Academic Articles in 4th week of Nov 2013

Here is a list of articles published in the last week of November.

• Buendia, Rizal G. "Now It Can Be Told: Shadow of Memories and Skeletons." Philippine Political Science Journal 34, no. 2 (2013/12/01 2013): 199-216.

Writing a review of memories of people that you know, people you have worked with, and people you have lived with before, during, and after the dark years of martial law is not easy. It is sometimes difficult to disassociate one's personal attachments to some of the authors of books and articles from one’s attempt to disinterestedly examine memories of political contestation in the past. Reading Tibak Rising: Activism in the Days of Martial Law. Doc Prudente: Nationalist Educator. and Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years brings back memories of the harsh and dangerous experiences under martial rule and the Communist Party of the Philippines, and evokes deep emotions of my ow n struggle for freedom and democracy.

• Contreras, Antonio P. "Everyday University Politics in the Philippines: A Tale of Two Universities." Philippine Political Science Journal 34, no. 2 (2013/12/01 2013): 170-87.

Abstract
The experience of the two universities presented in this article provides evidence to the proliferation of contestations for power in modern universities, including those in the Philippines. This can be analyzed in the context of ordinary resistance and everyday politics where architectures of power deployed by university administrators tend to both constrain and enable political action. This occurs even as human agents offer their transgressions by deploying forms of localized resistance that may appear petty and mundane but has the power to reinforce the self-identification of its bearers. Indeed, this is enabled by the fact that the university is now normalized into simply another place of work, and where knowledge is no longer produced for knowledge's sake only, but as a collateral benefit in a political economy of symbols, narratives, images, and commodities. Thus, this article shows that in late capitalism the university has become just another place for performativity and simulacra.

• De Castro, Renato Cruz. "China and Japan in Maritime Southeast Asia: Extending Their Geo-Strategic Rivalry by Competing for Friends." Philippine Political Science Journal 34, no. 2 (2013/12/01 2013): 150-69.

Abstract
This article examines the expansion of the geo-strategic rivalry between China and Japan into maritime Southeast Asia. This rivalry is reflected concretely in their policies, in their positions, and actions on the South China Sea dispute. Likewise, the article analyzes this rivalry on maritime security in Southeast Asia and then concludes that this increasing hostility not only strains the relations between these two East Asian powers but might also threaten the survival of ASEAN as a loose association of small Southeast Asian powers.

• Gonzalez, Eduardo T. "Career Bureaucracy and Technocracy in the Philippines: From Authoritarian Construction to Democratic Deconstruction." Philippine Political Science Journal 34, no. 2 (2013/12/01 2013): 134-49.

Abstract
Set in the wider historical context of a country in severe political crisis at the beginning of the 1970s, the Career Executive Service (CES)—the managerial class in the Philippine civil service—began as an authoritarian construction within the political and institutional structure of the martial law regime. Because Philippine post-war state-building was accompanied by a weak central civil service, the CES became indispensable in promoting an entrepreneurial administrative culture which emphasized quality of innovativeness or risk-taking and senior-level teamwork within a bureaucracy that was professionally subservient to a technocratic elite, apart from providing the regime with a progressive civilian image. Insulated from power politics, the CES nevertheless became a closed merit-based system co-existing with a clientelist structure inhabited by rent-seeking coalitions outside it. Under the restored nominal democratic system in 1986, the CES underwent deconstruction, but still preserved the boundary between expertise and management. Today, however, the new administration is “reconstructing” the career service program with a new mix of qualities and skills that may actually blur the borders between expertise, political engagement and administration, in the hope of opening doors to authentic democratic practice and accountability.

• Ronas, Malaya C. "The Philippines in 2012: Pursuit of Good Governance, Improved Business Confidence, Strained Relations with China." Philippine Political Science Journal 34, no. 2 (2013/12/01 2013): 188-98.

