Journal of Contemporary Asia

Li, Linda Chelan

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.871836pmid: N/A

AbstractConventional wisdom in the international aid community has been that governance systems and practices in developing countries require reform in order for aid catering to economic development or poverty alleviation to be successful. Despite criticisms, the good governance agenda has remained unscathed in international development policy until the recent economic crisis in the advanced economies. This feature section of this issue provides in-depth analysis of the nuances at the critical linkage between institutional reforms and development, based on empirical case studies of the logic of governance reforms in the Asian context. This introductory essay surveys the intellectual background of discussion over the concepts of governance, good governance and development, and the linkage between governance reforms as process and development as outcome. It highlights the significance of discussing Asian reform experiences for the ongoing reflection over the global institutional agenda. The message is not that we do not need governance reforms, or that international learning is impossible or counterproductive. Reform efforts in developing and advanced economies will benefit, however, from a better understanding of the linkage between reforms and the diverse historical conditions they are embedded in.

Painter, Martin

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.870829pmid: N/A

AbstractInternational good governance orthodoxy proposes a set of step-by-step governance reforms as a necessary component of development. However, this orthodox view is more a reflection of persistent myths of development than of its realities. Living examples of this are found in contemporary China and Vietnam. In these two authoritarian one-party states, much international orthodoxy of good governance reform and practice is deliberately contradicted in the reform and opening-up process. In uncovering the underlying political logic of persistent “lag” in governance reforms in Vietnam and China, we observe examples of leapfrogging and retro-fitting, rather than orderly sequencing of governance reforms. The case of rapid marketisation of public service delivery is used to illustrate the arguments. The lesson is clear: good governance can come later.

Cheng, Yi-Wen; Ngo, Tak-Wing

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.874846pmid: N/A

AbstractThis paper questions the categorisation of good/bad governance and argues that such a stylised conception fails to capture the ambivalence of responsibilities and accountabilities in a political system characterised by multiple layers of authorities. Using a case study of the tobacco monopoly in China, the paper shows the contradictory goals and outcomes in different modes of operation that defy a stylised categorisation. A vigorously enforced regulatory regime with a higher level of transparency and bureaucratic accountability raised the national revenue and put tobacco production in accordance with the national plan. Yet it has severely impaired the welfare and livelihood of tobacco peasants. Conversely, a regulatory regime captured by parochial interests and sabotaged by rent-seeking politics rendered bureaucratic authority arbitrary and opaque, and at the expense of the state plan and national interests. Nonetheless it protected the welfare of peasants, improved local production and helped develop the local economy. The paper argues that the pathways to good governance are not only multi-linear, but also heterodox and unpredictable.

Johnson, Thomas

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.870828pmid: N/A

AbstractDuring the past decade, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection has pursued a strategy of “extending governance” to the public by creating formal public participation channels and promoting environmental transparency. Rather than representing a normative end in their own right, these features of “good governance” are being used instrumentally by the political executive to enlist public support in enforcing environmental regulations, and to depoliticise dissent by channelling it through legal mechanisms. This paper examines how environmental non-governmental organisations and “not-in-my-backyard” movements strategically interact with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and its good governance rhetoric to promote their own objectives. At the same time, it argues that unintended consequences have emerged as Chinese citizens increasingly assert their participatory and transparency “rights.” By appropriating instrumental good governance policies to their own advantage, citizens define concepts such as participation and transparency on their own terms.

Dressel, Björn

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.870827pmid: N/A

AbstractIt is widely argued that an empowered judiciary supports better governance by strengthening the rule of law and helping to make government more accountable and stable, but how solidly that reasoning is based in fact has not been carefully analysed. As recent events in Asia illustrate, apparently similar constitutional choices about courts can have very different effects on political life and ultimately governance. To address the relative lack of empirical observation and more closely investigate the nexus between courts and governance, this article first presents a basic typology of judicial politics and then applies it to Thailand, Singapore, Korea and Japan. The intent is to: (1) provide a much-needed and more nuanced view of the unfolding judicialisation phenomenon; and (2) urge closer attention to how specific patterns of judicial behaviour in Asia relate to dimensions of governance. The study thus offers an opportunity to illuminate larger issues at the intersection of judicial engagement and political governance and to advance a theoretical understanding of both.

