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This edited collection takes a primary focus on security issues in Oceania, but here the word security is expanded to include such topics as domestic Indonesian and Philippine instability, environmental degradation, the work of international crime syndicates, the generic problem of post-colonial state failure, and the always overhanging concern with China-in short all of the significant troubles roiling Island Asia today.
Using this expanded notion of security and stability, the volume pulls in new anxieties about global warming, which may submerge half of the South Pacific microstates within the next 30 years, and pollution, which covers Indonesia nad Malaysia in thick smoke now visible from space, as well as traversing the more traditional security and economic issues. Vaughn and his contributors describe a 7,000-mile swath of wobbly island states ranging from the world's fourth most populous country to tiny bogus sovereignties in thrall to globalized criminals-through which more than $1 trillion worth of goods move each year. An important resource for scholars, students, researchers, and policy makers involved with Oceania and Asian studies as well as contemporary geo-political concerns.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction: The Unraveling of Island Asia? by Bruce Vaughn and James Clad
OverviewInternal Conflict and Regional Security in Island Asia: Stabilizing the `Arc of Instability' by Benjamin Reilly
State and Territorial Focused ChaptersIndomesia: The Regional Giant by John B. Haseman
Deep Insecurity and Political Stability: Inside Mahathir's Malaysia by William Case
Mindanao and its Impact on Security in the Philippines by David Wienceck
Rethinking Security in the South Pacific: Fiji and Solomon Islands by Sandra Tarte and Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka
Tensions in Micronesia by Stephen Hoadley
The Bougainville Peace Process: The "Pacific" Settlement of Disputes? by Bede Corry
Regionally Focused ChapterRegional Trans-National Security Challenges by Peter Chalk
External Power Engagement in Melanesia by Henry S. Albinski
The United States and the Region by William Tow
Secur(it is)ing the Environment: Unraveling Environmental Security in Pacific Asia by Lorraine Elliott
Post Financial Crisis Assessment and CER-AFTA Trade Relations by Sean McDonald
Index
About the author
BRUCE VAUGHN is Adjunct Professor, Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Defense Analyst, Embassy of Australia, Washington, D.C.
