ASIAN STUDIES

Igor Dirgantara
(Lecturer at Faculty of Social Politics, University Jayabaya, Jakarta, and Director Survey & Polling Indonesia (SPIN)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 14 January 2017.

Approaching the polls February 15, 2017, competition has been increasingly rigorous among the three candidates who are contesting in the Jakarta Gubernatorial Election (Pilgub) 2017, namely, incumbent duet Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat (Ahok-Djarot), Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni (Agus-Sylvi), and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno (Anies-Sandi). Many said that the fight in Jakarta gubernatorial election this time is a ‘proxy war’ of the rivalry among the political elites Megawati Soekarno Putri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prabowo Subianto. ...Read more

Prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic,
(Chairman Intl. Law & Global Pol. Studies,
Author of the book ‘Is there life after Facebook’, Addleton Academic Publishers)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 27 December 2016

Following the famous saying allegedly spelled by Kissinger: “Europe? Give me a name and a phone number!” (when – back in early 1970s – urged by President Nixon to inform Europeans on the particular US policy action), the author is trying to examine how close is Asia to have its own telephone number. By contrasting and comparing genesis of multilateral security structures in Europe with those currently existing in Asia, and by listing some of the most pressing security challenges in Asia, this article offers several policy incentives why the largest world’s continent must consider creation of the comprehensive pan-Asian institution. Prevailing security structures in Asia are bilateral and mostly asymmetric while Europe enjoys multilateral, balanced and symmetric setups (American and African continents too). Author goes as far as to claim that irrespective to the impressive economic growth, no Asian century will emerge without creation of such an institution....Read more

Qi Lin
(MA candidate of the George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs. Her research focus is on cross-Pacific security and Asian studies, particularly on the Sino-U.S. relations and on the foreign policy and politics of US and China)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 20 November 2016

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Re-search Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

“The Chinese grab for fossil fuels or its military competition for naval control is not a challenge but rather a boost for the US Asia-Pacific –even an overall– posture. Calibrating the contraction of its overseas projection and commitments – some would call it managing the decline of an empire – the US does not fail to note that nowadays half of the world’s merchant tonnage passes though the South China Sea. Therefore, the US will exploit any regional territorial dispute and other frictions to its own security benefit, including the costs sharing of its military presence with the local partners, as to maintain pivotal on the maritime edge of Asia that arches from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, Malacca, the South and East China Sea up to the northwest–central Pacific...Read more

Vinod Anand
(Brig. Vinod Anand has served in the army and is alumnus of Defence Services Staff College and College of Defence Management. He was also Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Defence Stud-ies and Analysis. After retirement he was with United Service Institute of India for five years as a Senior Fellow before joining the present assignment in Vivekananda International Foundation, a think tank which does research on internal and external security issues besides regional security and international relations).

Copyright: http://www.transnationalstudies.org
Publication date on RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 11th September 2016.

While the ASEAN Summit is going to take place in Vientiane on September it is time to take stock of how Vietnam-ASEAN relations have evolved over the years and how can the engagement be further intensified in a mutually beneficial manner. Not only has Vietnam benefited from its membership of the ASEAN but also it has contributed in equal measure, if not more, to the ASEAN as an organization and as a community that has become a very significant grouping in terms of political, economic, security and strategic considerations....Read more

Rakesh Krishnan Simha
(He is a New Zealand-based journalist and foreign affairs analyst. He started his career in 1995 with New Delhi-based Business World magazine, and later worked in a string of positions at other leading media houses such as India Today, Hindustan Times, Business Standard and the Financial Express, where he was the news editor).

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 3 June 2016

One of the ironies of being a Pakistani living abroad, especially in the West, has to pose as Indian. According to Asghar Choudhri, the chairman of Brooklyn's Pakistani American Merchant Association, a lot of Pakistanis can't get jobs after 9/11 and after the botched Times Square bombing of 2010, it's even worse. "They are now pretending they are Indian so they can get a job," he told a US wire service....Read more

Dr. Swaleha Sindhi
(Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration, the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. Decorated educational practitioner Dr. Sindhi is a frequent columnist on related topics, too. She is the Vice President of Indian Ocean Comparative Education Society (IOCES)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr)
Publication date: 15 May 2016

In the present era of globalization, organizations are expected to work with a creative rather than a reactive perspective and grow to be flexible, responsive and capable organizations in order to survive. In the existing scenario people are exposed to diverse knowledge through internet, there is much to learn and more to assimilate. Senge's (1990) model of the five disciplines of a learning organization emphasizes on the concept of systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. ...Read more