Search

Copyright of Antipode is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Infrastructure has played an agential role in the securitisation of everyday life in the Karakoram high mountains of north Pakistan. Geopolitics bear heavily on this region where Pakistan shares borders with China, with whom it has aligned its foreign and security policy, and with India, with whom Pakistan remains embroiled in a long‐standing territorial dispute. Consequently, in the Karakoram, geopolitical anxieties have reflected inwards onto local populations through both security infrastructure and securitised infrastructure. In this postcolony frontier space, statecraft also frequently bypasses normative legal and administrative structures; such exceptions to normative law and administration have antecedents in colonial statecraft on the territorial margins of empire. This paper also argues that long cycles of military rule have allowed the military to acquire and project technocratic expertise, become custodians of state‐led development, and recently, to assume guardianship of, and to enter into joint financing with China on, construction projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Swiss Political Science Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Critical examinations of the enduring geographical myth of natural borders challenge the technical approach toward borders that tempts us to think about and act in the world in exclusively territorial and geometric terms. Drawing insights from and seeking to contribute to existing literature on the reification, naturalisation, and fetishisation of borders, this two‐part paper presents a unique case study of contingent bordering processes at Mount Changbai/Baekdu in the China–Korea Borderland. The first part investigates the making and remaking of the China–Korea border from the late 17th century to the 20th century, to reveal how the narratives of Mount Changbai/Baekdu as a "holy mountain" and a "natural border" were conceived and imposed to legitimise the Manchu‐Qing Chinese and Chosŏn‐Korean regimes respectively, and how these narratives were challenged and superseded in subsequent social and political circumstances. The second part investigates the complex ways these narratives have been appropriated by examining contemporary bordering processes as revealed in the commodification of mineral water, with a particular focus on the development of two brands of bottled water, one South Korean and one Chinese, both extracted from the Chinese side of Mount Changbai/Baekdu. This paper highlights the distinctiveness of non‐Western border concepts and practices, and the importance of making reference to them when discussing border and territorial issues in specifically Asian contexts with diverse traditions of territorial governance. It also points out the pressing need to investigate the contemporary socio‐economic implications of the complex intertwining of history, memory, and identity in borderlands. This is particularly the case given the surge of domestic and foreign corporate investment flowing into Asia's borderland regions, transforming 20th‐century economic backwaters into 21st‐century hotbeds of resource exploitation and commodity production, even while the "ghosts of borderland's past" continue to bedevil relations between cultures that have no contemporary physical borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As BRICS advances into its second decade of existence, it transitions from a multilateral alignment to bilateral arrangements among the five members. This 'bi‐lateralization' of BRICS expands the 'menu' of the BRICS 'multilateralism à la carte' by allowing members to limit cooperation when their interests diverge and to benefit from collective action through BRICS when their interests converge. This paper argues that, from the standpoint of countries like Brazil, the India–China border dispute and broader competition in the Indo‐Pacific demonstrate the 'bi‐lateralization' of intra‐BRICS relations as they thwart the development of a common narrative on issues like global health, security and trade. Contrarily, the bi‐lateralization of BRICS also gives members more flexibility as they manage various domestic and international challenges, which is crucial for the grouping's survival. The experience of the BRICS‐led New Development Bank (NDB) illustrates how the five countries can still cooperate as a coalition in pursuit of common objectives such as sustainable development and infrastructure. The lack of robust mechanisms to realize these objectives, however, raises questions about NDB's capacity to help BRICS to cooperate more like a community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the important role that courts play to supervise the legality of regulatory agencies' actions, only few comparative studies analyze the contents of judicial appeals against regulatory decisions within European countries. This paper builds on the comparative administrative law scholarship and administrative capacities literature to analyze the content of 2,040 rulings against decisions issued by competition and telecommunications regulators in Spain and the United Kingdom. To understand the substance