Abstract
The year 2012 saw President Benigno Simeon Aquino III continue the firm pursuit of his program of good governance. The removal from office of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, the arrest and detention of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the filing of formal charges against her relatives and political associates, the dismissal of Aquino's own appointees for alleged corrupt practices, and efforts to make government transactions transparent were among the significant indicators of the administration's efforts toward good governance. The determined pursuit of good governance has established a widely acknowledged positive business environment for the country. The year 2012 also saw the passage of two landmark act of legislation: the Sin Tax Reform Law and the Reproductive Health Law.

• Daromir Rudnyckyj (2013). From Wall Street to Halal Street: Malaysia and the Globalization of Islamic Finance. The Journal of Asian Studies, 72, pp 831-848.
  doi:10.1017/S0021911813001630.

Abstract
Malaysia's plans to become a transnational hub for Islamic finance represent an effort to mobilize religion to create new global networks for the circulation of capital. This article first contextualizes such efforts within the broader contours of Malaysia's political history, addressing the classification of ethnicity and religion by both the colonial and postcolonial states. The article describes how Islamic finance is defined by practitioners in Malaysia and explains the key features they invoke to distinguish it from what they call “conventional finance”. Finally, it identifies the steps undertaken by the state to make the country a global center of Islamic finance. As the recent financial crises have shaken confidence in North Atlantic financial systems, Malaysia is geographically and culturally well-positioned between two emergent economic regions currently at the forefront of global economic growth.

• Eve Monique Zucker (2013). Trauma and Its Aftermath: Local Configurations of Reconciliation in Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The Journal of Asian Studies, 72, pp 793-800.
  doi:10.1017/S0021911813001125.

Abstract
“I wish for you two boys and two girls,” the elderly man pronounced. He was addressing both myself and my fiancé as he reached out to shake our hands as we were leaving his traditional wooden house. He had told us earlier that he spends his days in this late chapter of his life enjoying his grandchildren and tending his vegetable plot. Now at the door ready to leave I hesitated, not wanting to extend my hand, but then I did so anyway. This grandfather was Nuon Chea, “Brother Number Two” of Cambodia's notorious Khmer Rouge regime, officially known as Democratic Kampuchea (1975–79). The year was 2002. My fiancé, a cameraman, was working with reporter and author Tom Fawthrop on a documentary about former Khmer Rouge leaders' evasion of justice and I had been invited to come along.

• Kheang Un (2013). The Khmer Rouge Tribunal: A Politically Compromised Search for Justice. The Journal of Asian Studies, 72, pp 783-792.
  doi:10.1017/S0021911813001101.

Abstract
In 1993, Cambodian history turned a very significant corner with the promulgation of a new liberal constitution aimed at moving the country forward from its turbulent past. Many challenges remained, however; one of which was how to deal with the most horrific crimes of the “despicable Pol Pot” regime (1975–79)—as Cambodians called it—during which the radical pursuit of utopian revolutionary ideas cost roughly two million Cambodians their lives. Searching for mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes is seldom simple, as this essay, an assessment of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal twenty years on from the founding of the new Cambodian state and thirty-four years after the fall of the Pol Pot regime, attests. The Khmer Rouge Tribunal, whose formal name is the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), was established in 2006, providing the first hope that Khmer Rouge leaders would finally be brought to justice and held to account for their hideous crimes.

• Tham, Siew Yean. "Malaysia in the Midst of Global Economic Uncertainties."  ISEAS Working Paper 2013, no. 4 (2013).
  http://www.iseas.edu.sg/documents/publication/iseas_working_paper_tham_siew_yean.pdf

Abstract:
Malaysia has successfully weathered the storms of the global financial crisis (GFC) by utilizing expansionary monetary and fiscal policies as well specific targeted macro-prudential measures. Growth recovered a year after the GFC, with increasing domestic consumption taking up the slack in external demand. This has been achieved with low domestic inflation and unemployment. Moving forward, there are several structural issues that need to be addressed for sustaining post GFC growth. First, while rebalancing growth from export dependency for generating growth has been the clarion call since the GFC, it is important to note that Malaysia is a small open economy, unlike large countries. Increasing the contributions of domestic consumption can only be sustain- able if private savings are large and social safety nets are in place. Alternatively, high incomes sustained by high productivity growth can also be used to fuel private consumption. Since this is not yet the case in Malaysia, the performance of net exports will continue to play an important role in determining future growth. In this matter, the contribution of investment to growth has to be improved in order to enhance the competitiveness of Malaysia’s exports of goods and services. This in turn depends on the ability to increase labour productivity in both sectors, attracting the right talents that can facilitate the shift to a knowledge- and innovation-based economy as well as the phasing out of the dependency on unskilled foreign workers. The immediate policy considerations include timing the exit of loose monetary policy while cutting down the fiscal deficit as targeted. Medium and longer term measures include a stricter adherence to fiscal consolidation, reducing household debt and navigating the shift to a service-oriented economy.

