This paper examines how the current military
dominance of the US over every other state means that only it has the capacity
to sustain military activity on a global scale and that other states
participating in US-led coalitions must be prepared to work in an ‘interoperable’ fashion. It explores the application of computer networks to
military operations in conjunction with the need to secure a network’s
information and to assure that it accurately represents situational reality.
Drawing on an examination of how networks affected naval operations in the
Persian Gulf during 2002 and 2003 as conducted by America’s Australian and
Canadian coalition partners, the paper warns that in seeking allies with the
requisite technological capabilities, but also those that it can trust with
its
information resources, the US may be heading into a very secure digital
corner.
Transforming the US Military: Implications
for the Asia–Pacific. Richard A. Bitzinger, 2006
Under
the stewardship of Defense Secretary Rumsfield, transformation has become
the guiding principle of the US military.
Ongoing developments and breakthroughs in such areas as intelligence, surveillance
and
reconnaissance, precision-strike, stealth technologies and command and control
have made the US military the most formidable armed force in the world.
One result of this transformation process is a significant change in the US
military force posture, particularly overseas. As flexibility, agility and
mobility become more important requirements, maintaining large numbers of US
soldiers around the globe has become less imperative.
Overseas bases, while perhaps becoming fewer and
smaller, more austere and more impermanent, will be increasingly valued
as forward staging areas for expeditionary operations. The US military
will likely come to rely even more than ever on its allies and partnering
states.
Defence transformation, has major implications for the future course of US
military and security policy, particularly when it comes to the Asia–Pacific
region. As the US continues to transform its forces, this process will have
a profound impact on the ways in which US forces operate in the region, including
their future basing and deployment, where and how they’ll operate, and
what kind of and what kind of equipment they’ll require.
The report examines how US defence transformation affects the leading nations
and militaries in the Asia–Pacific region, and how those countries and
their armed forces are responding to a transforming US military. This two-way
dynamic will have repercussions for regional security that will be felt for
many years to come.
US defence transformation will affect a number of critical regional security
concerns, such as alliance relationships and interoperability, regional competition
and cooperation, and local force modernisation activities.
US forces in the Asia-Pacific region are undergoing significant changes in
terms of force structure, roles and missions and operating concepts. These
are developments that countries like Australia should continue to monitor closely
and to which they should react cautiously.
Sejarah Bank Indonesia, J. Soedradjad Djiwandono.
Bank Indonesia, 2006
|
Period 4 :
1983-1997. Bank Indonesia during the period of economic development with deregulation.
|
|
 Period
3 :
1966-1983. Bank Indonesia during the period of stabilization, rehabilitation
and economic development.
|
Muslim Resistance
in Southern Thailand and Southern Philippines:
Religion, Ideology, and Politics, Joseph
Chinyong Liow. Washington,
D.C.: East-West Center Washington,
2006
This
study analyzes the ongoing conflicts
in southern Thailand and southern Philippines
between indigenous Muslim minorities
and their respective central governments.
In particular, it investigates and interrogates
the ideological context and content of
conflicts in southern Thailand and southern
Philippines insofar as they pertain to
Islam and radicalism in order to assess
the extent to which these conflicts have
taken on a greater religious character
and the implications this might have
on our understanding of them. In the
main, the monograph argues that while
conflicts in southern Thailand and southern
Philippines have taken on religious hues
as a consequence of both local and external
factors, on present evidence they share
little with broader radical global Islamist
and Jihadist ideologies and movements,
and their contents and contexts remain
primarily political, reflected in the
key objective of some measure of self-determination,
and local, in terms of the territorial
and ideational boundaries of activism
and agitation. Furthermore, though both
conflicts appear on the surface to be
driven by similar dynamics and mirror
each other, they are different in several
fundamental ways. - Suicide or Martyrdom
Operation
- Killing Civilians and Non-combatants
The third part contains statements of Muslim condemnation of Bali bombing and
similar acts of terrorism for readers' reference.
Unlicensed
to Kill: Countering Imam Samudra's Justification
for the Bali Bombing, Muhammad Haniff
Bin Hassan. Peace Matters, 2006
 |
The
book is divided into three parts.
