The throughgoing urbanisation of East and Southeast Asia

The image of East and Southeast Asia is of a predominantly rural region, with the exception of Japan. This image no longer reflects reality. Although in 2000 the proportion of the population living in areas officially defined as urban will still be below 40 percent, this understates the degree to which populations throughout the region have, in terms of employment, ease of transport and communications, been brought into a close relationship with urban areas. Not only this, but the region already has eight of the world’s 21 megacities — cities with populations exceeding eight million. Urbanised corridors are emerging in parts of the region, in some cases cutting across national boundaries. Some implications for the future are discussed: the growth of a truly urban proletariat, the influence of megacities on political change, the ending of rural isolation, and regional development and income inequality issues.     

东亚甘薯品种AFLP标记遗传差异研究

甘薯是世界上重要的粮食、饲料、工业原料和新型能源作物,由于遗传背景知识的缺乏,甘薯遗传改良受到限制,东亚是世界上甘薯种植最集中的区域,因此有必要了解东亚甘薯品种的遗传多样性程度和遗传差异。本研究利用AFLP标记对43份来自东亚地区的甘薯育成品种遗传多样性进行了分析。10对AFLP引物扩增出307条谱带,其中多态性谱带占71．7％,平均每对引物扩增22．0条多态性带,表明AFLP标记是一种甘薯遗传多样性分析的高效方法。供试品种间遗传距离为0．0938-0．3359,平均为0．2302,利用UPGMA法可以将供试品种聚为5个组群,表明供试品种遗传多样性程度丰富,东亚甘薯育成品种之间具有较明显的遗传差异。不同国家或地区品种间的遗传距离高于国家或地区品种内的遗传距离。韩国品种与其它东亚国家或地区品种间遗传距离较远。供试品种中,中国大陆品种平均遗传距离最小。作者认为我国甘薯品种改良,应注重与韩国资源的交换,同时在亲本组配中避免少数品种人为过度利用,以保持甘薯品种的遗传多样性,提高甘薯品种改良进度。     

Large Dams,Restructuring and Regional Integration in Southeast Asia

Large dams are a dramatic intervention affecting ecosystems, livelihoods and resource use, notably in upland areas. Dams are significant, both in terms of their scale of impact and due to their role in appropriating part of the upland resource base for mainly lowland and urban beneficiaries. Whereas in the past the tensions associated with impact of dams in Southeast Asia have been played out within national borders, mainly in Thailand, the new impetus for dam construction reflects an internationalised agenda — namely integration of the mainland Southeast Asian regional resource economy. This paper examines the background to large dam construction in mainland Southeast Asia, current and projected developments, and their implications in a number of arenas. Case studies from Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam illustrate the main points. It is shown that political­economic restructuring associated with the changing geopolitics of the region is a major influence on the revived agenda for large dam construction, and that such restructuring modulates the direct and indirect impacts of dams at local, national and regional levels.     

Development of refining and petrochemical industries in East Asia: An interpretation based on the Flying Geese Paradigm

Several East Asian countries, with scarcely any crude oil, have developed since the second half of the twentieth century strong production capacities in refining and petrochemicals. This has been the case in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and China. This paper assesses whether the development of refining and petrochemical industries in these countries may be better understood with the aid of one of the major interpretative paradigms of structural change and foreign relations in East Asia: the Flying Geese Paradigm. The article concludes that, overall, the production and external relations in oil‐related industries do indeed follow a Flying Geese Paradigm pattern. We observe, nevertheless, some dissonances that are attributable to the particularities of intermediate sectors (such as refining and basic petrochemistry).     

Asia and the Pacific on the move: workers and refugees,a challenge to nation states

In the last 30 years international migration has been transformed from being of little or no significance in Asia to being of substantial economic, social, political and demographic importance. Two types of migration which have increased greatly in significance since the 1970s are international labour migration and refugee movements. Throughout most of the last two decades Asia has had more refugees than any other world region, although numbers have declined in the 1990s with the success of resettlement and repatriation programmes for Indochinese refugees. On the other hand, international labour migration has continued to increase in scale and importance, with the majority of workers moving between Asian countries in the 1990s, although the Middle East remains an important destination. It is argued that two elements, proliferating migrant social networks and the emergence of a vibrant immigration industry, have given a momentum to international migration which to some extent limits the power of nation states to control it. There is some concern among countries in the region that the increase in migration is creating excessive economic dependence upon the export of labour. Fears that migration threatens social cohesion depend upon the extent to which migrants settle permanently in destination areas.     