• Pál, Nyíri. "New Chinese Immigration and Capital in Cambodia."  ISEAS Perspective 62(2013). Published electronically Nov 25, 2013.
  http://www.iseas.edu.sg/documents/publication/iseas_perspective_2013_62_new_chinese_immigration_and_capital_in_cambodia.pdf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
- The present wave of Chinese migrants into Cambodia began in the early 1990s, and was made up of petty traders and service entrepreneurs exploiting the demand for low-priced Chinese consumer goods in Cambodia. These began to taper off in the 2000s with living standards in China rising. Profits had also begun to decline due to market saturation and increased competition from Chinese-Cambodians.
- The second-largest group of Chinese migrants comprise of middle management staff, technical personnel and foremen at garment factories. Garment manufacturing is Cambodia’s preeminent industry and makes up 80 per cent of total exports.
- Young Chinese professionals fluent in Mandarin and English, some educated abroad, also make up a growing share of the regional labour force in international accounting and law firms. Some have established real estate agencies, investment consultancies, and other businesses whose main function is to locate investment opportunities or broker deals for investors in China.

• Jonathan Haughton, Shahidur R. Khandker, The Surprising Effects of the Great Recession: Losers and Winners in Thailand in 2008–09, World Development, Volume 56, April 2014, Pages 77-92, ISSN 0305-750X,
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.10.018.(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X13002301)

Abstract:
The “great recession” of 2008–09 affected Thailand significantly, reducing exports by 19% and tourist arrivals by 14%. Yet monthly survey data show, after controlling for household variables, that real consumption per capita rose in 2009 relative to 2008 for most groups, including the poor, and urban and rural households. Losers included some residents of Bangkok, especially those aged 20–29. Nationally, school enrollment rates did not fall, and durables purchases rose. A simulation exercise based on the drop in GDP would have missed these effects. Hence the importance of country-specific policy analysis, rooted in timely local evidence.

• Carlyle A. Thayer. "ASEAN, China and the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea." SAIS Review of International Affairs 33, no. 2 (2013): 75-84.
  DOI:10.1353/sais.2013.0022
  http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/sais_review/v033/33.2.thayer.html

Abstract:
This article provides an overview of diplomatic efforts by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China to reach an agreement on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. The article covers the period from 1992, when ASEAN issued its first statement of concern on the South China Sea, to September 2013 when the two sides commenced formal consultations on the Code of Conduct. The article concludes that the process is likely to be protracted if not interminable.

• Vongvisouk, Thoumthone, Ole Mertz, Sithong Thongmanivong, Andreas Heinimann, and Khamla Phanvilay. "Shifting cultivation stability and change: Contrasting pathways of land use and livelihood change in Laos." Applied Geography 46 (2014): 1-10.
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622813002452

Abstract
Rural areas in Laos are experiencing a rapid transformation from traditional rice-based shifting cultivation systems to more permanent and diversified market-oriented cultivation systems. The consequences of these changes for local livelihoods are not well known. This study analyzes the impact of shifting cultivation change on the livelihood of rural people in six villages in three districts of northern and central Laos. Focus group discussions and household interview questionnaires were employed for data collection. The study reveals that the shifting cultivation of rice is still important in these communities, but it is being intensified as cash crops are introduced. Changes in shifting cultivation during the past ten years vary greatly between the communities studied. In the northern study sites, it is decreasing in areas with rubber expansion and increasing in areas with maize expansion, while it is stable in the central site, where sugarcane is an important cash crop. The impacts of land use change on livelihoods are also diverse. Cash crop producers hold more agricultural land than non-cash crop producers, and rubber and sugarcane producers have fewer rice shortages than non-producers. In the future, livelihood improvements in the central study site may be replicated in the northern sites, but this depends to a large extent on the economic and agricultural settings into which cash crops and other development opportunities are introduced. Moreover, the expansion of cash crops appears to counteract Lao policies aimed at replacing shifting cultivation areas with forests. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