of the appeals, the study classifies cases according to the alleged administrative principles under breach and the regulatory capacities under challenge. Findings show a clear country‐sector variation regarding the information contained in judicial disputes for both dimensions of analysis, which can be explained as a result of existing differences between the institutional settings of courts. These results offer a more in depth understanding of the political role of judicial oversight over regulatory agencies embedded in different institutional arrangements and policy sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does a small power respond and adjust to a fluid and potentially dangerous strategic balancing by major powers generated by a territorial dispute? This paper observes that notwithstanding the major powers' mistrust, suspicion, and rivalry, such precarious stability in the South China Sea dispute is sustained by a balance-of-power system. This system is an offshoot of the small littoral states' (in this case, the Philippines') policy of engaging the external maritime powers (the United States and Japan) to counter China's heavy-handedness in dealing with this territorial row. Apprehensive of China's claim of sovereignty over the South China Sea, the United States and Japan are increasing their strategic involvement in the maritime territorial row. These developments have transformed the dispute into a case of conflict irresolution. To cope with China's heavy-handedness, the Philippines builds up the deterrence capability of its armed forces and forges security partnerships with the United States and Japan. The Philippines hopes that this move will ensure the maintenance of the status quo in the regional balance of power. In conclusion, the paper considers the Philippines' policy as myopic, since it overlooks the fact that the volatile balance of power situation in the South China Sea might be the proverbial 'calm before the storm.' It is crucial that the Philippines puts its house in order, economically keeps pace with its more dynamic Southeast Asian neighbors, increases its defense spending, formulates a coherent national security strategy, and concentrates on building a credible armed forces to avoid free-riding on its allies, and more importantly, to enable the country to weather the approaching storm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of People & Nature is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Geographer is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper draws on extensive island examples with a view to offer 'creative' solutions to the ongoing dispute over the Diaoyu/Diaoyutai/ Senkaku Islands between China (and Taiwan) and Japan in the East China Sea. In spite of the rhetoric and apparent intractability of island conflicts, there are various examples from the past (and the present) that suggest how island disputes may be decided, and in 'win-win' ways, to the satisfaction of the different parties involved. The resolution of island territorial problems can benefit greatly from a critical appreciation of how other small islands, also contested, have had their situation resolved in non-zero-sum ways. In such cases, sovereignty has been shared, split/divided or expunged; in other cases, sovereignty disputes have been put aside in order to co-develop and co-exploit natural resources. There is also one example of a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of a string of small islands and surrounding waters whose management is shared between three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South China Sea ( SCS) is a conflict-ridden international arena of rivalry between China, the USA, India, and the other ASEAN countries over sovereignty, resources and security. In this geopolitical clash China is the dominant force and Vietnam its main challenger. While most analysts assume that the various claims to the mostly uninhabited islands are motivated by the presence of submarine mineral resources, the conflicts evoke strong nationalist feelings in Vietnam and China, fuelled by narratives of the historical presence of fisheries and navies. By analysing the tension between complex territorial claims, new technologies and forms of knowledge applied by these states to delineate their material borders on the sea and vernacular notions of social space, this paper explores how sovereignty and nationality is enacted on a day-to-day basis. Thus, I argue that maritime territorialisation is a paradox of treating the sea as 'land' produced by the performance of a socially constructed image of the state geo-body capitalising on strong nationalistic sentiments in China and Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues in Australian foreign policy. Topics covered include tensions in the Australia-China bilateral relationship, the struggle of the Australian government with the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump and his decision to impose tariffs on China, and the systemic volatility facing Australian lawmakers in the Indo-Pacific region including China's claim to control South China Sea. The ousting of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is also mentioned.

