The United Nations in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific

This study of the United Nations in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific evaluates the organization's role and performance in Cambodia and over refugees; regarding human rights, development, environment and the needs of women; within regional cooperation; and as an instrument of state policy. These cases illustrate how multilateral conduct through the United nations provides a barometer indicating the intensity with which policy initiatives and values are sustained by relevant governmental interests alike. In the regional settings considered, conduct towards and within the UN has amplified unresolved value differences regarding relations with major powers, sustainability, and national identity. List Of Tables -- Acknowledgements -- List Of Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Un And Cambodia -- Key Dilemmas -- The Un And State Interest 1979-86 -- Substantive Differences -- The Un As Humanitarian: 1979-86 -- Emergent Flexibility 1985-90 -- The Paris Agreements: An Uneasy Amalgam -- Implementation -- Human Rights -- Whose 'cambodia'? -- 3. The Un And Refugees -- The Boat People And The 1979 Geneva Conference -- The 1989 Comprehensive Plan Of Action -- Cambodia -- Myanmar And Indonesia -- The Rohingya Muslims -- Indonesia And Papua New Guinea -- 4. The Un And Development -- Escap -- Undp -- The Undp In Southeast Asia -- The Un And Social Amelioration In Southeast Asia -- The South Pacific -- The Undp In The South Pacific -- Social Amelioration In The South Pacific -- Un Development Initiatives Assessed -- 5. The Un And The Environment -- North/south Polarizations -- Environmental And Resources Sovereignty: Southeast Asia -- Forests -- Asean's Cautious Environmental Diplomacy -- The South Pacific -- The 1994 Barbados Conference -- Coordination In The South Pacific -- 6. The Un And Human Rights -- The Role Of The Un -- Praxis -- Indonesia -- Myanmar -- The Philippines -- State Response In Southeast Asia -- The South Pacific -- Papua New Guinea And Bougainville -- The South Pacific: Indigenous Rights -- The Ngo Dimension -- 7. The Un And The Advancement Of Women -- Women In Asia-pacific -- The Un Conference Sequence -- Preparatory Deliberations -- The Jakarta Plan Of Action -- The Beijing Conference -- The Ngo Dimension And Beijing -- Post-beijing Challenges -- 8. The Un/regional Interface -- Asean -- Asean Norm Creation -- The South Pacific Forum -- South Pacific Norm Creation -- Humanitarianism: The Regional/un Dimension -- Political Interactions -- 9. The Un And State Conduct -- Constitutive State Factors: East Timor -- Societal Dimensions Of State Conduct -- Distinctive State Interest Promotion -- Peacekeeping -- Preventative Diplomacy -- Positions Towards Un Reform -- South Pacific State Interest -- 10. Conclusions -- Continuing Legacies -- Sovereignty Considerations -- The Un As Corridor Of Hierarchy -- Civil And Cultural Factors -- Problems Of Complementarity -- Possible Future Directions -- Select Bibliography -- Index. Roderic Alley. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 237-242) And Index. The Farm War of the early 1980s caused subsequent disruptions in world markets, conflicts among major governments and disagreements in international organizations. The Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, ostensibly devoted to the new issues of globalization, dragged on from 1986 to 1993 in an attempt to end farm-subsidy battles. Wolfe shows how and why battles over agricultural protectionism were largely resolved through the Round, demonstrating that the global economy is not self-regulating; it needs institutions if it is to be stable. The Green Box, a core provision of The Agreement on Agriculture, shows how states can decide that certain types of policies should be immune from international regulation by the new World Trade Organization, an elegant compromise between the imperatives of responding to global change and maintaining democratic accountability. Wolfe's analysis will be helpful for planners of the next set of farm trade talks, due to begin in 1999, while the annotated text of The Agreement on Agriculture will be especially useful in introducing students to the complexities of trade policy List Of Tables And Figure -- Acknowledgements -- List Of Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Intersection Of Risk And Trade -- Science In The Regulation Of Risk : A Transatlantic Divide? -- Informal Trade Conflict -- Mad Cows And Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Resolving Differences Over Stinky Cheese And Bothersome Beetles -- Formal Trade Conflict -- The Dispute Over Hormonal Cattle : The Lead Up To Ec-hormones -- Fearing Frankenfoods : Emergence Of Ec-biotech -- Disputing Chlorinated Chickens : The Politics Underpinning Ec-poultry -- Science And The Politics Of Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Conclusions: Lessons For Trade Conflict -- Moving Forward -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography. David J. Hornsby, Senior Lecturer In International Relations, University Of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Includes Bibliographical References. Internationally the trade union movement is finding itself peripheralized by a series of mutually reinforcing processes - the ongoing world economic crisis; the uneven transition from an industrial to an information and service capitalism; the aggressive policies of neoliberalism; the collapse of communism and radical nationalism; the decline of the social-democratic or labour tradition - and by a globalization that undermines the nation-state to which union hopes have long been pinned. The editors argue that this crisis provides an opportunity for labour to recover or reinvent itself. They see this in terms of a labour response to the waves of energy coming from the new global social movements (women, ecology, human rights/democracy, and so on). The United Nations' role in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific is essential yet fragile. Renewed conflict in Cambodia prompts Roderic Alley to question the UN's role there. He also examines the UN's policy toward Southeast Asia's refugees and perceptions by governments in both the South Pacific and Southeast Asia toward peacekeeping and reform. This study evaluates the UN's attitude toward the environment, development, human rights and the advancement of women. Alley provides a timely evaluation of the UN in a setting where the imperatives of interdependence are demanding intergovernmental cooperation previously denied or neglected. Sri Lanka is hailed internationally for its high standards of education despite rather modest levels of economic growth. Much of this achievement has been underpinned by economic revenues generated by the labours of the plantation community whose own achievements in education fell well below the national norm. In recent years, however, educational participation among this community has increased. Why, and how? A day in the life of Vickneswari provides the starting-point for an analysis of educational progress among the Tamil plantation community. The authors examine various aspects of Japanese financial markets. This analysis is interspersed with the relevant institutional/historical background on Japanese financial markets necessary for the non-specialist. Principal chapters include: an institutional overview; a chapter on the comparative costs of capital (both internationally and among Japanese firms); causes and implications of the high degree of financial intermediation in Japan; and an invaluable analysis of the most recent trends in the Japanese/Asian financial markets This book examines the effect of post-Soviet transitions on current problem solving trends with regards to world capitalism. The fall of Soviet communism left liberal capitalism as the dominant blueprint from which to construct economic development policies. Using Central Europe as an example it is shown that the application of the Western liberal-capitalist model has not been without its difficulties. This book endeavours to place the changes to the global political economy, since 1989, in a theoretical and historical context Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-11 The UN and Cambodia....Pages 12-43 The UN and Refugees....Pages 44-64 The UN and Development....Pages 65-92 The UN and the Environment....Pages 93-117 The UN and Human Rights....Pages 118-148 The UN and the Advancement of Women....Pages 149-175 The UN/Regional Interface....Pages 176-200 The UN and State Conduct....Pages 201-226 Conclusions....Pages 227-236 Back Matter....Pages 237-255