• Sin, Harng Luh, and Claudio Minca. "Touring responsibility: The trouble with ‘going local’in community-based tourism in Thailand." Geoforum 51 (2014): 96-106.
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718513002285

Abstract
This paper discusses the question of responsibility with reference to community-based tourism. Local communities are often presented by the tourist industry as an inherent value to recognize and protect. Tourists visiting distant places are thus frequently exhorted to 'go local' through having a 'real' experience with local people and communities; they are also invited to behave responsibly and to appreciate the value of responsible management. In this article, we reflect on the consequences of the 'contact zone' produced by these trends and, more in general, on the rapid changes that the label 'responsible tourism' is generating in the ways that many travelers approach the experience of local communities and their lifestyles. We do so, by analyzing an Elephant Camp in Thailand, where tourists spend periods being involved in life of the camp and the management of the elephants. The tourists at the Elephant camp indeed show how this approach to travel often becomes an imbroglio of detachment and involvement, of paternalistic protection and mutual exploitation, of generosity and hospitality, but also of corruption and self-interest. All in all, we present the Elephant Camp as a laboratory for reflecting on how questions of responsibility towards distant people and places, especially when actually enacted in place - which is what tourism does - often become a complicated affair, which is at the origin of new opportunities but also new tensions, of learning and but also misunderstandings, of neo-colonial practices but also of actual support to the local economy. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

• Quyet Manh Vu, Quang Bao Le, Emmanuel Frossard, Paul L.G. Vlek, Socio-economic and biophysical determinants of land degradation in Vietnam: An integrated causal analysis at the national level, Land Use Policy, Volume 36, January 2014, Pages 605-617
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.10.012. 

Abstract:
Recognizing the socio-economic and biophysical causes of land degradation at the national level is important for cause-targeted strategies when designing policies for combating land degradation. This study aims to identify the biophysical and socio-economic factors that significantly affect land degradation across Vietnam and to interpret the causalities underlying the effects. The dependent variables considered in the study are spatial, the extent and intensity of degradation in three land-use zones (agriculture, forest and severely degraded abandonment). The hypothesized explanatory variables are common economic and demographic drivers and bio-physical factors such as soil, terrain constraints, and neighborhood land-use structures that are often neglected in many large-scale land degradation assessments. Instead of using a single inferential statistic technique, we used multi-linear regression and binary logistic regression in a complementary manner to increase the detectability and credibility of the degradation cause analyses. The results showed agricultural production growth had strong and consistent effects on land degradation extent and intensity. Population growth, especially in rural areas, had a strong effect on the extent of overall land degradation. The importance of a neighboring forest was revealed for its ability to reduce land degradation intensity in abandoned, unproductive lands. The concrete faceting of the causal analysis for each land-use zone as social–ecological stratum allowed us to combine the defined social–ecological contexts, contemporary theories, and hypotheses in the field to clarify the causal factors of a complex phenomenon like land degradation. The study demonstrates these contemporary inferential statistics can be complementarily used to sufficiently detect and understand land degradation causes at the national level. The results suggest implications for national land management policy: internalizing land degradation costs in the farming system evaluation for payment for ecosystem services policy, restricting forest conversion, and improving extension services and education in agrarian communities.

