Rethinking Authority in China’s Border Regime

In the 21st century, governments around the globe are faced with the question on how to tackle new migratory mobilities. Governments increasingly become aware of irregular immigration and are forced to re-negotiate the dilemma of open but secure borders. Rethinking Authority in China’s Border Regime: Regulating the Irregular investigates the Chinese government’s response to this phenomenon. Hence, this book presents a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese border regime. It explores the regulatory framework of border mobility in China by analysing laws, institutions, and discourses as part of an ethnographic border regime analysis. It argues that the Chinese state deliberately creates ‘zones of exception’ along its border. In these zones, local governments function as ‘scalar managers’ that establish cross-border relations to facilitate cross-border mobility and create local migration systems that build on their own notion of legality by issuing locally valid border documents. The book presents an empirically rich story of how border politics are implemented and theoretically contributes to debates on territoriality and sovereignty as well as to the question of how authority is exerted through border management. Empirically, the analysis builds on two case studies at the Sino-Myanmar and Sino-North Korean borders to illustrate how local practices are embedded in multiscalar mobility regulation including regional organizations such as the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Greater Tumen Initiative.

International Solidarity and the Global Compact on Refugees: What Role for the African Union and the European Union?

On the 70th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention, this article examines the concept of solidarity and explains its relevance today, through the lens of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). While stressing the potential as well as the challenges for thorough implementation of the solidarity mechanisms established by the GCR, the article argues that regional organizations may contribute to meeting the GCR objectives. This is particularly urgent for regions that are most affected by migratory flows. In proposing new ways of approaching the concept of solidarity, the article suggests that the African Union strengthen mechanisms other than the physical sharing of refugees, including pooling resources to support states experiencing large influxes of refugees. In addition to a system of financial support for refugee protection, the article also recommends that the European Union ensures safe channels for arrivals and a more robust resettlement programme, to help realize the GCR objectives.

The Origins of Common Identity: Evidence from Alsace-Lorraine

We study how more negative historical exposure to the actions of nation-states—like war, occupation, and repression—affects the formation of regional identity. The quasi-exogenous division of the French regions Alsace and Lorraine allows us to implement a geographical regression discontinuity design at the municipal level. Using measures of stated and revealed preferences, we find that more negative experiences with nation-states are associated with a stronger regional identity in the short, medium, and long run. This is linked to preferences for more regional decision-making. Establishing regional organizations seems to be a key mechanism to maintaining and strengthening regional identity. (JEL H77, N43, N44, N93, N94, Z13)

Implementation of Regulation Number 25 in 2009 Concerning the Public Services Toward the Regional Organizations of Gorontalo District

The research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Regulation Number 25 in 2009 concerning public service on the organization of the local forces and investigate the hindrance factors of the implementation of Regulation Number 25 in 2009 concerning public service on the regional organizations. It was empirical juridical research employing the interview method. The technique of data analysis applied descriptive analysis. Findings revealed that the public services of Gorontalo District's regional organizations had been implemented based on the procedure operational standard and the provision of Legislation, although it was not effective. It can be seen from community satisfaction with administrative services that still need to be addressed and improved. The hindrance factors of implementing public service regulation were human resources and the availability of facilities and infrastructures. In creating public services appropriately with the Legislation, the government should be entirely done to improve employees' awareness. Society or paying attention to the organization management and adequate human resources and facilities and infrastructures can support the role of government in improving the public services, particularly the regional organizations of Gorontalo District.

Indonesian Diplomacy to Become a Non-Permanent Member of the UN Security Council 2019-2020

The UN Security Council has 15 members divided into two types of membership, namely permanent members and non-permanent members. This research describes and analyzes phenomena, such as events, social activities, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, thoughts of people individually or in groups. This study seeks to explore Indonesia's strategy and diplomacy to be elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) for the 2019-2020 period. Indonesia is actively contributing to peace, humanity, and prosperity in the region and globally. This variable is the primary consideration for UN member states to support Indonesia. Another reason besides that is inseparable from the maturing of democracy in Indonesia. UN member states view Indonesia as a tolerant country, where Islam and democracy go together. Indonesia will strengthen the global peace and stability ecosystem. For this reason, Indonesia will encourage a culture of dialogue so that conflict resolution can always exist peacefully. Indonesia will also seek to increase the synergy between regional organizations and the UN Security Council in maintaining peace and increasing the capacity of UN peacekeepers, including the role of women.

Conclusion

The disagreement between China and the United States over maritime rights in the South China Sea has become the leading maritime point of friction. But that dispute is just one part of more fundamental change at work in how the world governs the oceans, one that has moved away from the idea of freedom of the seas. A central question is whether the UN Convention’s compromise on the oceans can endure. The Convention increased national sovereignty over parts of the oceans but also created mechanisms of international control. What emerged from that compromise is a complex, hybrid system of governance that relies on national governments but also a variety of international and regional organizations and international courts. Part of that compromise is a narrower version of freedom of the seas, but pressure from multiple directions is rendering even a limited version of that long-standing doctrine increasingly fragile.

The Convention in Operation

Post–Cold War ocean diplomacy appeared promising, particularly in the Arctic. Countries in the region negotiated maritime boundaries and cooperated on environmental concerns. Globally, several new maritime organizations took shape, including a tribunal and an organization to manage the deep seabed. Many countries proved eager to get more undersea territory, and they assembled legal claims to large areas of the continental shelf. These developments were accompanied by increased tension in the South China Sea, where China asserted special rights. Its moves provoked tension with other countries, including the United States. A collision between US and Chinese military aircraft highlighted the risks. The new legal framework for the oceans was tested in other ways, including through boarding operations and moves by countries to keep dangerous vessels far away from their coasts. The effort to control fishing activities continued and featured both dramatic high-seas chases and quiet negotiations by regional organizations.

Key Actors in the Management of Crises: International and Regional Organizations

In crisis-ridden times, when events like the COVID-19 pandemic, acts of terrorism, and climate change-induced crises are making constant headlines, states, businesses, and individuals alike look to international organizations (IOs) to help them weather the storm. How can the role of IOs be better understood in the context of crisis and crisis management? For a start, it requires a distinction between objective and subjective crisis perspectives in studying IOs. From an objective perspective, IOs are examined as unitary actors that have the aim of contributing to the stability of the international political system. On the other hand, in a subjectivistic approach, IOs’ actual crisis management is the focus. In this perspective, the emphasis is on an IO’s internal life, that is, its perceptions, bureau politics, and decision-making. In the exploration of these issues, IOs can no longer by studied as entities but have to be unwrapped into small groups and individuals, such as members of secretariats or member state’s top politicians. As borne out by theories developed by scholars of crisis management and foreign-policy analysis, centralization and cognitive bias are of special interest in the study of IOs. IOs’ crisis management has four crisis phases and tasks: sense-making, decision-making, meaning-making, and crisis termination. Finally, crises may prove a threat to, or an opportunity for, IOs. Transnational crises may usher in IOs’ foundation and flourishing, or they may contribute to IOs’ demise.