Virtual Forum on Security in the Asia Pacific
The concept of a Virtual Forum on Security in the Asia Pacific was formulated in the first Dialogue on Security and Disarmament that took place in Melbourne in 1998. The aim of the forum is to enable the dialogue process to continue between meetings. Since the first historical event in Melbourne in 1998, the National Centre for South Asian Studies at Monash Asia Institute hosted meetings in Washington in 1999, Prato and London in 2000, Beijing in 2004 and Kathmandu in 2008.
Publications
A number of papers including the following major publications have arisen out of the dialogues:
Regional Security in the Asia Pacific: 9/11 and After
Edited by Marika Vicziany, David Wright-Neville and Pete Lentini
Edward Elgar, 2004, $80.00, ISBN 1 84376 825 9
The September 2001 terrorist attacks shocked the world. But what did they change? In this book, Asia specialists from academe and policy think tanks assess the impact of 9/11 on the Asia Pacific. Drawing on unique fieldwork, access to a wide range of documents and inside expertise, the authors consider how old geo-strategic and cultural fault lines have been overlaid with new security threats from state and non-state actors. With chapters on specific countries and regions, defence policies, terrorism, and current and potential conflict zones, this collection critically examines the Asia Pacific region's post 9/11, as well as post-Iraq, security architecture.
The 14 contributors to this volume consider regional and global security in ways that go beyond the narrow focus on nation-states. They examine the 'hardware' of security ( WMD, missiles etc) without excluding more fundamental issues of governance, identity, religion, economic collaboration, and the destabilising impact of poverty and disease. The depth and breath of research provides a wide perspective on security problems in the Asia Pacific.
A timely and comprehensive examination of the effects and the consequences of September 11 and the war in Iraq, "Regional Security in the Asia Pacific" is a critical book for political scientists, scholars and policymakers engaged in security and terrorism debates, as well as those interested in the changing landscape of global relations.
Controlling arms and terror in the Asia Pacific: after Bali and Baghdad
Edited by Marika Vicziany
Edward Elgar, 2007, ISBN 1 84542 405 3
Years after 9/11, the Global War on Terror is still not over. The deepening crisis in Iraq has been accompanied by rising violence in Asia, as the bombings in Indonesia show. The 18 specialists and policymakers who have contributed to this book assess how the security scenario in the Asia Pacific has changed in response to these events.
The Asia pacific is rent by communal conflicts that have generated local jihads, which fuel regional and global jihads. This book assesses state responses to terrorism, paying attention to neglected factors such as money laundering, the emerging role of the EU, the growing fear of the US and increasing concern about the way anti-terrorist legislation curtails civil liberties. With the benefit of extensive fieldwork and access to unique sources in many languages, the contributors analyze key features of the local security scenarios. Pakistan's precarious situation is explored here from many angles, including Islamic militancy, the role of the military and the peace process with India. Again, domestic failures support regional and global terror. Regional anti-terrorist collaboration is also hampered by South-east Asia's counter-terrorism dilemmas, set-backs in the Philippine-US security relationship, the Asian arms race, and growing fears of the US National Missile Defence system and how this system will be perceived by China. The history of state sponsored terrorism and millenarian ideology are crucial to these regional scenarios. The latter, in the particular form of Japan's Aum Shinrikyo movement, reminds us that militant Islamists are not uniquely destructive.
An important addition to the literature on terrorism and security, this in-depth and comprehensive analysis of a complex and increasingly unstable region will be welcomed by political scientists, scholars, policymakers, and those seeking a better understanding of whether the Global War on Terror has changed the security architecture of the Asia Pacific in a positive way.
Forthcoming Events
An announcement will be posted on this website when details become available.
- For further information, please contact:
- Professor Marika Vicziany
- Director, National Centre for South Asian Studies
- c/- Monash Asia Institute, Building 11
- Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800
- Email: marika.vicziany@ adm. monash.edu.au