as well as contemporary geo-political concerns.

Table of Contents

Abbreviation and Acronyms	vii
Preface	xi
Introduction: The Unraveling of Island Asia?	xiii
Bruce Vaughn
James Clad
PART I. OVERVIEW	1	(16)
Internal Conflict and Regional Security in Island Asia: Stabilizing the ``Arc of Instability''	3	(14)
Benjamin Reilly
PART II. STATE- AND TERRITORIAL-FOCUSED CHAPTERS	17	(102)
Indonesia: The Regional Giant	19	(12)
John B. Haseman
Deep Insecurity and Political Stability: Inside Mahathir's Malaysia	31	(16)
William Case
Mindanao and Its Impact on Security in the Philippines	47	(14)
David G. Wiencek
Rethinking Security in the South Pacific: Fiji and the Solomon Islands	61	(22)
Sandra Tarte
Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka
Tensions in Micronesia	83	(18)
Stephen Hoadley
The Bougainville Peace Process: The ``Pacific'' Settlement of Disputes?	101	(18)
Bede Corry
PART III. REGIONALLY FOCUSED CHAPTERS	119	(104)
Regional Transnational Security Challenges	121	(28)
Peter Chalk
External Power Engagement in Melanesia	149	(24)
Henry S. Albinski
The United States and the Region	173	(18)
William Tow
Secur(itiz)ing the Environment: Unraveling Environmental Security in Pacific Asia	191	(16)
Lorraine Elliott
Post-Financial Crisis Assessment and AFTA-CER Trade Relations	207	(16)
Sean McDonald
Index	223	(8)
About the Editor and Contributors	231