The first part provides a brief introduction
to Imam Samudra and the incident
of Bali bombing I. It then maps out
Imam Samudra's thinking behind Bali
bombing I as written in his book
Aku Melawan Teroris.
The second part points out and provides alternative viewpoints to the
following issues contained in Imam Samudra's book:
- The idea of jihad as perpetual war between Muslims and non-Muslim
- All non-Muslims are in conspiracy against Islam and Muslims
- Jihad as the means for championing the cause of Islam
- The Ruling of Jihad: Fadhu Ain and Fardhu Kifayah
- Is Bali a Place For Armed Jihad?
- Can Place of Vices Be Bombed?
- Robbery/Theft in the Name of Jihad
- Suicide or Martyrdom Operation
- Killing Civilians and Non-combatants
|
The
third part contains statements of
Muslim condemnation of Bali bombing
and similar acts of terrorism for
readers' reference.
|
The Evolving
Maritime Balance of Power in the Asia-Pacific:
Maritime Doctrines and Nuclear Weapons
at Sea, Lawrence W Prabhakar, Joshua
Ho, Sam Bateman. World Scientific,
2006
The
Asia-Pacific has emerged as the hub of
global geo-political, geo-economic and
geo-strategic significance in the post-Cold
War period. The rise of China and the
resurgence of India will be the hallmark
for the next 50 years. How this surge
in power is accommodated by the incumbent
powers like the United States and Japan,
and how the new regional powers like
China and India manage the power politics
that emerge will be key determinants
of regional stability.
This volume examines the national maritime doctrines as well as the nuclear
weapons developments at sea of the four major powers in the Asia-Pacific,
namely, China, India, Japan and the United States, to see if the evolving
dynamic is a cooperative or a competitive one. In particular, the volume
looks at the evolving paradigms of maritime transformation in strategy
and technology, the emergent new maritime doctrines and evolving force
postures in the naval orders of battle, the role and operations of nuclear
navies in the Asia-Pacific, and the implications and impact of nuclear
weapons, ballistic missiles and sea based missile defence responses in
the region.
“The
world's maritime future is likely to
be determined
in large measure in the Asia-Pacific,
particularly by the developing relationship
between the four major maritime powers
of the area, China, India, Japan and
the US. This relationship, in turn, will
be decided by the way in which they react
to each other's naval policies and programmes
and to how they respond, individually
and collectively, to strategic developments
in the area. In this important book,
some of the world's leading rnaritime
analysts begin the task of exploring
a topic crucial for the world's future.”
Professor
Geoffrey fill
Author of Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century
"East Asia
and the Pacific Rim are likely to be
to the Twenty-First Century what Europe
and the Atlantic Rim were to the Twentieth:
the main locus of economic growth and
thus the center of considerable potential
conflict. This book looks in depth at
how the four largest actors in the area,
the United States, China, Japan, and
India, are developing their naval power
to act in this essentially maritime theater
of future operations."
Norman
Friedman
Author of Seapower and Strategy
Can we Meet
the Threat of Global Violence, Michael
Chandler and Rohan Gunaratna.
Reaktion Books, 2006
Long
before the devastating events of 11th
September 2001 many countries had developed
ways to deal with terrorists, but for
the most part these groups were regarded
as only domestic threats. The actions
of the “Atta Group” on 9/11,
however, not only destroyed the World
Trade Centre but also blew away forever
these attitudes of complacency. The horror
and enormity of the attacks on such iconic
targets prompted an unprecedented response
from across the globe.
Countering Terrorism:
Can We Meet the Treat of Global Violence?
is a hard-hitting examination of responses
to terrorism around the globe, looking
not only at 9/11 but also the London and
Madrid bombings, as well as terrorist activity
in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India,
Palestine and elsewhere. The authors argue
that despite the international community
being presented with a prime opportunity
to cooperate and collaborate against trans-national
terrorism, the opportunity has been missed,
long-term visionary policies have been
held hostage to short-term political expediency,
and what should have been a watershed has
become a trickle in the sand.
The authors’ collective
experience—dealing with a wide range
of terrorist activity, security issues
and conflict situations—spans over
forty years, and includes first-hand exposure
in the field. Together they bring their
specialist knowledge to bear on one of
the most critical issues of today, offering
a clear-sighted way of understanding and
dealing with global terrorism.