Of miracles and crises: (re–)interpretations of growth and decline in East and Southeast Asia

In the last two decades of the 20th century Asia stumbled from miracle into crisis. The crisis not only had manifold social consequences but also demands a reconsideration of the multiple explanations offered for Asia’s miracle years. This paper examines these explanations in the light of the crisis and briefly discusses the ways in which scholars of different orientations have adapted and refined their views. In particular the paper looks back on the influential East Asian miracle report of the World Bank, how it was interpreted at the time of publication, and how the report did (or did not) reflect the dominant Washington consensus. The paper then offers a discussion of the post–Washington consensus concluding that the crisis has seen some convergence of the revisionist developmental state and neoliberal positions. However, this convergence should not be seen as a paradigm shift but rather as a reworking of existing positions in the light of debates that predated the economic crisis.     

Poverty and livelihoods after full‐time farming: A South‐East Asian view

Abstract: Drawing on Harold Brookfield's seminal interventions on intensification and disintensification in tropical agriculture, the paper argues that a de‐linking of poverty and livelihoods in rural areas from farming and agricultural resources is occurring in rural South‐East Asia. This is often driven as much by changes in lifestyles and life views than by economic and environmental imperatives. The paper proposes that farming is in the process of losing its resonance and significance for the rural poor. Emerging patterns of change in the South‐East Asian countryside are used to construct a generalised framework of agrarian transition where the current trend towards pluriactivity is likely to be replaced by a mixed landscape of agrarian entrepreneurs, neopeasants and remnant smallholders. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of this trajectory for understanding poverty and pro‐poor interventions in the countryside.     

Reviews

Daljit Singh and Liak Teng Kiat (eds), Southeast Asian Affairs Michael Hobday, Innovation in East Asia: the challenge to Japan Patricia Jeffrey and Roger Jeffrey, Don’t marry me to a plowman! Women’s everyday lives in rural North India Helen Morton, Becoming Tongan: an ethnography of childhood Edvard Hviding, Guardians of Maravo Lagoon: practice, place, and politics in maritime Melanesia Carol J. Ireson, Field, forest, and family: women’s work and power in rural Laos Jayant Menon, Adjusting towards AFTA: the dynamics of trade in ASEAN Singapore R. Gerard Ward and Elizabeth Kingdon (eds), Land, custom and practice in the South Pacific Paula Brown, Beyond a mountain valley: the Simbu of Papua New Guinea Hal Levine and Anton Ploed (eds), Work in progress: essays in the New Guinea Highlanders ethnography in honour of Paula Brown Glick     

More than a ‘blip’: The changed character of South‐East Asia’s engagement with the global economy in the post‐1997 period

Abstract: Through reviewing South‐East Asia’s recent economic engagement with the global economy, this paper points to profound recent transformations in the scope and character of the region’s development. Foreign direct investment was the key driver of regional growth in the pre‐1997 period, yet currently, the region faces a more difficult and multifaceted economic arena from which to attract such funds. Foreign direct investment is more selective, both geographically and by sector, than was the case in that earlier period. This paper explains the confluence of economics, business practices and politics that are giving rise to these outcomes, and concludes from this that development trajectories in South‐East Asia will become more diverse between the countries of the region, with implications for how we understand regional economic performance.     

Introduction to special issue: Meeting the challenges of HIV/AIDS in Southeast and East Asia

Out of a total of 38 million people living with HIV/AIDS globally today, the Asia‐Pacific is home to about 7.4 million – a figure which constitutes a sharp rise to previous years. In absolute numbers, infections in Asia are projected to exceed African figures within a decade. This has largely to do with economic changes towards market‐based capitalism, widening socioeconomic disparities and increased levels of mobility (internal and cross‐border), as for instance in China and Indonesia. Overall, the epidemic in Asia has been described as more complex than in Africa involving a multiplicity of transmission modes. The case studies presented in the contributions to this special issue discuss the connections between issues of mobility, gender, (trans)nationalism and sexuality in understanding the HIV/AIDS challenge in the region. The various ways in meeting the challenges of HIV/AIDS in Southeast and East Asia are analysed, whereby non‐governmental and community‐based responses often emerge as more effective than state interventions.     

东洞庭湖湿地指示植被高光谱特征分析

为了建立东洞庭湖湿地指示植被光谱数据库,笔者通过分析指示植被的光谱特征,得到识别湿地植被高分辨率遥感波段窗口,为湿地健康监测提供技术支撑。选取东洞庭湖植被苔草、泥蒿、芦苇、辣蓼与灯心草5种典型湿地植被为东洞庭湖湿地指示植被,对它们进行研究。根据野外测定5种指示植被光谱数据,分析东洞庭湖湿地指示植被的光谱特性、植被类型识别的特征波段及其基本规律。研究发现：（1）在波段范围610~680 nm、810~880 nm、1030~1100 nm、1170~1240 nm、1635~1705 nm之间具有明显的差异。特别在波段1030~1100 nm之间,5种指示植被光谱差异性最大,光谱曲线区分特别明显;（2）通过对苔草、泥蒿、芦苇、辣蓼与灯心草5种湿地植被光谱反射率(R)采用LOG(1/R)变换,得到1个可以区分5种植被的区间,即660~680 nm之间的波段,5种湿地指示植被倒数的对数值依次降低次序是：苔草、芦苇、辣蓼、灯心草和泥蒿;（3）对同一种湿地指示植被苔草不同长势的光谱数据进行降噪、倒数的对数处理后,得到1个特征区间在500~700 nm内,可以明显的区分苔草的长势情况即：长势良好的苔草光谱反射率倒数的对数值要高于长势不好的苔草。     