'Border disputes: Recent debates along the perception-Cognition border' I , Philosophy Compass, i 18(8), e12936. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12936 - Should proponents of a perception-cognition border expect there to be one border or many? How exactly might a perception-cognition border be drawn, and how much indeterminacy between the categories of perception and cognition should a satisfactory account permit? The idea that perception is distinct from cognition is not just intuitive, it is central to countless debates in philosophy and psychology. [Extracted from the article]

When ethnography is used in fields outside anthropology, vignettes often take a central role. Yet methodological discussions of the vignette are not as central to anthropology as their cross‐disciplinary use might warrant. By dwelling on, but perhaps less stringently guarding, disciplinary boundaries, anthropology can gain a clearer view of its own central tools—in this case, vignettes. Reconsidering these tools holds particular relevance for work on refugee studies, an inherently interdisciplinary field that anthropology has had a key role in shaping. Artistic works focused on refugees are considered here from a meta‐ethnographic perspective that pays attention to the processes through which a specific series of artworks were produced alongside their content. Central to this analysis is the role of the vignette in the artist's presentation of her work, which enables an inquiry into the double role of the vignette as both method and presentation in anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study shows how legal evidentiary rules intended to make trials fair also enable biodiversity loss, even in courts charged with environmental protection. The common law is premised on two types of rules. The first, substantive laws, set rules for how society should function—obstructing and punishing some behaviours while enabling and rewarding others. In contrast, procedural laws are intended to level the playing field when there is a dispute over substantive rules during litigation. This case study concerns a routine environmental dispute over land development in Sydney, Australia. It demonstrates how, by enabling courts to determine what evidence will and will not be considered, procedural rules and practices drive substantive outcomes by rendering certain places, dynamics, and connections visible and capable of judicial action while obscuring others. Specifically, the court's efforts to use evidentiary tools to make litigation more efficient drove substantive outcomes in two ways. First, work to narrow evidence to address factual disputes also narrowed the court's geographic scale of analysis to the property boundaries of the site, thus obscuring broader threats to a critically endangered ecological community. Second, these procedural evidentiary decisions drove substantive outcomes undermining biodiversity protection, while concealing their inherently substantive nature. Combined with the tendency of the court to use procedural informality to promote compromise between the parties, and a broader juridical treatment of intact ecological communities as species that can largely be moved at will, the evidentiary rules enabled an environmentally focused court to enable the victory of development over species protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National borderlands as the spatial carrier and forefront for exerting geopolinomical influence and implementing geopolinomical strategy, most have the same or similar eco‐geographical structure characteristics, such as land cover. However, there are different development trends in different national relationships (e.g., cooperation and conflict), and land use and land cover changes (LUCC), especially in apparent in border areas. In general, armed conflict in border areas is accompanied by severe, immediate and long‐lasting LUCC‐like forest loss. Here, by means of geospatial analysis, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program and Climate Change Initiative Land Cover dataset were used to investigate the linkages between the armed conflict and LUCC or the patterns and processes of LUCC before, during and after armed conflict around the globe in borderlands from 1992 to 2020. The main and key insights are: (1) nearly 50% of global armed conflict has occurred and re‐occurred in these borderlands since 1992, leading to about 16.5% of LUCC globally; (2) the impact of armed conflict on LUUC is hysteretic, based on the intensity of conflict, especially in borderlands; (3) the transfer rate of land use is high during the conflict and tends to be stable in the post‐conflict period; (4) the absolute amount of armed conflict damage to forest land is large, but the changes rate of impervious surfaces is far more than the former, nearly 18 times greater. These findings improve the understanding of the impact of armed conflict on LUCC, in border areas. This study could provide a proxy and benchmark for exploring the cause‐effect and impact‐response between geopolinomical relations and the borderlands LUCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like other islands of the Cold War frontier in East Asia, such as Okinawa, Jinmen, and Matsu, the Five West Sea Islands (FWI) of South Korea have been a highly contested frontier of both domestic and inter‐Korean politics. This study views the FWI as a geopolitical imaginary that was constructed during the Cold War and has been sustained throughout the post‐Cold War era. Specifically, we focus on how the South Korean government has constructed the islands in the Yellow Sea into a powerful geopolitical imaginary and linked them with the inter‐Korean border conflicts around the Northern Limit Line (NLL), from the mid‐1970s onwards. We hope that this study will deepen our understanding of how particular geopolitical imaginaries are produced and