Asia Pacific Viewpoint

Tyner, James A.

2000 Asia Pacific Viewpoint

doi: 10.1111/1467-8373.00112

The purpose of this paper is to situate the study of international labour migration, and especially the policies of labour export, within a gendered geopolitical framework. In so doing I open avenues of inquiry into the complexities of political ideologies that guide state apparatuses. Specifically, I examine how the Philippine state negotiates and operates within contradictory capitalist spaces through discourses of scale. Spatial scales are politically and socially constructed to legitimise power relations and to justify particular policies and programmes. In its support of capital accumulation, the Philippine state tends to adopt a discourse of globalisation; when confronted with charges of migrant exploitation, the Philippine state couples a discourse of the global with a discourse of the body. This corporeal discourse attempts to deflect attention and criticism away from the state, thereby maintaining its political hegemony.

Bourassa, Steven C.; Strong, Ann Louise

2000 Asia Pacific Viewpoint

doi: 10.1111/1467-8373.00113

For a quarter of a century, the government of New Zealand has been engaged in a process of restitution of property to Maori. Although land is the main object of Maori claims for restitution, rights to fisheries are also important. The nature of these rights is being influenced by findings of the Waitangi Tribunal and determined by legislation and judicial decisions. Both the definition of customary rights of Maori and the allocation of commercial fishing assets between urban Maori and members of traditional tribes present difficult questions not fully resolved. One principle that does appear to be settled is that full restitution is not feasible. Instead, both government and Maori seek settlements that will provide a firm foundation for community and economic development.

Hill, Michael

2000 Asia Pacific Viewpoint

doi: 10.1111/1467-8373.00114

It is possible to demonstrate, using Singapore as a key example, the way in which the attribution of a set of ‘Asian values’ represented a Western project which is best labelled ‘reverse Orientalism’. This process entailed the attribution of a set of cultural values to East and Southeast Asian societies by Western social scientists in order to contrast the recent dynamic progress of Asian development with the stagnation and social disorganisation of contemporary Western economies and societies. The contrast provided legitimation for some of the nation‐building policies of political leaders in such countries as Singapore and was incorporated in attempts to identify and institutionalise core values.

Barker, Judith C.

2000 Asia Pacific Viewpoint

doi: 10.1111/1467-8373.00115

This case study investigates the complex ways that recurrent ecological damage affected the course of socio‐economic development on Niue Island, a Pacific micro‐state. In tracing the historical record of droughts and hurricanes from 1900 to 1990, it is clear that severely inclement weather repeatedly destroyed agricultural development endeavours on the island leading to stagnation in this economic sector. In the aftermath of such disasters there were additional widespread social, political, and economic responses resulting in insidious but inexorable change. These responses – metaphoric ‘winds of change’– constituted, bolstered and sustained the transition to a MIRAB economy.

2000 Asia Pacific Viewpoint

doi: 10.1111/1467-8373.00116

Books reviewed: H.W. Arndt and Hal Hill (eds), Southeast Asia’s economic crisis: Origins, lessons and the way forward William Cline, Trade and income distribution Morris Goldstein, The Asian financial crisis: Causes, curses and systemic implications Lamont Lindstrom and James Gwero (eds), Big Wok: Storian blong Wol Wo Tu long Vanuatu

2000 Asia Pacific Viewpoint

doi: 10.1111/1467-8373.00117