Realpolitik
Ideology: Indonesia's Use of Military
Force, Leonard C. Sebastian. ISEAS,
2006
Realpolitik
Ideology presents path-breaking on the
Indonesian military (TNI) going beyond
traditional scholarship on the TNI’s
dual function or dwifungsi which
has been one of the dominating fields
of analysis in Indonesian studies since
the 1970s. Addressed to political scientists,
sociologists, historians, anthropologists
and defence practitioners, this book
interprets security policy in terms of
its social roots asserting that the realpolitik
behaviour of the TNI has strong "socio-cultural" undertones,
which in turn shape the development of
military doctrine. The argument made
in the book is that only through a better
understanding of the doctrines that reinforced
the military's significant presence in
Indonesian affairs and their subsequent
restructuring can Indonesia's policy-makers
attempt meaningful reform of the TNI.
Readable, accessible and yet exhaustively researched, this book examines the
origins and development of ideas on security from the point of view of the
TNI and explains why civil-military relations are still fraught with uncertainty,
and why the recent changes in military ideology, removal of military posts
in the legislature, ongoing divestment of its business, and other measures
still do not guarantee that the military will not intervene in the affairs
of state.
Human Security
and the UN: A Critical History, S Neil
MacFarlane and Yuen Foong Khong. Indiana
University Press, 2006
This
project is undertaken as part of The
United Nations Intellectual History Project
(UNIHP), which seeks to trace the origin
and analyse the evolution of key ideas
and concepts about international economic
and social development born or nurtured
under UN auspices.
How did the individual human being become the focus of the contemporary discourse
on security? What was the role of the United Nations in "securing" the
individual? What are the payoffs and costs of this extension of the concept?
Neil MacFarlane and Yuen Foong Khong tackle these questions by analyzing historical
and contemporary debates about what is to be secured. From Westphalia through
the 19th century, the state's claim to be the object of security was sustainable
because it offered its subjects some measure of protection. The state's ability
to provide security for its citizens came under heavy strain in the 20th century
as a result of technological, strategic, and ideological innovations. By the
end of World War II, efforts to reclaim the security rights of individuals
gathered pace, as seen in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a host
of United Nations covenants and conventions. MacFarlane and Khong highlight
the UN's work in promoting human security ideas since the 1940s, giving special
emphasis to its role in extending the notion of security to include development,
economic, environmental, and other issues in the 1990s.
Chinese
Civil-Military Relations The Transformation
of the People’s Liberation Army,
Li Nan. Routledge, 2006
Chinese
Civil-Military Relations addresses three
key issues: What has changed in Chinese
civil-military relations? What can account
for these changes? And what are the implications
for Chinese security policy and strategic
behavior?
It tackles these questions by assessing civil-military dynamics in elite politics;
such dynamics in national security and arms control policy; relations between
commanders and political commissars; relations between PLA and society; civil-military
dynamics regarding defense economics and logistics; and such dynamics regarding
dual-use technologies and defense industry. These analyses show that the emphasis
of Chinese civil-military relations has now shifted from politics to military
tasks and what the possible implications of China’s military modernization
drive are for security in the Asia-Pacific region.
Order and
Security in Southeast Asia : Essays in
memory of Michael Leifer, Joseph Chingyong
Liow and Ralf Emmers. Routledge,
2006
Michael
Leifer, who died in 2001, was one of the
leading scholars of Southeast Asian international
relations. He was hugely influential through
his extensive writings and his contacts
with people in academia, government and
business in the region. He also inspired
many students from Southeast Asia and beyond,
an impressively large number of whom are
now reading figures in their own right.
This book of essays, compiled by two of
Michael Leifer’s last PhD students,
explores and reflects on the key themes
of his work on Southeast Asia.
From Isfahan
to Ayutthaya: Contacts between Iran and
Siam in the 17th Century, Christoph Marcinkowski.
