1st Edition

Diminishing Conflicts in Asia and the Pacific Why Some Subside and Others Don’t

Edited By Edward Aspinall, Robin Jeffrey, Anthony Regan Copyright 2013
    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    Since the publication of the 2005 Human Security Report, scholars and policy-makers have debated the causes, interpretation and implications of what the report described as a global decline in armed conflict since the end of the Cold War. Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, this book analyses the causes and patterns of this decline.

    In few regions has the apparent decline in conflict been as dramatic as in the Asia-Pacific, with annual recorded battle deaths falling in the range of 50 to 75 percent between 1994 and 2004. Drawing on a wide range of case studies, this book looks at internal conflicts based on the mobilization of ethnic and nationalist grievances, which have been the most costly in human lives over the last decade.

    The book identifies structures, norms, practices and techniques that have either fuelled or moderated conflicts. As such, it is an essential read for students and scholars of international relations, peace and conflict studies and Asian studies.

    1. Introduction: Diminishing Conflicts: learning from the Asia-Pacific Edward Aspinall, Robin Jeffrey and Anthony Regan Part 1: Conflict diminished?  2. Timor Leste: international intervention, gender and the dangers of negative peace Susan Harris Rimmer 3. Maluku: anomie to reconciliation John Braithwaite 4. Aceh: democratization and the politics of co-option Edward Aspinall 5. Solomon Islands: from uprising to intervention Matthew Allen and Sinclair Dinnen 6. Punjab: federalism, elections, suppression Robin Jeffrey 7. Sri Lanka: the end of war and the continuation of struggle Bina D’Costa  Part 2: Conflict deferred?  8. Bougainville: conflict deferred? Anthony Regan 9. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT): diminishing violence or violent peace? Kabita Chakma and Bina D’Costa 10. Eastern Burma: long wars without exhaustion Desmond Ball and Nicholas Farrelly 11. Fiji: the politics of conflict reduction John Fraenkel Part 3: Conflict undiminished? 12. Southern Thailand: marginalization, injustice and the failure to govern Tyrell Haberkorn 13. Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas: cause or symptom of national insecurity? Paul D’Arcy 14. Southern Philippines: the ongoing saga of Moro separatism Ron J. May 15. Kashmir: placating frustrated people Christopher Snedden 16. The Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea: conflict ignored Nicole Haley 17. Conclusion: Lessons Edward Aspinall, Robin Jeffrey and Anthony Regan

    Biography

    Robin Jeffrey is a Visiting Research Professor in the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. His research interests include India and South Asia, as well as the Punjab insurgency.

    Edward Aspinall is a Senior Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University. His research focuses on comparative politics of democratization, ethnic politics and nationalism, and he has published widely in these areas.

    Anthony Regan is a Fellow in the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program, Australian National University. He is a constitutional lawyer who has advised in peace processes and post-conflict constitution-making processes in a number of countries, and written extensively on a number of those cases.