International Graduate Student Conference [Working Papers]

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/3160

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The people behind the press : building social capital in new media ecologies
(Honolulu, HI: East-West Center, 2013) Fox, Steve J.
The aim of this article is to introduce an original framework in which new media ecologies can be understood to develop. Specifically, it examines the unique, world-leading online ecology of South Korea, to suggest how new forms of democratic process and social organisation can be emulated elsewhere. The discussion identifies and analyses several policy and cultural factors to distil three encompassing variables that comprise a framework for understanding the Korean situation, and the application of new technologies: structure, ethos and activity. Ultimately, it is a framework that may be used to investigate social organisation mechanisms that may potentiate news media's role in democratic society. This concept of social organisation is constructed around the notion of social capital and theorised as an infrastructure for new news media models. In the outcome, it is argued that news media could themselves become civic socialization mechanisms that encourage a more active and engaged citizenry, reflecting social capital's strong relationship with political participation, and thus a continuing foundational role for journalism in democracy.
Benchmarking the efficiency of Philippines electric cooperatives using stochastic frontier analysis and data envelopment analysis
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2004) Lavado, Rouselle F.
Fiscal consequences of Asian crisis
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2004) Tolosa, Guillermo
Effects of pension payments on savings in the Philippines
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2006) Lavado, Rouselle F.
This paper attempts to provide some empirical evidence on the effects of social security on savings mobilization of households. While it has been empirically established in developed countries that pension system has important effects on savings, no important study has been established yet in the Philippines. Following Feldstein's model, consumption and savings function using a household survey data was estimated. This study aims to contribute to the pension literature by using the Kaplan-Meier duration model to estimate survival probabilities. The findings indicate that there is a negative effect of pension on household savings. The Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System are viewed by current contributors as future wealth and thus, they tend to consume more now and save less than they would have if there were no pension.
Colonial construction of Malayness : the influence of population size and composition
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2006) Sagoo, Kiran
Malaysia's present population of 26 million is ethnically classified under the categories of "Bumiputera," "Chinese," "Indian," and "Others." These ethnic classifications of "Malay," "Chinese," "Indian," and "Others" mask the diversities of ethnicities within each category. Using census categories as a tool for analysis, this paper focuses on the creation of the category of "Malays and Other Natives of the Archipelago" which first appeared in the 1891 Straits Settlements census and the various ethnicities it compassed that have influenced the boundaries of Malayness today. It focuses on migrants from the Dutch East Indies who were classified under the category of "Malays and other Natives of the Archipelago," and demonstrates that the absolute and relative population size of these communities and the Malay population in relation to other communities, was a major factor which determined their inclusion into the above category which laid down the boundaries of Malayness.
Dance for development : Uyghur women in the Chinese diaspora creating self-empowerment through dance
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2006) Smith, Kristie N.
Socio-economic development in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has significantly impacted Uyghur culture. Proponents of the Chinese Western Development initiatives claim improved quality of life and technological advancements, while critics cite that Han in-migration and assimilation has resulted in acculturation of Uyghur identity. As performing arts, especially dance, are essential components of Uyghur culture, Uyghur women employ dance as a reaction to reaffirm cultural identity. Through dance, women send messages of cultural survival, enabling them to negotiate positions of power for themselves. Their negotiation through dance has resulted in a unique form of self-empowerment, cultural revival and pride. This paper analyzes the dialectics of the dance revealed through interviews conducted with Uyghur women in the diaspora. These accounts illustrate Uyghur analysis of development processes while also providing a stage from which they reaffirm their cultural distinctiveness.
