Diminishing Conflicts In Asia And The Pacific

Since the publication of the 2005 Human Security Report, scholars and policy-makers have debated the causes, interpretation and implications of what the report described as a global decline in armed conflict since the end of the Cold War. Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, this book analyses the causes and patterns of this decline. In few regions has the apparent decline in conflict been as dramatic as in the Asia-Pacific, with annual recorded battle deaths falling in the range of 50 to 75 percent between 1994 and 2004. Drawing on a wide range of case studies, this book looks at internal conflicts based on the mobilization of ethnic and nationalist grievances, which have been the most costly in human lives over the last decade. The book identifies structures, norms, practices and techniques that have either fuelled or moderated conflicts. As such, it is an essential read for students and scholars of international relations, peace and conflict studies and Asian studies.

Civil wars and internal conflicts pose the greatest threat to international peace and security in the twenty-first century. Nowhere is this problem more acute than in East Asia and the Pacific, which has far more of its share of such conflicts. Unraveling Internal Conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific: Incidence, Consequences, and Resolution, edited by Jacob Bercovitch and Karl DeRouen, Jr., is a book of originally commissioned essays on civil wars which provide a compelling area of inquiry. Many of the Asia-Pacific region's wars are very long (such as in Myanmar), some tend to recur (also in Myanmar); some involve religion (Philippines, Thailand), and some (Aceh, Bougainville, East Timor) of the longest have ended in the last few years. In short, the region presents a variety of interesting dynamics that merit close attention in one volume. The aim of Unraveling Internal Conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific is to provide an original look at these civil wars. The unique feature of the book is that it brings a variety of perspectives together into one volume. Bercovitch and DeRouen, Jr., do this in four sections: The first, titled "Security and Internal Conflicts in the Region," is an overview of conflict and conflict management in the region. Section Two is called "Features of Conflict in the Region." Here the authors cover conflict contours, including intractability, conflict resolution, recurrence, and Islam. Section Three, "External Involvement in Regional Conflicts," focuses on third party intervention in regional conflicts. The individual chapters cover mediation, peacekeeping, and other forms of third party involvement. The final section ties the chapters together. Unraveling Internal Conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific: Incidence, Consequences, and Resolution, edited by Jacob Bercovitch and Karl DeRouen, Jr., provides a fresh and comprehensive look at conflict in the part of the world where internal conflict is most prevalent.

This book analyses four major long-standing and intractable conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region (the Korean Peninsula; the Taiwan Strait; the South China Sea (Spratly Islands); and India-Pakistan), and aims to identify the mechanisms used to manage these conflicts. International Conflict in the Asia-Pacific brings together in one volume four major international conflicts that have shaped the region, and studies how they evolved and how best to manage them. The book seeks to find a pattern common to the four conflicts and their management as well as taking note of variations among them, hereby aiming to establish what might be called the 'Asia-Pacific way of managing intractable conflicts'. This book will of much interest to students of international conflict management, Asian politics, security studies and IR in general. Jacob Bercovitch is Professor of International Relations in the Political Science Department at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Widely regarded as one of the most influential scholars in the field of international conflict resolution, he is author of more than 15 books and numerous articles. Mikio Oishi is a Visiting Fellow with the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS), University of Otago and a Research Fellow with Political Science Programme of University of Canterbury.

This book explores theories of conflict and peacebuilding and applies them to case studies from the Asia Pacific region, seeking to shift attention to the inherency of conflict, the constant danger of re-emergence, and the need to establish mechanisms to resolve it. The authors argue that the central focus of peacebuilding should not be state-building per se, but rather the creation of effective mechanisms for peaceful resolution of both past and newly emerging conflicts. To do so, it is important to consider the entire process of creating peace, to contemplate the linkages between conflict, resolution, and post-conflict peacebuilding, rather than focus only on the period of institution-building. Carmela Lutmar is Visiting Lecturer at New York University, USA, and Lecturer in the Division of International Relations in the School of Political Sciences at the University of Haifa, Israel. James Ockey is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