• Sloan, Sean. "Indonesia's moratorium on new forest licenses: An update." Land Use Policy 38 (2014): 37-40.
  DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.10.018

Abstract
In 2011 Indonesia decreed a moratorium on forest licenses over 69. million hectares (Mha) in order to suspend haphazard forest exploitation. However, only ~12-22. Mha were actually afforded new protection from licensing. Herein I observe a further 5.5. Mha of moratorium area overlapping forest licenses and therefore subject to excisement from the moratorium. These 5.5. Mha, like the 4.5. Mha excised from the moratorium to date, are not readily explicable outside of small government committees. This highlights the quasi-transparency of the mapping process: the moratorium map is widely disseminated, yet its base data and decisions made on their basis are guarded. Implementing ministries seek to comply with reforms while simultaneously protecting their administrations from upset - an ultimately compromised position with tangible implications. This has undermined acceptance by the inherently sceptical Indonesian conservation community; yet its highly critical 'watch dog' role has ironically contributed by heightening government wariness. The way out of this dynamic is for the ministries to render all data public and, critically, be prepared to weather the inevitable wave of data-fuelled attack for the public good. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

• Sin, Harng Luh, and Claudio Minca. "Touring responsibility: The trouble with ‘going local’ in community-based tourism in Thailand." Geoforum 51 (2014): 96-106.
  DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.10.004

Abstract
This paper discusses the question of responsibility with reference to community-based tourism. Local communities are often presented by the tourist industry as an inherent value to recognize and protect. Tourists visiting distant places are thus frequently exhorted to 'go local' through having a 'real' experience with local people and communities; they are also invited to behave responsibly and to appreciate the value of responsible management. In this article, we reflect on the consequences of the 'contact zone' produced by these trends and, more in general, on the rapid changes that the label 'responsible tourism' is generating in the ways that many travelers approach the experience of local communities and their lifestyles. We do so, by analyzing an Elephant Camp in Thailand, where tourists spend periods being involved in life of the camp and the management of the elephants. The tourists at the Elephant camp indeed show how this approach to travel often becomes an imbroglio of detachment and involvement, of paternalistic protection and mutual exploitation, of generosity and hospitality, but also of corruption and self-interest. All in all, we present the Elephant Camp as a laboratory for reflecting on how questions of responsibility towards distant people and places, especially when actually enacted in place - which is what tourism does - often become a complicated affair, which is at the origin of new opportunities but also new tensions, of learning and but also misunderstandings, of neo-colonial practices but also of actual support to the local economy. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

• Tanaka, K. and Tsubota, K. (2013), Does Aid for Roads Attract Foreign or Domestic Firms? Evidence from Cambodia. The Developing Economies, 51: 388–401.
  doi: 10.1111/deve.12027

Abstract
Less developed countries have received substantial foreign aid for transport infrastructure, making its quantitative assessment important. To investigate the effect of aid for road infrastructure on the location of foreign and domestic firms, this study employs the first comprehensive census on all business establishments in Cambodia for 2011 and measures the geographical distribution of aid disbursements in roads. Estimating a negative binomial model, we find that aid disbursements in roads have little influence on the entry of foreign and domestic firms across communes. Compared with the aid effect, the location of firms is more strongly influenced by other determinants such as population size, electricity access, and labor supply.

• Burns, Adam D. "Adapting to Empire: William H. Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Philippines, 1900‐08." Comparative American Studies 11, no. 4 (2013): 418-433.
  DOI: 10.1179/1477570013Z.00000000052

Abstract
Following the Spanish-American War of 1898, the USA became a true, European-style imperial power, with overseas colonies populated by diverse peoples with few - if any - connections to American culture and history. The wide-ranging imperial debate that followed 1898 brought two future US presidents firmly to the fore: the New York politician and war hero, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Ohio judge, William H. Taft. This article explores the complex development of these two politicians' views on the Philippines during this period of imperial rule. Roosevelt began the period as an ardent imperialist and changed his views to reflect a change in US public opinion and strategic concerns. Conversely, Taft began by being a sceptic about US imperialism but ultimately became one of the most ardent retentionists. This article not only charts their paths to convergence and then their subsequent divergence in attitude towards Philippines policy, but also brings to light the much underestimated role that Taft played in keeping Roosevelt from moving the Republican Party away from its policy of retaining control of the islands. Although many historians see Taft as a loyal servant of Roosevelt's vision for the USA prior to 1909, this article argues that, when it came to the Philippines, Taft was actually the key driver of US policy throughout this period. © W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2013.

