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Volume 13, Number 3, October 2001
Contributors
Caught between National and Human Security: Knowledge and Power in Post-crisis Asia by Anthony Burke
Since the Asian political and economic crisis, traditional concepts and practices of security have come under increasing question. However, there is substantial political and institutional resistance to rethinking national security in favour of human security. This essay addresses recent proposals for a 'reconciliation' of traditional and human security and, though it sees some value in doing so, it also argues that there are important political and conceptual reasons why this may not be possible, or desirable. Crucial here is the way both Asian and Western security policies have combined external defence with repressive approaches to internal security and national integrity. By way of an analysis of the difficulties in transforming security practices in post-Soeharto Indonesia, the essay concludes that operationalizing human security will require a serious commitment to reforming security doctrines, pursuing long-term conflict resolution, and people-centred change in the rules and structure of the global economic system.
Problematizing China's Security: Sociological Insights by Yongjin Zhang
This essay makes problematic China's security concerns by looking at three of the most penetrating and pervasive social experiences in China since 1949: revolution, war, and reform. It argues that these three social processes, interacting with the same processes in international society, have made a special set of social relationships between China and international society. China's understanding of its identity and the Other, as well as the collective identity constructed vis-à-vis China, contributes significantly to China's insecurity complex.
The Politics of Foreign Aid: Counter-Subversion and the Colombo Plan, 1950-1970 by Daniel Oakman
This article explores the role of R. G. Casey, Minister for External Affairs, in the creation of an Australian propaganda strategy. In particular, it examines the way the Colombo Plan came to be used as the principal means to secure defence and foreign policy objectives through cultural, political, and social propaganda. It is argued that a wide gulf exists between the publicly stated objectives of the ambitious aid programme and its privately determined political, cultural, and strategic motivations. An examination of propaganda methods used by the Department of External Affairs allows critical insights into Australia's official approach to engagement with the Asian region during this period . This article aims to deepen our understanding of the relationship between aid and foreign policy and illuminate the complex nature of Australia's engagement with the Asia–Pacific region through its overseas aid initiatives.
Indonesia's Difficult Transition and President Abdurrahman Wahid by Greg Barton
The Arafat Leadership and Its Implications for Peace and Stability by Amnon Varon
Owning Peace Studies by Thomas Weber
Book Reviews