More than 11 years after the 9/11 attacks and 10 years after the October 2002 Bali bombings, the need for a comprehensive assessment of what the countries in Southeast Asia have achieved is overdue. We need to consider whether the strategies against both the domestic and transnational terrorist and extremist threat have been appropriate and have yielded desired results. The aim of this book is to make a comprehensive assessment of the threats of terrorism and extremism in the region and of the policies and practices adopted by the regional countries to counter the same. It is also necessary to evaluate if the region has become a safer place after the decade-long fight. Most importantly, it is time to ask if we need a rethink or develop a new strategy to contain and manage the threats of terrorism and extremism. Contents:Understanding Conflicts in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asian Terrorism: Myths and RealityPolitical Violence and Terrorism in Southeast AsiaMaritime Dimensions of Southeast Asian TerrorismState Responses to Terrorism in Southeast AsiaRegional Response to Terrorism in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asian Terrorism: Quo Vadis? Readership: Security specialists, practitioners of community engagement, psychologists, policy makers, academics and researchers working in the field of security studies. Key Features:The book makes a critical assessment of the threat and response at three levels — strategic, operational and tactical. The imperative of such an assessment stems from the fact that the impact of countermeasures is not uniform on each of the levelsExamines one of the critical fronts in the fight against terrorism and extremism — regional cooperation. Cooperation among the countries in the region is very important given the fact that threats today cross borders and has significant externalities in terms of impact and costsKeywords:Terrorism;Southeast Asia;Regional Cooperation;Radicalization;Political Violence;State Response in South East Asia

Drawing on a rich body of multimethod field research, this book examines the ways in which Indonesian and Philippine religious actors have fostered conflict resolution and under what conditions these efforts have been met with success or limited success. The book addresses two central questions: In what ways, and to what extent, have post-conflict peacebuilding activities of Christian churches contributed to conflict transformation in Mindanao (Philippines) and Maluku (Indonesia)? And to what extent have these church-based efforts been affected by specific economic, political, or social contexts? Based on extensive fieldwork, the study operates with a nested, multi-dimensional, and multi-layered methodological concept which combines qualitative and quantitative methods. Major findings are that church-based peace activities do matter, that they have higher approval rates than state projects, and that they have fostered interreligious understanding. Through innovative analysis, this book fills a lacuna in the study of ethno-religious conflicts. Informed by the novel Comparative Area Studies (CAS) approach, this book is strictly comparative, includes in-case and cross-case comparisons, and bridges disciplinary research with Area Studies. It will be of interest to academics in the fields of conflict and peacebuilding studies, interreligious dialogue, Southeast Asian Studies, and Asian Politics.

The art of successful negotiations over protracted conflicts presupposes a political commitment to peace and a willingness to compromise, which are sorely lacking in the current disorderly world. Part of the blame for this lies in weak and ineffective national and global leadership. This book’s sharp focus on the role of leadership at different levels—national government, rebel and Western/regional government mediators—as well as that of the UN and non-governmental players in settling intra-state disputes, is a unique feature which sets it apart from others. Much of the existing literature does not adequately discuss the role of the above actors in developing countries. Asia’s Trouble Spots is a serious attempt to fill this gap. The seven country studies in Asia—Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and China—discuss, inter alia, how peace negotiations between national political and rebel leaders have unfolded. The role of state-sponsored cross-border terrorists and non-state spoilers such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS is addressed in the context of geopolitical rivalry among regional and global powers. A. S. Bhalla challenges the view that Western leaders can act as impartial mediators in intra-state and inter-state disputes. With few exceptions, their record has been dismal at best. Their failure in conflict resolution arises from a loss of moral authority and credibility, which follows the gradual erosion over the years of such liberal values as the rule of law and respect for democracy and human rights. Commercial and strategic self-interests have also tended to undermine peacebuilding efforts.

This book examines the possibilities and limitations of corporate social responsibility in minimising the violent conflict often associated with natural resource exploitation. Through detailed and penetrating empirical analysis, the author skilfully asks why previous corporate social responsibility practices have not always achieved their aims. This theme is explored though an analysis of two of the most complex and protracted conflicts linked to natural resources in the Asia Pacific region: Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) and West Papua (Indonesia). Drawing on first-hand accounts of corporate executives and communities affected by resource conflict, this book documents the translation of global corporate social responsibility into local peace. Covering topics as diverse as post-colonialism, law, revenue distribution, security, the environment and customary reconciliation, this ambitious text reveals how and why current corporate social responsibility initiatives may be unable to assist extractive companies avoid social conflict. The study concludes that this is attributable to the failure of extractive companies to respond to the social and environmental issues of most concern to local host communities. The idea is that extractive companies could actively contribute to peace building if they were to engage with the interdependencies between business activity and the root causes of conflict. What sets this book apart is that it offers a holistic framework for extractive companies to engage with the complexity of resource conflict. ‘Interdependent Engagement’ is an integrated model of corporate social responsibility that encourages extractive companies to deal with the underlying causes of resource conflict, rather than applying solutions or critiques of their symptoms.