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Notes from the Editors' Desk
Dear Reader,
The fourth issue of the Asian Journal of Public Affairs has many firsts under its belt. This is the first print issue of the journal – a mark of its growing contribution to addressing policy concerns pertaining to Asia, exposited by graduate students. This is also the first issue to present a thematic commentaries section, with no less an issue covered than the ongoing international economic crisis. We hope that this issue throws light on concerns that have hitherto been unaddressed and puts forward workable solutions in the Asian context; a context that is increasingly enmeshed in the dynamics of an interconnected world.
Our fourth issue begins with a commentary by Dr. Charles Adams, a Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, who critically examines the Asian growth paradigm in his piece Towards Better Balanced Asian Growth. The crisis not only reflects a disorderly unwinding of the global imbalances problem, but also presents the regulatory lacunae in the global financial system. In the second commentary, Dr. John Palmer, an Adjunct Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, reflects on the financial crisis in Causes and Effects: Some Reflection on the Global Financial Crisis. Dr. Paul Gruenwald, Chief Economist, Asia and Ivy Tan, Director – Credit Research for the ANZ Investment Bank, in the third commentary, take a non-public sector view of the lessons learnt by Asian Banks from the present crisis.
Developing countries like India have seen a considerable improvement in Merchandise Trade Performance after Adopting Economic Reforms. However, fruits of greater international integration remain unharnessed in many emerging economies due to poor human capital. This has had direct consequences for education policy as seen in Lifelong Learning Policy in Thailand. Increasing skills-mismatch in labour markets and the disconcerting trend in Employment in the Organised Sector after adopting liberalisation reforms remain issues that reminds policymakers of the unfinished agenda of growth with social justice.
Times of crises witness the greatest need for cooperation between various governments. While reforms of major international organisations are often slow to come, significant forward-looking developments are still possible, as one can see with ASEAN’s efforts in Cooperation, Multipolarity and East Asian Regionalism. Although regional cooperation and international treaties play an important role in chugging the agenda of cooperation forward, exceptionalism and noncompliance remain a stumbling block in the creation of an egalitarian society. Comparing American and Chinese Exceptionalism to the United Nations Convention against Torture, one can understand the uniqueness of different strands of exceptionalism and noncompliance, especially from two different economic power-centres of the world.
We hope our fourth edition will be of interest to you and that it will spark policy debates on the issues addressed by graduate students. We would once again like to thank those who have provided their invaluable advice and guidance in making the Asian Journal of Public Affairs transform into a print journal. We are especially grateful to our faculty advisors, Prof. Mukul Asher and Assoc. Prof. Darryl Jarvis and to our mainstay, Ruth Choe.
Yours Sincerely,
The AJPA Editorial Board
February 2009
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COMMENTARIES
Towards Better Balanced Asian Growth
Charles Adams
Causes and Effects: Some Reflection on the Global Financial Crisis
John Palmer
Lessons from the Crisis for Asian Banks
Paul Gruenwald and Ivy Tan
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ARTICLES
Cooperation, Multipolarity and East Asian Regionalism: An ASEAN Perspective
Oleg Korovin
Lifelong Learning and Thailand’s Higher Education: Challenges and Options
Rattana Lao
Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and the Organised Sector Employment in India
Awanish Kumar and Aditi Dixit
Torture in the United States and China: Comparing American and Chinese Exceptionalism with respect to the United Nations Convention Against Torture
Ivan Rasmussen
Merchandise Trade Performance after Economic Reforms in India
Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati and Nirmal Chandra Sahu
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BOOK REVIEWS
A Review of Amitendu Palit & Subhomoy Bhattacharjee’s ‘Special Economic
Zones in India- Myths and Realities’
Krishanu Rakshit
A Review of Tony Cleaver’s ‘Governance, Politics and Environment’
Chen Hui Jacqueline
A Review of Greg Fealy & Sally White’s ‘Expressing Islam: Religious Life And Politics in Indonesia’
Ira Martina Drupady
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