consolidated. Furthermore, it should help us better grasp how the Cold War order has been sustained, both discursively and materially, in inter‐Korean and East Asian geopolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes how recent fishing disputes involving China and Latin American countries have been reported by local and global media. We conducted content and sentiment analysis of media articles, coding articles according to the sentiment ("positive," "negative," or "neutral") they express toward China and the actions of its fishing fleet, based on the words used to describe the same. We also examined what topics are discussed in different media – issues that are more specific and "local" in nature or broader issues that go beyond specific incidents. According to our findings, Latin American media can be as negative in their reporting on China and Chinese actions as Anglo‐Saxon Western media but tend to focus more on local issues and specific incidents, whereas Anglo‐Saxon Western media are more likely to connect incidents to broader geopolitical issues. Deepening of China‐LAC economic relations have not reduced Latin American media's critical approach toward China. At the same time, the local media remain independent; they do not necessarily reproduce the same frames as global news platforms in their coverage of China. These findings reinforce the idea that LAC broadly does not want to choose sides in the China‐US rivalry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses intellectual property (IP) disputes in investor‐state dispute settlement (ISDS) through the lenses of Third World approaches to international law (TWAIL) and how a reformist TWAIL approach might be used to address the concerns related to IP‐ISDS disputes. It has three objectives. First, to discuss TWAIL and its readings of IP. Using the TWAIL framework, the article illustrates TWAILers' positions on the Agreement on Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) are an ideologist project that aims to transplant IP norms to developing countries and the role of actors, particularly industrialist lobbying in the making of international IP norms. Despite such views, the compromise that was made in the form of TRIPS' flexibilities being threatened by ISDS mechanisms. Thus, the second objective of this article is to demonstrate the implications that recent IP‐related ISDS disputes could potentially undermine the balance achieved through TRIPS. The last objective is to demonstrate how the Global South is regaining its sovereign regulatory control through a reformist approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Antipode is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: This study examines the impact of perceptions of young Indian adults about Chinese products in Indian markets upon their purchase behavior, especially after the border conflict in Doklam. Methodology: We have analyzed data collected from a randomly selected sample of 339 educated urban individuals (18–40 years). Binary logistic regression was conducted to estimate the likelihood of buying Chinese products given their level of acceptance among those respondents who are aware of the Indo‐China conflict. Findings: Young Indians mainly focus on quality and price while purchasing a product, and not the country‐of‐origin (COO). Those who took the social media messages to ban Chinese products seriously, concerned about the dominance of Chinese products in the Indian market, and check if the COO is China demonstrate significantly aversive purchase intention towards Chinese products. On the contrary, the odds of purchase decision making getting influenced by Indo‐China conflict is significantly lower for them who have some preference for Chinese products over its Indian substitutes. Conclusions: Feeling of animosity does not result in considerable hostility against the willingness to buy Chinese products, when price, quality, brand awareness, and non‐availability of appropriate Indian substitutes matter more. However, if the sense of animosity is utilized well, Indian manufacturers, especially the MSME sectors, can gain entrepreneurial opportunities and mileage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a devastating fire in 1698, the site of Whitehall Palace was gradually transformed into an elite residential neighbourhood as courtiers, politicians and wealthy widows competed to acquire building leases on plots of land amid the royal ruins. Despite the insecurity inherent in the Crown lease system, these aristocrats often invested considerable sums in the construction and maintenance of town houses on the site. Scholars have tended to prioritise the experiences of men in relation to this area, but this article shows that a significant proportion of Whitehall's residents were wealthy women. By foregrounding the experiences of these women, it offers a new perspective on both the advantages and challenges associated with inhabiting this richly historic site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on border studies that recognise rebordering practices as ongoing performances of conflict between various actors including state authorities, border security agents, migrants, migrant supporters, smugglers, international organisations, lawyers, advocates and others. We draw attention to variable levels of intensity with which these conflicts are performed and the impact they have on migrants' ability to exercise their agency. We understand intensity to mean not merely the emotional discursive environment in which these conflicts unfold, and the pressure tactics used by at least some parties, but, more importantly, the speed of the responses by all actors involved in this border performance. Focusing on rebordering practices at the US--Mexico borderlands in 2018 and 2019 adopted in response to new forms of mobility, we characterise these years as a period of high intensity, when rapidly