From "Power to the People" to "Civil Empowerment" -- The Making of Neoliberal Governmentality in Grassroots Movements for the Urban Poor in South Korea
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2005) Cho, Mun Young
This paper examines how grassroots movements for the urban poor in South Korea have been transformed in the context of neoliberalism. It is based on fieldwork (September 1999 April 2001) in Nangok, which was one of the most well-known shantytowns in Seoul. How and why have grassroots groups came to abandon their dream of "Power to the People" and reconciled themselves with their antagonistic counterparts such as the state and welfare bodies? "The making of neoliberal governmentality," i.e., the process in which grassroots movements for the urban poor have reconfigured the movements' relationship with the state and the poor while embodying and contesting the technologies of neoliberal government, is examined through the fluctuating relationship between "welfare" and the movement. Neoliberal technologies include the extension of market rationality, the emphasis of responsible autonomy and empowerment, and the relocation of the "will to govern" of the state which Foucaultian studies have generally indicated. Rather than essentializing them as characteristics of neoliberal governmentality, however, the focus is on how grassroots activists have woven historically specific tapestry of these characteristics in the process that their memory of long-term movements intersect with the changing praxis of political economy.
Sovereignty, internationalism, and the Chinese in-between
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2004) Erie, Matthew
The development of a peer competitor : China's potential challenge to U.S. preeminence
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2004) Bitting, Robert
A short review on Pyongyang's foreign-policymaking process
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2005) Choi, Yong Sub
Much research and analysis has been conducted to efficiently cope with North Korea since the first nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsular in the early 1990s. However, they paid little attention to North Korea's foreign policy-making process which can be conducive to unravel the mechanism of Pyongyang's brinkmanship. To explain Pyongyang's foreign policy-making process, a number of subjects are dealt with in this paper. First, organizations involved in North Korea's foreign policy are examined to show that the ministry of foreign affairs is the most powerful institution, but its autonomy is highly constrained. Here the role of the department of organization and direction is critical; the head of the department is Kim Jong Il himself and its far-reaching branches supervise and direct every meaningful political activity carried out in North Korea. Second, there are three approaches to the foreign policy-making process of North Korea: "expediency of Kim Jong Il," "top down," and "bottom up." In the first case, Kim makes direct phone calls and/or visits to relevant officials, and necessary measures are taken by his instructions on the spot. In the second case, Kim presents his ideas as policy agenda and officials of the ministry of foreign affairs set concrete measures for implementation of Kim's ideas and, after Kim's review, the ideas are conveyed as "guidelines" or "teachings" of the supreme leader. The third case begins with ideas provided by officials of the ministry, and then they are reviewed and proceed through the layers of bureaucracy in the ministry. After Kim's review, it becomes a policy and will be implemented at different levels. As Kim Jong Il controls all the approaches directly or indirectly, he can be referred to as the de facto sole policy maker of foreign affairs. Third, G. T. Allison's organization model can explain a number of distinctive features of the North Korean foreign policy-making process. In particular, the repertoires and procedures of the organization are closely directed by "the party's ten principles to establish the unitary system," "the party's covenant," and "the directions of the party." In diplomatic crisis, this delays the speed of response because they are primarily made for domestic stability and maintenance of dictatorship. The foreign policy-making process reflects the degree of dictatorship in North Korea. As long as the firm dictatorship by Kim Jong Il continues, provocative and rigid behaviors in the international arena will go on. By the same token, we cannot anticipate a progressive and flexible North Korean on the international stage, other than Kim Jong Il himself.
Towards a new foreign policy
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2004) Babiarz, Renny
"Glamorous" violence? : aggressive dating behavior of women in Beijing
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2005) Wang, Xiying
Increasing integration among Asia Pacific equity markets
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2005) Gunasingham, Brindha
This research examines whether recent stock market crashes have affected the inter-relationships between 12 equity markets in the Asia Pacific, thereby affecting investment decisions across the region. One of the major concepts underlying portfolio management and investment decisions is the reduction of risk by diversifying investments across non-integrated assets. "The argument often heard in favor of international investment is that it lowers risk without sacrificing expected return. A prerequisite for this argument is that various capital markets of the world have somewhat independent price behaviour." (Solnik 2000) Conventional asset allocation decisions are made on the basis of short term integration. However, long term relationships can differ significantly. The impact of these crashes on both short term and long term integration were, therefore, examined. The instances of significant short term correlation increased over the period, as did long term integration, implying that diversification opportunities across the region fell. However, there were numerous instances when the level of short term and long term integration between specific markets differed. In addition, many specific combinations of markets that may still result in risk diversification were found.
Integrating gender perspectives in evaluating the efficiency of community-oriented financial intermediaries
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2005) Manlagînit, Ma. Chelo V.; Lamberte, Mario B.