Li, Linda Chelan; Wang, Wen

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2014.880255pmid: N/A

AbstractUnder what circumstances will governments in developing countries, infamous for their “bad governance” records, adopt “good governance” institutions and practices, as defined and advocated by international development and donor organisations? What meanings are attached to these initiatives in the adopting countries and to what extent are they similar to those as understood in the developed countries? These questions are discussed in this article in the context of education equity reforms in China and America. Despite their divergent histories and economic and political systems, their experience in terms of education equity reforms is more similar than one would anticipate. Penetrating these similarities is the observation that understanding the specific historical contexts wherein “good governance” reforms have evolved is essential to a proper appreciation of the meanings and significance of the reforms, as institutions and mechanisms, for the furtherance of good governance as an outcome. The nuances of tension and heterogeneity of internal developments in each country, respectively, have interestingly also exposed the parallels between the processes in both.

Lall, Marie; South, Ashley

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.823534pmid: N/A

This article explores two models of non-state education provision in Myanmar (Burma), in order to draw conclusions regarding templates for ethnic education regimes in this fast-changing country. Ethnic Armed Groups in Myanmar have developed education systems in the context of long-running armed conflicts. This paper examines two such regimes. Karen communities struggle with few resources to educate their children. Despite great difficulties, the Karen National Union has developed a curriculum based upon one Karen dialect, which is employed in about 1,000 schools. Graduates of this education regime are mostly unable to speak fluent Burmese, or to integrate with the Myanmar tertiary education system; they are orientated towards a Karen national identity, rather than Myanmar citizenship. However, with the beginnings of a substantial peace process, Karen educators will need to re-think their implicitly separatist agenda. A comparative case study is offered by the Mon ethnic minority. The New Mon State Party has had a fragile ceasefire since 1995. Some 270 Mon National Schools provide Mon language instruction at elementary levels, shifting to Burmese at middle school. As the Mon Schools follow the government curriculum, with extra classes in Mon language and history-culture, graduates are able to matriculate and enter the nationwide tertiary education system. We argue that the Mon experience can be a useful model for education reform in a transitional Myanmar, as political and civil society leaders negotiate a more decentralised state.

Singh, Sarinda

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.823587pmid: N/A

This paper considers the on-going production of bureaucracies for environmental governance in developing countries and the ways in which donor engagement is reshaped through localised bureaucratic dynamics. In Laos, World Bank conditions associated with the Nam Theun 2 hydropower project saw the establishment of the Watershed Management and Protection Authority (WMPA). I examine internal dynamics at the WMPA headquarters in Nakai District, including formal institutions for forest management, informal institutions for recognising local authority and wealth redistribution and the personal aspirations of WMPA officials. In doing so, this piece contributes to current discussions about donor-driven institutional change, practices of state-making and the local “technocrats” who are personally confronted by the complex intersections of donor conditionality and state authority.

Soltys, Dennis

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.848314pmid: N/A

AbstractUsing the perspective of political opportunity structure, this qualitative survey of primary sources attempts to determine whether environmental NGOs (ENGOs) in Kazakhstan are achieving institutionalisation from the standpoint of representative democracy, or are being co-opted by a corporatist national government. Are ENGOs the harbingers of the democratisation of the country that many observers hope to see? Given increases in the nation’s budgets for the environment and easing of NGO/ENGO legislation, the institutionalising project would seem to have some prospects for success. Concomitantly, the participation of civic groups in the policy arena has contributed to better governance through experiments in new forms of state-society partnership. However, these partnerships have under-performed. Local governments face conflicting demands, while the insufficient administrative and technical capacity of state agencies highlights the need for capacity building. On the political level, authentic ENGOs must compete for policy inclusion with co-opted “front” organisations selectively favoured by the national government, at the same time that the government’s ambiguity towards ENGOs retards the latter’s institutionalisation. The immediate future of environmental civic society is uncertain.

Tsokhas, Kosmas

doi: 10.1080/00472336.2013.869001pmid: N/A