Community economies in Monsoon Asia: Keywords and key reflections

A diversity of place‐based community economic practices that enact ethical interdependence has long enabled livelihoods in Monsoon Asia. Managed either democratically or coercively, these culturally inflected practices have survived the rise of a cash economy, albeit in modified form, sometimes being co‐opted to state projects. In the modern development imaginary, these practices have been positioned as ‘traditional’, ‘rural’ and largely superseded. But if we read against the grain of modernisation, a largely hidden geography of community economic practices emerges. This paper introduces the project of documenting keywords of place‐based community economies in Monsoon Asia. It extends Raymond William’s cultural analysis of keywords into a non‐western context and situates this discursive approach within a material semiotic framing. The paper has been collaboratively written with co‐researchers across Southeast Asia and represents an experimental mode of scholarship that aims to advance a post‐development agenda.     

Renewed authoritarianism in Southeast Asia: Undermining democracy through neoliberal reform

In the wake of the Asian Crisis, cases studies from Southeast Asia often reinforced the perception that neoliberalism is thriving in authoritarian states. Processes of intensive neoliberalisation in the region have now been ongoing for over a decade, yet attempts at democratic consolidation have been tenuous, fragile and incomplete at best, calling into question the supposed nexus between democracy and neoliberal reform. Accordingly, there is need for a moment of pause, to take stock of the neoliberalising process in the region, and importantly, to reframe the question and reflect on how and why authoritarianism is continuing to thrive in the neoliberalising Southeast Asian state.     

Smallholders and the spread of capitalism in rural Southeast Asia

Abstract: Although capitalism is now widely seen to be the world's only remaining form of political economy, most discussion of capitalism is vague regarding what it is and gives it little analytical importance. In this paper, I attempt to determine whether two more explicit conceptions of capitalism – those of Ellen Meiksins Wood and Hernando de Soto – can shed any light on the literature on rural smallholder commodity production in the Asia Pacific, and vice versa. I use the papers collected in this volume to analyse the relevance of ‘market dependence’ (Wood) and the various ‘mysteries of capital’ (de Soto) for agrarian relations in the Asia Pacific. The paper tries to point towards a definition of capitalism that distinguishes it from such related terms as commercialisation, markets, and globalisation.     

A bottleneck in lentil: widening its genetic base in South Asia

This paper introduces the concept of a bottleneck in lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) in South Asia and then reviews its rupture. South Asia is the largest lentil growing region in the world and where indigenous lentils show a marked lack of variability. This results from its introduction from Afghanistan around 2000 B.C. and it limits breeding progress. Three approaches to widening the genetic base in the region have been tried, namely plant introduction, hybridization and mutation breeding. Introductions from West Asia flower as indigenous material matures. The asynchrony in flowering has isolated the local pilosae ecotype reproductively. However, the introduction of ILL 4605, an early, large-seeded line, has resulted in its release as ‘Manserha 89’ for wetter areas of Pakistan and its widespread use as a parent in breeding programs in the region. Hybridization between pilosae and exotic germplasm, primarily at International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) followed by selection in the sub-continent has resulted in cultivars with improved disease resistance and yield in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Mutation breeding has given new morphological markers and several promising lines. These examples illustrate not only the widening of the genetic base of the lentil in South Asia, but also the evolution of a breeding program of an international center and national programs targeted toward specific adaptation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Potential futures for road transportation CO2 emissions in the Asia Pacific

Abstract: Will future transportation carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per capita in Asia Pacific economies follow historical trends of the now developed world? Evidence to date is inconclusive. A comparison at similar income levels (purchasing power parity) between recent emissions in Asia Pacific countries and historical emissions in developed countries suggests diverging patterns. (A) High‐income Asia economies (Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore –‘low emitters’) exhibit lower emissions than a selected sample of seven developed countries (United States, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and United Kingdom). (B) Another set of Asian countries (South Korea and Taiwan –‘medium emitters’) follow the emissions trends of European countries, which are lower than those of Australia and the United States. (C) A third Asian group (Malaysia and Thailand –‘high emitters’) exhibit emission trends comparable to that of Australia. We describe these trends, examine their causes and extrapolate likely futures for emissions in low‐income Asia Pacific economies (China, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam). Although such predictions are speculative, the available evidence suggests that road CO₂ emissions for Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam will follow those of the third group (high emitters), while those for China may follow either Group B or Group C.     