This paper first examines the extent of cost and profit inefficiencies of the Philippine credit cooperative system using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Then, it looks into the effects of certain variables on the cost and profit efficiencies of credit cooperatives. Three groups of correlates of inefficiency were used: market characteristics, agency costs and gender governance. Results suggest that market conditions can explain to a certain extent the differences in the efficiency among credit cooperatives. However, the correlates of agency costs do not have a clear-cut effect on the efficiency of credit cooperatives. What is more significant though in this study is the effect on efficiency of women participation in the governance of credit cooperatives. The correlates of gender governance indicate that empowering women not only through enhancing their access to credit but also through increasing their participation in shaping policies can improve the efficiency of credit cooperatives. Results seem to suggest that credit cooperatives that are managed predominantly by women would likely pursue greater cost efficiency than profit efficiency.
The Roots of Ecological Catastrophe Patrimonialism -- El Niño and Indonesia's 1997-98 Forest Fires
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2005) Packel, Dan
Devastating forest fires struck Indonesia in 1997 and 1998, burning nearly 10 million hectares of forest and creating an unprecedented ecological disaster. These fires were immediately provoked by severe drought, itself the consequence of El Niño. This paper seeks to provide a political explanation for this ecological catastrophe, arguing that the neo-patrimonial nature of the Indonesian polity under Suharto was responsible for turning ecological irregularities into an unmitigated disaster. This work draws upon the analysis of Mike Davis (2001), who, in his attention to El Niño events over the last two centuries, situates environmental degradation and its ramifications as the result of a change in economic systems, particularly the involuntary integration of the world into the capitalist economy. Indonesia is used as a case study to expand this point, identifying how domestic politics prompted wide reaching structural changes in forest-based production, which in turn created conditions conducive to ecological disaster upon the arrival of El Niño. This paper traces the history of Indonesian forest policy over the thirty years preceding the fires and connects this history to analysis of the structure of Indonesian politics, particularly the network of patronage connecting Suharto, the military, and Chinese conglomerates. Politics and economic change are treated as intimately connected, especially in an era in which the rhetoric of development enabled the state to take an active role in intervening in the national economy. The findings indicate that rather than viewing the 1997-98 El Niño simply as an anomalous climatic event, which, through its severity, just happened to provoke a massive environmental and economic disaster, it is necessary to situate this incident in the context of Indonesia's New Order. This case suggests that, when an anomalous, unprecedented, but not entirely unexpected climatic event, such as the 1997-98 El Niño, strikes, the consequences should not be seen as unavoidable and inevitable. One cannot overlook the importance of domestic politics in determining the conditions that mitigate or exacerbate ecological calamities. Paradoxically, when a catastrophic climatic event does occur, the greatest costs are paid by those who have the least say over the structural changes that exacerbated the impact of the event, in this case indigenous subsistence producers, geographically and ethnically distant from elite policy makers.
Islam and economic development in New Order's Indonesia (1967-1998)
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2004) Ali, Muhamad
The impacts of competition-policy reforms on the efficiency of Philippine commercial banks
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2005) Manlagînit, Ma. Chelo V.; Lamberte, Mario B.
