Grassroots Democracy and Inequality Reduction in Rural Vietnam: The Case of Thái Bình in 1997 and Now

Hai Hong Nguyen 서울대학교행정대학원 2014 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.22 No.1

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) adopted grassroots democracy as a political tool to reduce inequality which was a causal factor prompting farmer protests in Thái Bình in 1997. At the international level, the nexus between democracy and inequality has attracted extensive scholarly research over the last two decades. By revisiting the case of Thái Bình, on the one hand, the article attempts to assess the impact of grassroots democracy after 15 years on inequality reduction thereat, and on the other, to contribute to the general discourse on the nexus between these two concepts. The article is organized in two major parts: the first being the literature review and theoretical framing, and the second, findings presentation. It concludes that grassroots democracy has contributed to inequality reduction in rural Vietnam, but is far more likely to meet the demand to avoid a challenge for the CPV again due to the inequality that remains.

Islamic political parties and the nature of politics in Pakistan

Mudasir Nazar 서울대학교행정대학원 2016 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.24 No.2

The ‘war on terror’ has not only increased the operation and significance of Islamic parties but also intensified suspicion against them. The lack of comprehensive theoretical research about Islamic parties has further contributed to misunderstanding of their nature and politics. This article theorizes and classifies Islamic parties, especially of Pakistan, and explores their origin, development and nature. The conventional theories of party origin and traditional classifications of political parties are shown to have limited validity in the case of Islamic parties. Rather, the origin and development of Islamic parties is explored through the theoretical construct of historical crisis situation theory, consisting of four crisis situations. Moreover, a new typology of Islamic parties is developed and the Islamic parties are classified on the basis of six variables into three parties: clerical, conservative and Islamist. The exploration of the role of Islamic parties in Pakistan shows that party variables are not only essential to understand their proper nature but also critical to comprehend their politics. Though unanimously categorized as ‘Islamic’, their politics significantly differ and Pakistan provides a typical case to show the heterogeneous Islamic politics of Islamic parties.

Theory and Practice of Public Administration in the Philippines: Concerns for an Identity Crisis

Alex B. Brillantes Jr,Maricel T. Fernandez 서울대학교행정대학원 2013 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.21 No.1

The discipline of public administration in the Philippines has been undergoing its version of an ‘identity crisis’ over the past decade. This crisis has been manifested in four areas: (1) the inordinate influence of mostly American public administration theories and concepts upon Philippines public administration has led Filipino academics in the early to mid-1980s to ask the question ‘is there a Philippine public administration?’; (2) the perceived disconnect between theories of public administration as taught in schools and the realities in the outside world has raised questions of the relevance of the discipline to real world challenges; (3) the continued frustration over the perception that in spite of many public administration and governance reforms, the Philippines continues to be among the more corrupt nations in the region; and (4) the recent fascination of academics in other disciplines, especially economists, that ‘institutions matter’, has led some public administration scholars to argue that their discipline has been arguing precisely the same point since the 1950s.

Does public participation matter? Inclusive growth in East Asia

Bill K. P. Chou,Ahmed Shafiqul Huque 서울대학교행정대학원 2016 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.24 No.2

Inclusiveness in economic development has lately emerged as a critical factor for development. This paper adopts an analytical concept of inclusive growth to evaluate East Asia’s economic success. It contests the Western conceptualization of the critical role of public participation in development, and argues that it has played a limited role in terms of inclusive growth in East Asia. Several factors have influenced the outcome of research in this area including the choice of methodology adopted, the challenge of defining and measuring inclusive growth, and the unclear mode and impact of public participation in the process

Freedom of Speech and Democracy in Malaysia

Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani 서울대학교행정대학원 2008 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.16 No.1

This article seeks to understand the situation of political speech in Malaysia, theargument in favour of restrictions on political speech, and the problems that preventpolitical speech from being practised effectively. For example, two particularly sensitiveissues*ethnic rivalry and religion*are considered taboo and discussion of these issues isseverely restricted. Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution, in reflecting the sensitivenessof these issues, specifies a list of restrictions, which limit the right of free speech on thegrounds of guarding political stability and racial harmony. Furthermore, freedom ofpolitical speech and the political rights of individuals are secondary to the goals ofnational prosperity and national development, and the government is predisposed toimpose some form of political discipline in order to serve the greater social good. However, the Malaysian government has taken a step further to control not only hateand racial speech, but also any political speech that seriously challenges the government. In this respect, the Malaysian government can be accused of being less democratic for itsrestriction on political speech.