Pustaka Nasional, 2005
This
book traces back the roots of the first
Iranian immigrants to Thailand whose
descendants – among them the Bunnag
family which features a Buddhist as well
as a Shi’ite Muslim branch – continue
to enjoy social prestige and influence
in the kingdom today. Utilizing parts
of a unique 17th-century Persian travel
account written by the secretary of an
Iranian mission to Siam and other works
by European explorers, Marcinkowski unfolds
the influences and impacts resulting
from extensive diplomatic as well as
cultural Iranian-Siamese contacts and
the visible effects in present-day Thailand.
From their imperial capital Isfahan,
the shahs of Iran’s Shi’ite
Safavid dynasty (r. 1501-1722) encouraged
contacts with the non-Muslim world. This
curiosity was shared by the Siamese king
Narai the Great (r. 1656-88). His tolerant
rule encouraged merchants from Europe
and various Asian countries to settle
down at his flourishing royal capital
Ayutthaya, which became known among foreign
mariners under the Persian epithet Shahr-e
N_v, “City of Boats”. From
Isfahan to Ayutthaya focuses in particular
on the community of Shi’ite Iranian
merchants in Siam and the creation of
the office of Shaykh of Islam or “head
of the Muslim community” which
is still extant in the kingdom and known
in Thai as chularajmontri. Marcinkowski
also briefly touches upon the spread
of Islam in the region.
Reviews
“ This is accordingly a fairly
brief but nevertheless meaty monograph
on an intriguing topic. Dr Marcinkowski
deserves praise for bringing it into
the light of critical scholarship […]
and the Singapore publishers deserve
praise for producing an attractive book
[…].”
Professor emer. Clifford Edmund Bosworth,
Fellow of the British Academy
Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford, UK)
“ Accolades are to be given to Marcinkowski for his work in dealing
with what is by no means an ephemeral Iranian-Siamese relationship.”
Dr Walter Strach,
National University of Singapore,
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore)
“ Marcinkowski’s
study serves as an excellent introduction
to […] this period of history.”
Dr George Lane, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of
London,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Cambridge, UK)
Transition
Politics In Southeast Asia, Yang Razali
Kassim. Marshall Cavendish,
2005
This book looks at the politics of leadership
change and succession in Indonesia and Malaysia,
two countries which experienced the worst political
fallouts from the Asian financial crisis. A
former journalist who has had the advantage
of covering these two countries over two decades,
the author begins with an overview of political
transitions in Southeast Asia. The central
focus of the book, however, covers developments
in Indonesia and Malaysia through the tumultuous
years up to the end of 2004.
The book’s underlying thesis is that the major leadership changes in Indonesia
and Malaysia in recent years have not been, and are not taking place in isolation,
but are in fact part of a long process of change that can be traced to the 1980s.
Although the two primary political actors – Suharto and Mahathir – are
out of office, they remain, in terms of impact, very much in the consciousness
of the successor generation because of the defining roles that they had played
and the political legacies that they left behind. TRANSITION POLITICS IN SOUTHEAST
ASIA provides a timely narration of the twists and turns of the ‘politics
of transition’ in Indonesia and Malaysia over a span of two decades. It
also serves as a relevant backdrop to understanding the context and genesis of
the political events that currently dominate the news and the landscapes in the
two states. The result is a sense of contrast in how the two countries grappled
with the common quest for effective leadership in the face of the demanding challenge
of providing security, stability, economic development and progress.
Middle Powers and
Accidental Wars - A Study in Conventional Strategic
Stability, Bernard Loo Fook Weng. Edwin
Mellen, 2005
The traditional understanding of strategic stability,
as a condition wherein adversarial states refrain from
waging a strategic war, is in the first place flawed
as it conflates the concept with the wider issue of
causes of war, it places too great an emphasis on arms
racing and crisis management, and it has focused too
much on nuclear strategy. This study situates the concept
directly with the phenomena of accidental or inadvertent
wars, and proposes an understanding of strategic stability
as a condition wherein policy-makers do not feel pressured
into knee-jerk decisions concerning the use of military
force. This study proposes a framework of conventional
strategic stability. It includes a geographic and strategic
cultural milieu that frames the processes by which
policy-makers and strategic planners identify and assess
the threat posed by potential adversaries. It directs
attention away from armaments to other military-strategic
factors such as interpretations of strategic doctrines
and intelligence and early warning processes. Finally,
drawing from the Clausewitzian politics-war paradigm,
it focuses on how domestic and external political conditions
provide clues as to how and why strategic stability
either maintains or fails, because decisions for war
are ultimately political in nature.