• Cuong, Nguyen Viet. "The Impact of Social Security on Household Welfare: Evidence from a Transition Country." European Journal of Development Research (2013).
  DOI: 10.1057/ejdr.2013.11

Abstract
Although there is no doubt that social security can help poverty reduction, its effect on poverty reduction can vary for different situations. This article uses fixed effects regression to estimate the effect of social security transfers including contributory pensions and social allowances on the consumption expenditure of the receiving households in Vietnam. The article also investigates the effect of social security transfers on poverty in Vietnam. It is found that both pensions and social allowances increase expenditure of households, especially expenditure on nonfood consumption. Pensions and social allowances reduce poverty of both the recipients and the whole population. © 2013 European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes.

• Noor, Noraini M., and Azlin Alwi. "Stressors and well‐being in low socio‐economic status Malaysian adolescents: The role of resilience resources." Asian Journal of Social Psychology 16, no. 4 (2013): 292-306.
  DOI: 10.1111/ajsp.12035

Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between stressors, resilience resources, and well-being in adolescents with low socio-economic status in Malaysia. The specific aims were: (i) to differentiate between resilient and non-resilient adolescents in terms of their resilience resources; and (ii) to examine the role of resilience resources on the relationship between stressors and well-being. In a sample of 197 adolescents aged 12-16 years (mean=13.77, sd=1.49), results of the k-mean clustering technique identified 37.5% of the adolescents as resilient (high stressor, high well-being), 31.0% as maladjusted (high stressor, low well-being), and the rest, adapted (low stressor, high well-being). Resilient adolescents were found to have significantly higher scores on all the identified resilience resources (personality, mother-child communication, social support, school coherence, and teacher support) compared to the non-resilient maladjusted group. Results of structural equation modelling also showed that these resilience resources acted both as mediator and moderator in the relationship between stressors and well-being. These findings are discussed with respect to the current literature on resilience and well-being. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and the Japanese Group Dynamics Association.

• JONES, LEE. "Sovereignty, intervention, and social order in revolutionary times."Review of International Studies 39, no. 05 (2013): 1149-1167.
  DOI: 10.1017/S0260210513000259

Abstract
This article explores how sovereignty and (non-)intervention are implicated in the (re)production of specific social orders. Sovereignty and the non-interference principle circumscribe 'domestic' politics from 'the international', defining who is legitimately included or excluded from the struggles that determine political and social orders. State managers seek to admit forces and resources favourable to the order they are seeking to create, whilst excluding those deleterious to it. In revolutionary periods, however, these attempts to 'cage' social relations often crumble as transnational forces engage in fierce, multifaceted conflicts overlapping territorial borders. In such circumstances, both norms of non-interference and practices of intervention may be used by dominant forces to help contain the spread of sociopolitical conflict and to strengthen their hand in the struggle to (re)define social order. Sovereignty regimes are thus shaped by the strategies and ideologies of the various social groups locked in conflict at a particular historical moment. This argument is illustrated through the case of Cold War Southeast Asia, where sovereignty and intervention were both used to stabilise capitalist social order and curtail transnational, radical threats from below. Copyright © British International Studies Association 2013.

• Wan, Ching, and Pony Yuen‐Ga Chew. "Cultural knowledge, category label, and social connections: Components of cultural identity in the global, multicultural context." Asian Journal of Social Psychology 16, no. 4 (2013): 247-259.
  DOI: 10.1111/ajsp.12029

Abstract
Cultural identity refers to the psychological connection between an individual's self and a culture. In this paper, we identify three components that make up an individual's cultural identity - cultural knowledge, category label, and social connections. The cultural knowledge component connects an individual with a culture through the individual's direct endorsement of what are widely known to be the culture's central characteristics. The category label component connects an individual with a culture through the individual's depersonalized membership in a cultural collective. The social connections component connects an individual with a culture through networks of specific social relationships. The three components are conceptually distinct, and yet may have interconnections in influencing the development of cultural identity. We examine the implications of the three components on cultural identification processes in the context of multiculturalism and global cultural contact. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and the Japanese Group Dynamics Association.