A Comparative Institutional Analysis of Korean and Japanese Clientelism

박철희 서울대학교행정대학원 2008 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.16 No.2

Clientele networks are differently structured across nations, depending on the politicalinstitutional setup and the configuration of political and social forces. The politicalinstitutional setup, which is cross-nationally different, determines where clientelenetworks are formed, how extensive they are and how long they can persist. The configuration of political and social forces, which varies over time, defines whotakes the lead in clientele networks and how effective they are for producing policy effects. A comparison of Korean and Japanese clientelism suggests that the Korean caserepresents a form of national-level, defensive, non-cumulative and high political-riskclientelism, while the Japanese case illustrates a form of local-level, cumulative and lowpolitical-risk clientelism. Korean clientelism is not a copy of the Japanese variant. Basedon this analysis, the author suggests that not every social organisation is functional fordemocratic governance. He also points out that the gradual process of disintegratingclientele networks is on the move.

Another Injustice? Socio-Spatial Disparity of Drinking Water Information Dissemination Rule Violation in the United States

배중환,강소영 서울대학교행정대학원 2022 The Korean Journal of Policy Studies Vol.37 No.4

While a growing number of environmental justice (EJ) studies demonstrate that contaminated drinking water disproportionately affects low-income communities and poor communities across the United States, little attention has been paid to inequalities in drinking water quality information dissemination compliance. The information dissemination rule violation does not fulfill water governor’s responsibility for securing water safety, and also not meet the right-to-know provision as a fundamental element for human rights. This study examines patterns of the Confidence Customer Reports (CCR) rule violation at a county-level. Within the EJ perspective, we conducted spatial analysis of the CCR rule violation, and examined vulnerability factors that may be related to the violation likelihood. This study collected the CCR rule violation from 2016 to 2018 through the Safe Drinking Water Information System. Our study’s findings indicated that there are 150 counties as the geographical hot spots of CCR rule violations, which are concentrated in some parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana in South region. The regression analysis showed that the ethnic minority and the county’s poverty rate are significant predictors of the CCR rule violation. The results suggest that information access to the report about drinking water quality is not equally disseminated across the nation. The information asymmetry may exist particularly in poor communities of color, reflecting the main framing of environmental injustice in the United States.

Resolving the Kashmir Conflict: Pakistan, India, Kashmiris and Religious Militants

Rodrigo Tavares 서울대학교행정대학원 2008 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.16 No.3

This article introduces a conflict resolution framework to address the Kashmir1 conflict. Firstly, Kashmir is mapped out as a multi-dimensional dispute between various parties:besides the interstate dispute between India and Pakistan, Kashmir is also an armedconflict both between India and the Kashmiris over the right of self-determination andbetween India and the religious militants who are waging a jihad to create a theocraticstate. Secondly, in order to understand the complexity of Kashmir, I introduce an originalframework based upon six levels of sovereignty that helps us in underscoring theimplications of the bargaining process between India, Pakistan and Kashmir. Based onthis, I propose a roadmap for peace, which comprises three successive steps: confidencebuildingmeasures, restoration of the asymmetric original status of Jammu and Kashmirand, finally, shared sovereignty (partial or total condominium) between India andPakistan.

Development and testing of a comprehensive ageing problem scale for community-living older adults in South Korea

이민홍,김순은,최지민,김상원,김화환 서울대학교행정대학원 2016 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.24 No.2

This study was undertaken to develop and validate an instrument for gerontological policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to comprehensively assess the nature and severity of problems experienced by older adults. The Comprehensive Ageing Problem Scale (CAPS) for older adults living in the community was created as a reliable and valid instrument that is easy to use. A crosssectional strategy was utilized, in which a total sample of 1060 older South Korean adults was selected (through a proportionate random-stratified sampling method) from four regions nationwide. The psychometric properties of the instrument were verified using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). To achieve cross-validity, the total sample was randomly divided into two groups. The first group (for the EFA) was employed to identify the factor structure of the initial scale. The second group (for the CFA) was used to confirm the factor structure of the revised scale with the first group. The final version of the 19-item CAPS with four factors showed good internal consistency and a CFA confirmed the acceptability of the model fit.

Islamism, secularism and post-Islamism: the Muslim world and the case of Bangladesh

Akhand Akhtar Hossain 서울대학교행정대학원 2016 Asian Journal of Political Science Vol.24 No.2

This paper provides a historical overview of the emerging postIslamist phenomenon in the Muslim world and discusses the scope for sustainable democratic politics in Bangladesh. In the process, a model is proposed that purports to exhibit a level of compatibility with the perceived political landscape in Bangladesh. The model adopts a version of the Hotelling–Downs principle of democracy and sets it within the ‘post-Islamist’ paradigm in such a way that, if it can be implemented, even if only partially, may lead to the sustained political stability of Bangladesh. The paper highlights illiberal and undemocratic practices of the two dominant Bangladeshi political parties as a major feature of the present status quo. These practices dominate Bangladeshi politics through the continuous attempts of their exponents to impose monopolistic views on the various symbols of national identity, despite the multi-racial, multi-religious nature of Bangladesh society. The paper concludes that a democratic system of politics, which accommodates aspects of secularism, language, Muslim identity and post-Islamist ‘Islamic ethical–moral–legal codes’, remains the feasible political discourse for forming and consolidating the country’s multi-racial, multi-religious national identity over the long run and its survival as a sovereign state.