UN Peace Operations
and Asian Security, Mely Caballero-Anthony and
Amitav Acharya. Routledge, 2005
UN Peace Operations and Asian Security provides an
unparalleled analysis of the state of the United Nations
peace operations and its impact on Asian security.
It examines new strategies being adopted by the UN,
including doctrinal shifts in peace operation, and
assesses the division of labour between the UN, regional
organisation and non-governmental organisations / actors.
Based on selected papers from mostly Asian scholars, the book offers regional
perspectives from the south, southeast and Northeast Asia on the changing nature
of UN Peace operations and analyses some of the core issues that are of critical
relevance to regional security in Asia. In addition it reveals interesting new
insights on the new players in the area of peace operations i.e. China and Japan,
and considers their projected roles as defined by their respective security concepts.
It also delves into issues of possible areas of concern caused by the new activism
of these regional powers in peace operations. Finally, the book revisits the
significant lessons learnt from the UN experience in Cambodia and East Timor
and examines their impact on future directions of peace operations.
This was first published as a special issue of International Peacekeeping.
The Making of a
Terrorist: Recruitment, Training and Root Causes,
Vol.I – III, Contributors: Arabinda Acharya,
Adam Dolnik, Rohan Gunaratna, Kumar Ramakrishna,
Edited by James J.F. Forest. Praeger
Security International, 2005
Global terrorism has become a frightening reality,
and the situation calls for greater engagement with
the public, as the necessary eyes and ears of the global
anti-terrorism coalition. However, to be effective
the public must be equipped with the knowledge of how,
why and where an individual becomes a terrorist. This
is the primary goal of this set, which seeks to answer
one central question: What do we currently know about
the transformation through which an individual becomes
a terrorist?
The current body of research on terrorism suggests that a combination of factors
will, in most cases, result in some form of terrorism. This combination differs
widely by region, and at minimum involves motivations, opportunities, contexts,
processes, personal disposition, and preparation.
Vol.I deals with recruitment means and methods, and includes discussions of psychological,
social, ideological, and religious dimensions of recruitment. Vol.II addresses
the training of terrorists, including teaching tools and training manuals, and
it includes fascinating case studies from Al Qaeda Hezbollah, Aum Shinrikyo,
Christian militias and other groups. Vol.III is devoted to root causes, including
their political, religious and socioeconomic dimensions. Appendices to these
volumes feature profiles of terrorist organizations, samples of terrorist training
manuals and recommended resources for the study of terrorism.
Bank Indonesia and the Crisis: An Insider’s
View, J. Soedradjad Djiwandono. ISEAS, 2005
This important book is set to be a key document for those interested in Indonesia’s
recent economic and political history. There have been many unanswered questions
about exactly how the regional currency crisis snowballed into a full-scale
banking crisis in Indonesia, coupled with a total loss of credibility within
a short time. This record by the official in the midst of the banking crisis,
the ex-governor of Bank Indonesia, gives a fuller and intriguing picture of
the events, including the actions of President Soeharto, as well as a balanced
account of the much criticised interventions by the International Monetary
Fund. The author also analyses the lessons for monetary policy to avoid future
such crisis.
This is essential reading for economists and Indonesia waches.
Conflict and Terrorism in Southern Thailand,
Rohan Gunaratna, Arabinda Acharya, Sabrina Chua. Marshall Cavendish,
2005.
Unlike the Cold War era, regional conflicts today have profound international
implications. Enhanced communication – flow of ideas, inexpensive
travel, greater mobility of people, unregulated flow of finance, and a
saturated arms market – have dramatically increased the globalization
of violence. With internal displacement and refugee flows, most armed conflicts
assume regional and international dimensions. With time, most become intractable,
Therefore, it is imperative to resolve conflict in its formative phase
…
The resolution of the conflict in Thailand rests neither
in counter-terrorism nor in counter-insurgency. The right combination of
measures – ranging from developing intelligence dominance, carrying
out intelligence-led operations, forging a special relationship with Malaysia,
co-opting the Muslim elites, and instituting good governance, particularly,
farsighted leadership – is critical to manage and terminate the threat.