changing policies provoked immediate responses by migrants, and equally speedy counter-responses by other actors, particularly the US and Mexican administration. We suggest that the volatile architecture of border control in the US--Mexico borders has rendered many strategies employed by Central American migrants to overcome obstacles and create innovative solutions virtually ineffective. The article is based on an ethnographic study carried out between early May and mid-August 2019 in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses whether BRICS, a leading global governance mechanism, can revive multilateralism, international law and interstate cooperation while providing stability at the global, regional and bilateral level. BRICS has created opportunities for addressing three core themes: politics and security; economics and finance; and humanitarian cooperation. It has evolved into an entity of like‐mined countries, which connects people through vertical and horizontal ties, delivers impactful projects and builds friendships. BRICS interconnectedness keeps the group intact from issues such as China‐India border conflict that could potentially disrupt BRICS unity. Moreover, the group was not designed to serve as a mediating body and clearly avoids being drawn into internal BRICS conflicts. To reach its full potential, BRICS must continue to expand the scale of cooperation in mutually beneficial issue areas and serve as a platform for cooperative projects for its citizens. The most important fact is that BRICS has been created as a living organism. It requires that absolutely all segments of all the five countries' societies get involved and integrated with each other and that each decision either at the Summit or among the activities during the year contributes to an uninterrupted and efficient functioning of this organism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores place‐making in post‐conflict resource landscapes by elaborating on the concept of frontier construction. Much of resource frontier literature examines conflicts over access to land and resources, but very few studies look at how places emerge through the process of frontier‐making. This article provides an in‐depth analysis of place‐making in Northwest Cardamom region, a former battlefield and ex‐Khmer Rouge stronghold, where the current socio‐spatial relationships are formed by the competing access to land and resources. I argue that the formation of place in post‐war resource landscapes is the creation of frontiers where the relationship between local people and landscapes are formed through the reinforcing imagination of resource landscapes as wastelands. Everyday socio‐spatial relationships in resource frontiers are established through three tensions: (1) socio‐ecological intensity, (2) social confrontation, and (3) local vs state territorial contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the following article, borders become an epistemology for reading the social and political history of settler geographies, and their particular manifestation in the southern Naqab region of Israel. It takes as its starting point the idea that borders are activated in an assemblage of encounters; and that they act as markers, not only of the power of the settler state to rupture and control indigenous life and mobility, but of the multiple resistances that divert, disrupt and unsettle settler movements and spaces. Based on more than three years of fieldwork with the Unrecognised Bedouin‐Palestinian communities of the Naqab, the article investigates the significance of borders in spaces the state has conceived and structured as empty and dead. In exploring the multiple modes of resistance and resilience that constitute Bedouin struggles for recognition in Israel, it finds relevance in the lines they carve out, and the living spaces that persist and evolve in their shadows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Japan disputes the sovereignty of two islands: Senkaku/Diaoyu with China and Takeshima/Dokdo with South Korea. These disputes have triggered political performances. In August 2012, Chinese activists landed on Senkaku/Diaoyu, and South Korean politicians landed on Takeshima/Dokdo. The group threat theory suggests that these events constitute threats to Japanese citizens, which lead to negative attitudes towards these countries. The theory also expects personal variations in the reactions to the threats, and the empirical findings of the theory predict an improvement in the worsened attitudes immediately after the event. Drawing on a Japanese social survey that was conducted every month for the two years during which these landing events occurred, I tested the effect of the events on Japanese attitudes towards China and South Korea in a natural experimental framework. The results show that the events negatively impacted Japanese attitudes towards both countries. However, contrary to the expectations of the group threat theory, individual variations (i.e., socioeconomic status, media exposure, and political orientation) in the responses to the events are not supported. Additionally, the attitudes do not return to preevent levels for one year. The contradictions between previous studies and this study potentially originate from the importance of the territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Asian Politics & Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the political role of coalition forces in Syria including the U.S. in reclaiming the city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Topics include the marginalization of Sunni members that led to the rise of ISIS in Iraq, the rule of president Nouri al-Maliki and disbanding of the Sunni Sahwa Forces. Also cited are the Sunni Nineveh Provincial Council (NPC), Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and failure of Article 40 on issues of disputed territories.