This paper examines the impacts of competition policy reforms on the efficiency of the Philippine commercial banking system. It uses the stochastic frontier approach to come up with estimates of profit efficiency and cost inefficiency measures. First, the average measured profit efficiency is 0.85, implying that on the average the commercial banks are using only 85 percent of their resources efficiently compared to the best practice commercial bank in the system producing the same output and facing the same conditions. On the other hand, the average measured cost inefficiency of the commercial banks is 1.39, suggesting that, on average, 39 percent of the commercial bank's costs are wasted relative to the best-practice commercial bank in the system producing the same output and facing the same conditions. Second, some improvements in banks' profit and cost efficiency can be observed after the liberalization of the entry of foreign banks in 1994, but these improvements were halted when the East Asian financial crisis occurred. Some improvements in profit and cost efficiency can again be observed after the passage of the General Banking Law in 2000 that liberalized further the entry of foreign banks. Third, small banks are found to be more profit and cost efficient than large banks. Fourth, foreign banks are generally more profit and cost efficient than domestic banks. However, these differences widen during crisis period and narrow during stable economic conditions. Fifth, profit efficiency of merged banks dropped more sharply than non-merged banks after 1998, but eventually recovered and approximated that of non-merged banks in 2002. Also, merged banks' cost inefficiency dropped sharply in 2000 and since then has remained much lower than that of non-merged banks. Sixth, some factors, such as agency problem, governance and market characteristics appear to be significantly correlated with measured efficiencies of banks. These results have important policy implications. First, the liberalization of the banking system has generally produced positive results in terms of improving profit and cost efficiencies of banks. Second, improvement in profit and cost efficiencies of domestic banks brought about by greater competition cannot be sustained unless it is accompanied by improvement in prudential regulations and supervision. Third, M&A policy pursued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas appears to be complementary policy for improving profit and cost efficiencies of banks. Fourth, understanding the nature and extent of the impact of some correlates of measured efficiencies can help authorities in designing appropriate regulatory and supervisory framework for banks.
Financing public goods through markets : the case of advertising
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2004) Wu, Feng
Challenges and solutions in improving tuberculosis care among aboriginal people in Taiwan
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2006) Tsai, Huei-Ting; Liu, Tzu-Ming
Indigenous Taiwanese, the minority population in Taiwan, have one-third the annual income of, and a lifespan ten years shorter than, other Taiwanese populations. Despite three decades of government support including free vaccinations, screening, and treatment, implementation of Directly Observed Therapy and worker's compensation for patients during treatment, tuberculosis (TB) remains the ninth leading cause of death among indigenous Taiwanese with an incidence rate ten folds higher than other Taiwanese. While most efforts to improve TB control for indigenous Taiwanese continue to focus on medical services, this study aimed to discuss the cultural and socioeconomic challenges of implementing TB control plans within a minority Taiwanese population and several strategies to address these challenges. Several socio-economical impediments to TB care and their consequences were discussed in this paper, including inconvenience of transportation, financial difficulties, barriers in understanding health care information and alcohol dependence. In addition, faith-based organizations, such as churches, have played an important role in educating Taiwan aborigines. This study suggested two strategies to overcome observed socioeconomic obstacles: enhancing collaboration with faith-based organizations within local aboriginal communities and implementing day care and after school care as a supplementary measure to facilitate hospitalization care among severe TB aborigines. In conclusion, unique social and economic factors should be considered in order to create TB control programs sensitive to aboriginal needs.
Ending an era : the Huang Chao Rebellion of the late Tang, 874-884
(Honolulu: East-West Center, 2006) Fong, Adam
This paper historically and analytically examines the official records of the Huang Chao rebellion in order to better understand both what avenues of resistance were open to common people during the Tang dynasty and how common people were represented in the historical record. Huang Chao was a rebel leader during the late Tang dynasty; he and his followers successfully marauded through China from 875 until his death in 884 C.E. During that time, he conquered and sacked many important cities of the empire, such as Guangzhou and the capital city, Chang'an. This decade-long rebellion has been labeled the chief reason for the fall of the Tang dynasty. The central question that will be examined is what factors of late Tang society caused the rebellion to occur and to be so successful, and how was the rebellion later reconstructed by official historians. This paper proposes that the rebellion of Huang Chao had its roots in the extreme social instability and heavy financial burdens placed on the peasants; however, the recording of the event in official histories moralized the events as the conjunction of corrupt or inept officials and persuasive but evil-minded bandits. By critically analyzing the official dynastic histories of the Tang, using a post-structuralist methodology, it is possible to uncover the official historians' biases, and come to a greater understanding of the society and events of the period. Particular attention will be paid to the methods official historians used to direct the reader's sympathy and attention. Non-Chinese sources, primarily Arabic descriptions, will also be used, both to highlight features that all accounts noted, and to fill in details that the Chinese accounts leave out. Discussion will also be made of the significance of the events verified and the events omitted from the Chinese official histories. This paper contributes to the discussion of subaltern agency, peasant resistance and historical memory, as well as to the structure of the early relationship between Chinese society and foreigners.

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