Regional Security In Southeast Asia Beyond
the ASEAN Way, Mely Caballero-Anthony. ISEAS, 2005
The book examines ASEAN’s mechanisms in managing challenges and threats
to regional security. Its extensive analyses of the ASEAN story of managing
regional security cover the different phases of ASEAN’s development as
a regional organization and explore the perceptible changes that have occurred
in regional mechanisms of conflict management. The book also examines the roles
of relevant actors beyond the states of ASEAN and the key interactions that
have evolved over time which have been instrumental in moving regional mechanisms
beyond the ASEAN way.
The book argues that the ASEAN way has not been impervious
to change. As the association finds its way through periods of crises and
continues to confront the many challenges ahead, ASEAN and its mechanisms
are already being transformed beyond the narrow confines of the modalities
associated with the ASEAN way. The changes in the political and security
landscape of the region, as well as the democratic transitions taking place
in some member states, have set the stage for a much more dynamic set of
regional actors and processes that bring into question the kind of regionalism
that is now taking place in the region. This book therefore attempts to capture
these evolving dynamics and examines the way regionalism is changing in Southeast
Asia.
Religion and Politics in Iraq. Shi‘ite
Clerics between Quietism and Resistance, Christoph Marcinkowski.
Pustaka Nasional, 2004
Religion
and Politics in Iraq recounts the major steps in the relationship
between the various Sunnite-dominated governments on the one hand and Shi’ite
leadership and population on the other in what is now Iraq, from the late
Ottoman period until the end of the rule of Saddam Husayn. From the end
of the 19th century, Iraq, witnessed the Ottomans, the installation of
a foreign-backed monarchy, as well as several brands of republican regimes.
The main thesis of this book is that Iraqi Twelver
Shi’ism – the dominant denomination in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and
Bahrain, with large minorities in several other Arab Gulf countries and on
the Indian subcontinent – is essentially quietist and politically non-assertive.
For centuries, it had been dominated by its clerics, based on the seminaries
at the country’s Shi’ite shrine cities. It had been the brutality
of the Baath regime and – from the perspective of classical Shi’ite
thought - deviant interpretations of the nature of the relations between
the state and religion in neighbouring Iran that had led to a radicalization
of segments of the Iraqi Shi’ite “lay” people. This has
resulted in the erosion of traditional Shi’ite leadership in the aftermath
of the 2003 liberation of the country. The author argues that it would be
crucial for the seminaries and scholars at Najaf to reassert their authority
over the faithful in order to achieve some degree of future political stability
for Iraq.
As classical Shi’ite Islamic thought does not
ascribe to any particular political system or “theory of government”,
quietist Iraqi Shi’ism - within the setting of a secular and multi-denominational
political order - could thus become a viable alternative to the “Khomeinist
model”, a model that is aiming at political domination of the Middle
East by Iran.
Review
“ The appearance of Dr Marcinkowski’s book […] is
[…] extremely timely. It provides a concise yet authoritative introduction
to the history of political involvement by the Shiite ulama of Iraq and
the choices they have made in a succession of turbulent and challenging
circumstances. Comprehension of the current situation is, indeed, impossible
without some knowledge of this history for virtually every element of what
is now underway in Iraq is reminiscent of earlier times: the disruptive
effects of foreign occupation,; divergence of opinion and strategy among
the Shiite religious leaders; and complex relations with neighbouring Iran
and its religious establishment. […] Having established already a
solid reputation as an energetic and talented scholar of the history of
Shiism in Iran, Dr Marcinkowski is indeed well qualified to venture onto
the neighboring territory of Iraq. He is to be commended for having done
so and congratulated on the result. ”
Professor Hamid Algar,
Professor of Islamic Studies and Persian,
University of California at Berkeley, United States,
From his foreword to Religion and Politics in Iraq
Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation, National
Interest and Regional Order, See Seng Tan and Amitav Acharya (eds.). M.E.