Why has the Senkaku/Diaoyu territorial dispute escalated recurrently? This study examines the sources of the 2010 and 2012 escalations in territorial disputes over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. We review existing explanations and their limitations and introduce new hypotheses based on the effect of political leaders' interests in the escalation of territorial disputes. We argue that when competition among leaders intensifies or leaders' political vulnerability increases, it is more likely that leaders who are seeking to retain or take office will behave more assertively in claiming rights over territories; therefore, a territorial dispute is more likely to escalate. We find that when Japanese leaders have needed to strengthen their political position during elections, they have adopted aggressive strategies in the dispute to avoid criticism from both the public and political oppositions about their weak postures against China. In China, the succession process has intensified political struggles and has led leaders to pursue a hardline policy with respect to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute. The Chinese government and the media have also fueled anti-Japanese protests to increase internal cohesion for successful leadership transition. This study not only provides a domestic political explanation for the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute, but also serves as supporting evidence or process tracing for the theoretical proposition that leadership change is associated with the escalation of territorial disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses to what extent the mechanism of the coalition conflict model of executive-legislative relations can account for the extent and policy direction of parliamentary control over domestic transposition, focusing on EU migration law. Our empirical approach is based on an in-depth cross-country comparison of the transposition of the Returns Directive in Austria, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. We find that in all four countries the legislatures left their marks on the final laws, and the policy direction of amendments was largely in line with the predictions of the model. Yet, the policy adjustments were not always triggered by coalition partners correcting ministerial drift, but also by factions within the ministerial party, and by opposition parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the reality of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Topics discusses include the sovereignty in the Chinese media, bargaining in territorial disputes, and Chinese resistance to the enforcement of sovereignty in the Philippine. Information regarding the presence of the U.S. in the sea lines of communication (SLOC) in the South China Sea is also provided.

An introduction to articles published within the issue is presented, including one by Edyta Roszko on the conflict between China and Vietnam over South China Sea, another by Ryerson Christie on Cambodia's state education as a key realm for exercising nation-state sovereignty and control, and one on the cell phone use of young people to perform their identities.

This article presents the African Diaspora Dialogue Project ( ADDP), a five-year capacity-building project that conducted needs assessment, dialogue groups, dialogue facilitator training, and community-led peace-building processes for multiple refugee communities from Africa. ADDP, conducted in the United States, was created to address historical grievances that had traveled with community members into the diaspora. Particular challenges facing refugee communities were addressed, culturally congruent peace-building models were developed and implemented, and participants were trained to become community facilitators. A framework for dialogue was developed as well as lessons learned so that other communities may consider embarking on similar processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on whether territorial disputes and religious wars moved the world from a post-war into a pre-war. It mentions that events in Syria and Iraq suggest that the Middle East could be in for upheaval and carnage as great as anything the Balkans saw. China has emerged as a major economic power in the last 30 years and has opt to invest an increasing share of its growing wealth in military spending like Germany in 1914.