A novel waxy allele in sorghum landraces in East Asia

A loss of granule‐bound starch synthase I (GBSS I) activity results in starch granules that contain mostly amylopectin and little or no amylose, a phenotype described as waxy. Previously, two phenotypic classes of waxy alleles, wx^a, associated with no detectable GBSS I, and wx^b, associated with apparently inactive GBSS I in the endosperm, were reported in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). In this study, the waxy alleles in a sorghum core collection were investigated using DNA markers. Of the 337 sorghum accessions examined, 17 accessions that were confirmed to be waxy by a negative iodine staining result and 16 were found to be wx^a. A novel waxy allele, wx^c, was found in a Taiwanese landrace. This allele consists of a +1G to C mutation in the 5′ splice site at the intron 10–exon 11 boundary, a mutation that most likely resulted in the suppression of GBSS I gene expression. A DNA marker specific for wx^c was produced to distinguish the wx^c allele from other alleles, allowing the identification of heterozygous non‐waxy plants.     

Challenges to wheat production in South Asia

Wheat is the second major staple crop, after rice, in India and Pakistan and is also gaining similar importance in Nepal and Bangladesh. Wheat production in South Asia has increased from 15 mt in 1960s to 95.5 mt during 2004–2005. It still needs to grow at the rate of 2–2.5% annually until the middle of 21st century. However, for India, recent estimations have shown a growth requirement of about 1.1%. Although the wheat improvement programs in these countries, with the active collaboration of national agricultural research centers (NARS) and CIMMYT, has made a significant progress, it is a matter of significant concern that wheat production has stagnated for last few years. Since there is little scope for increasing land area under wheat, the major challenge will be to break the yield barrier by pragmatic genetic and developmental approaches. The most serious constraints to wheat production in this region are a host of biotic and abiotic stresses. Although India has not faced any rust epidemic in the last decade, rusts continue to occupy the place of most dangerous pathogen for the region. Among the abiotic stresses, unusual warming trends during grain filling period are causing yield declines, especially in eastern and central India. There are other challenges that are specific to the highly productive rice–wheat cropping system predominant in the Indo-Gangetic plains. The total factor productivity of this system is declining due to depletion of soil organic carbon. Addition of organic matter to soil through green manuring and crop residue recycling, balanced fertilization, integrated nutrient management, diversification of rice-wheat system are some of the possible remedial measures to improve total factor productivity. The international linkages with CIMMYT needs to be strengthened more closely for developing more productive wheat genotypes and thus, achieving wheat targets in the South Asian region.     

Introduction: Natural resources and ethnic conflicts in Asia Pacific

Abstract: The papers in this special issue are the product of a comparative interdisciplinary workshop on ‘Natural Resources and Violent Ethnic Conflicts in the Asia Pacific Region’ held in Honolulu, Hawaii, 18–20 March 2005. The workshop brought together scholars who study conflicts between ethnic groups and those who study conflicts over natural resource claims in order to examine the interplay of resources and ethnicity and to seek answers to the question of why violence occurs in some cases and not in others. Both sets of scholars agreed on some points but disagreed on others. They agreed that ethnic and resource grievances occur not so much out of objective deprivation but out of ‘relative deprivation’ when groups compare their situation with others, to the past, or to future expectations. They both stressed the role of democratic processes in alleviating resource competition and ethnic conflicts – but they did this in different ways. The perspectives and solutions offered by these papers sum to a deeper and more contextualised understanding of the cause of conflict and to mutually reinforcing solutions for resolving them.     

Power over,power to,power with: Shifting perceptions of power for local economic development in the Philippines

Power has long been recognised as crucial to the sustainability of community development interventions; however, the way in which space affects power relations within such interventions has remained relatively under‐theorised in the development literature. Many practitioners continue to regard power as located centrally and as embedded in particular institutions, networks, knowledge and resources. According to this logic, processes of empowerment involve the redistribution of these resources to marginalised groups through their participation in development interventions such as microfinance and sustainable livelihood initiatives. The danger inherent in such development approaches is that they can discourage the potential for participants to use their own agency by overemphasising an existing lack of resources locally and inadvertently feeding a sense of dependency on formal development interventions initiated by external agencies. This paper suggests that a post‐structural conceptualisation of power as dynamic, multiple and mediated at the local level offers a more productive starting point for thinking about approaches to empowerment. Drawing on data from an action research project designed to initiate community enterprises in a small rural municipality in the Philippines, I suggest how a post‐structural approach to power can be enacted by building on the existing local resources and practices of everyday life.