• Ahmad, Syed Zamberi. "Foreign multinational banking in Malaysia: trends, motives and activities." Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration 5, no. 2 (2013): 135-156.
  DOI: 10.1108/17574321311321612

Abstract
Purpose - The aim of this paper is to analyse and examine the factors affecting the international expansion and market entry of foreign multinational banks (MNBs) in Malaysia. While relevance of the theoretical perspectives is highlighted, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the present-day phenomenon of emerging multinational banks.
Design/methodology/ approach - The paper employs multi-method approaches combining both questionnaires survey data and qualitative interviews.
Findings - The findings reveal the fact that profitability, trade financing, following the customers, diversifying the risk and pursuing new market opportunities are among important factors for the presence of foreign banks in the country.
Research limitations/implications - The paper highlights relevance of further research on multinational banking and outlines research avenues.
Practical implications - The paper offers important insight and practical implications for local regulators and policy makers and bankers to understand the behaviour of foreign multinational banking in emerging markets.
Originality/value - The objective of this paper is to fill in some gaps in the literature regarding this research area. The paper provides preliminary research evidence and a framework to suggest hypotheses for further research. © Copyright - 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.

• ROBINSON, DANIEL F. "Legal Geographies of Intellectual Property,‘Traditional’Knowledge and Biodiversity: Experiencing Conventions, Laws, Customary Law, and Karma in Thailand." Geographical Research 51, no. 4 (2013): 375-386.
  DOI: 10.1111/1745-5871.12022

Abstract
This article explores the existence of customary laws relating to 'traditional' knowledge of plants in Thailand through micro-ethnographic case studies. This is juxtaposed against global and national frameworks of intellectual property laws that have a privatising effect on knowledge under the rubric of discovery or 'invention', as well as liability rights approaches of compensation and benefit-sharing for research access. By understanding scale and legal jurisdiction as socially and politically constructed phenomena, we explore how laws at different scales and in different jurisdictions may override each other, discriminate against foreign laws and practices, and ignore customary laws. In doing so, the paper presents complex legal geographies of plants and associated knowledge, which suggest that the customary laws and norms of Indigenous groups and traditional healers are often ignored by 'outsiders'. The paper notes that the possibility of 'injury' to traditional healers remains considerable without appropriate consent and given the discriminations surrounding knowledge made by patent laws. However, the ethnographies also point to the possibility of local remedies to these injuries through ritual processes, and we note resistant co-constitutions of law and scale through the Nagoya Protocol. © 2013 Institute of Australian Geographers.

• Jaclyn Ling-Chien Neo. "Calibrating Interpretive Incorporation: Constitutional Interpretation and Pregnancy Discrimination Under CEDAW." Human Rights Quarterly 35, no. 4 (2013): 910-934.
  DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2013.0060

Abstract
The success of implementing human rights treaties is often dependent on a country's national laws and local conditions. There is an implementation gap in dualist regimes where courts do not implement human rights treaty provisions because they have not been domesticated by a legislative (or other necessary) incorporating act. Interpretive incorporation is a judicial trend that seeks to mitigate this strict separatist view. This article examines the use of interpretive incorporation in Malaysia to incorporate CEDAW's prohibition against pregnancy discrimination through constitutional interpretation. It calibrates the outcomes of interpretive incorporation based on the status judges effectively give to unincorporated human rights treaties. Finally, the article reflects on some of the continuing local constraints on interpretive incorporation. © 2013 by Johns Hopkins University Press.