Sharpe, 2004
New developments in the Asia-Pacific region call for a review of our current
understanding of the security order there. These developments are forcing
regional elities to rethink and alter, in varying degrees, the way they
manage security issues. Against this backdrop of regional transition, contributors
to this volume explore the following: bilateral security cooperation and
emerging mutlilateral structures; factors needed to develop complementary
relationships between states; and why some forms of security cooperation
and institutionalization in the Asia-Pacific have proved more feasible
than others. The first section of the book provides an overview of evolving
security approaches in the Asia-Pacific region. Part II of the book represents
country-based perspectives on how nine nations in the region have evolved
in their thinking and approach to security management from the Cold War
to the present, including their responses to nontraditional security challenges
such as terrorism.
back to top
Publications 
Regional
institutions are an increasingly prominent feature
of world politics, their characteristics and
performance vary widely: some are highly legalistic
and bureaucratic, while other are informal and
flexible. They also differ in terms of inclusiveness,
decision-making rules, and commitment to the
non-interference principle. This is the first
book to offer a conceptual framework for comparing
the design and effectiveness of regional international
institutions, including the EU,, NATO, ASEAN,
the OAS, the AU and the Arab League. The case
studies, by a group of leading scholars of regional
institutions, offer a rigorous, historically
informed analysis of the differences and similarities
in institutions across Europe, Latin America,
Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The chapters
provide a more theoretically and empirically
diverse analysis of the design and efficacy of
regional institutions than heretofore available.
In
the wake of terrorist attacks including
the London Bombings on 7 July 2005, the
notion of resilience is receiving increased
attention from social scientists. Based
on the Latin word
resilire - meaning to jump back or recoil
- the phenomenon has been applied to the
study of societies' reactions to exogenous
or endogenous shocks. Using the London
bombings as the impetus for reflection,
Social Resilience in Singapore: Reflections
from the London Bombings considers the
concepts of social resilience in a time
where terrorist actions are calculated
not just to do damage and cause harm but
also to rupture the social fabric of pluralistic
societies.
This
present study is an effort to address the
dearth of critical and/or post-positivist
perspectives in security studies of and
about the Asia-Pacific region. It demonstrates
how regional communities of security specialists
and intellectuals, including knowledge
communities such as the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations – Institute
of Strategic and International Studies
and the Council for Security Cooperation
in the Asia-Pacific, have contributed to
just such a state-centric, political image
at the expense of alternative ideas and,
in so doing, have promoted and legitimized
their own identities as authorities on
regional security. This work shows how
post-positivist analysis, contrary to what
its many detractors may think, is neither
prolix nor self-indulgent. Rather, it invites
critical reflection on the conditions that
produce particular ‘urgent questions’ (albeit
at the expense of other questions) of about
international relations, such as the question
of Asia-Pacific regional security.
Period
5 : 
Intelligence
is critical to ensuring national security,
especially with asymmetric threats making
up most of the new challenges. Knowledge,
rather than power, is the only weapon that
can prevail in a complex and uncertain environment
awash with asymmetric threats, some known,
many currently unknown. This book shows how
such a changing national security environment
has had profound implications for the strategic
intelligence requirements of states in the
21st century. The book shows up the fallacy
underlying the age-old assumption that intelligence
agencies must do a better job of connecting
the dots and avoiding future failures. It
argues that this cannot and will not happen
for a variety of reasons. Instead of seeking
to predict discrete future events, the strategic
intelligence community must focus rather
on risk-based anticipatory warnings concerning
the nature and impact of a range of potential
threats. In this respect, the book argues
for a full and creative exploitation of technology
to support - but not supplant - the work
of the strategic intelligence community,
and illustrates this ideal with reference
to Singapore's path-breaking Risk Assessment
and Horizon Scanning (RAHS) program.
Since its emergence in 1998, the concept of
Network Centric Warfare (NCW) has become a central driver behind America’s
military ‘transformation’ and seems to offer the possibility of true integration
between multinational military formations. Even though NCW, or variations on
its themes, has been adopted by many armed services, it is a concept in
operational and doctrinal development. It is shaping not only how militaries
operate, but, just as importantly, what they are operating with, and potentially
altering the strategic landscape.