• McDevitt, Teresa M., Chelsie A. Hess, Mantmart Leesatayakun, Eugene P. Sheehan, and Kimberly A. Kaufeld. "A Cross-Sectional Study of Career Aspirations in Thai Children in an International School in Bangkok." Journal of Career Development 40, no. 6 (2013): 531-50.
  DOI: 10.1177/0894845312470025

Abstract
This investigation employed exploratory methods to examine career aspirations in 141 students in Grades 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 from an international school in Bangkok. Students specified the jobs that they were most likely to pursue as adults, rated the importance of potential influences in making career decisions, and drew a picture of themselves in their future occupations. Students aspired to a range of careers and viewed their own abilities and interests as being of primary importance in choosing a career track. Also important were advice from parents, gender issues, and factors related to globalization, including their proficiency with second languages, experiences with other cultures, and interests in traveling. Students' drawings revealed knowledge about desired job responsibilities. Developmental differences were present in several features of the data, including increasing attention to advanced technology and a progressively differentiated understanding of job duties. © Curators of the University of Missouri 2013.

• Esteban, M., V. Tsimopoulou, T. Mikami, N. Y. Yun, A. Suppasri, and T. Shibayama. "Recent tsunamis events and preparedness: Development of tsunami awareness in Indonesia, Chile and Japan." International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (2013).
  DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2013.07.002

Abstract
Since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, there is a growing awareness of the risks that tsunamis pose to coastal communities. Despite the fact that the population of some countries such as Chile and Japan were aware of such events, many other places had virtually not heard about such phenomenon before 2004. Nevertheless, the frequent reoccurrence of major tsunamis in recent years has led to a heightened state of tsunami awareness in many areas of the world, which can be described by an increased knowledge, disaster preparedness and willingness of local populations to evacuate when the threat of these events arises. However, the response of different elements of society to tsunami warnings nowadays still appears to be inadequate a times, pointing to lack of awareness by at least some individuals, an over-reliance in defence mechanisms or lacking in the transmission of knowledge from previous events. This paper will explore these cultural issues using as a basis observations made by the authors during field visits to areas afflicted by the last three major events (Chile, Indonesia, and Japan). The level of tsunami awareness prior to these events will be explored through an analysis on the existence of multiple layers of safety against tsunami developed by previous generations, and whether these had been preserved over time. The potential impact of these major tsunamis in the development of tsunami awareness will be analysed based on questionnaires that indicate the willingness of local coastal communities to invest in disaster preparedness. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

• Heather Streets-Salter. "The Local Was Global: The Singapore Mutiny of 1915." Journal of World History 24, no. 3 (2013): 539-576.
  DOI: 10.1353/jwh.2013.0066

Abstract
This article explores the little-known Singapore Mutiny of 1915 as a case study demonstrating the permeable nature of colonial boundaries in Southeast Asia, and especially the multiple influences at work on colonies in the region outside of their relationships to their respective metropoles. It argues that despite the relative insignificance of the mutiny to larger historical narratives, seemingly local events like this allow a glimpse into the concrete ways larger intercolonial and global connections informed the beliefs and actions of ordinary people. The article begins by exploring the causes of the mutiny and argues that its outbreak cannot be understood without attention to networks and ideologies that crisscrossed the world in 1915, especially with regard to pan-Islamism and radical Indian nationalism. It then explores the responses to the mutiny by a multiplicity of actors, and argues that larger global conditions, alliances, and rivalries fundamentally shaped both official and nonofficial responses to the mutiny, even as they highlighted strong preexisting official networks between colonies and independent nations all over Southeast and East Asia. © 2013 by University of Hawai'i Press.

• Suki, Norazah Mohd. "Green Awareness Effect on Consumers’ Purchasing Decision: Some Insights from Malaysia."  International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 9, no. 1 (2013): 49-63.
  http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Art3.pdf.

Abstract
Consumers' awareness on products marketed in green marketing is important in guiding their purchasing decision of green products. This study aims to examine the influence of consumers' environmental concerns, awareness of green product, price and brand image on their purchasing decision of green products. A total of 200 completed responses were collected in the survey. Responses were randomly drawn from students in a public university in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia. Their participation was purely voluntary. Results via multiple regressions authenticated that consumers' awareness of price and brand image significantly influences their purchasing decision of green products. A person having some concern for the environment and its brand image would have a stronger preference to buy a green product. Findings could provide fruitful insights for environmental sustainability. Copyright © 2013 International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies.