published_or_final_version / Management Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

This dissertation creates two new theoretical tools to analyze connections between politics and environmental change. The first section develops the concept of Northern ‘shadow ecologies’ to understand the environmental impact of a Northern state on Southern resource management. A Northern shadow ecology is the aggregate environmental impact of government aid and loans; corporate investment and technology transfers; and trade, including purchasing practices, consumption, export and consumer prices, and import tariffs. After outlining Japan’s shadow ecology, the next part constructs an analytical lens to uncover salient Southern political causes of timber mismanagement. This spotlights modern patron-client links between Southern officials and private operators that debilitate state capacity to implement resource policies. Using these analytical tools, and building on extensive primary sources and more than 100 in-depth interviews, the remainder of the thesis examines the two most important factors driving commercial timber mismanagement in Indonesia, Borneo Malaysia, and the Philippines: pervasive patron-client ties between Southeast Asian officials and timber operators; and the residual and immediate environmental impact of Japan. In a continual struggle to retain power in societies with fragmented social control, Southeast Asian state leaders build potent patron-client networks that syphon state funds, distort policies, and undermine supervision of state implementors. In this setting, the state is often unable to enforce timber management rules as implementors -- in exchange for gifts, money, or security -- ignore or assist destructive and illegal loggers, smugglers, and tax evaders. Japan’s shadow ecology has expedited timber mismanagement, and left deep environmental scars that impede current efforts to improve timber management. Post-1990 Japanese government and corporate policy changes to integrate environmental concerns have marginally improved forestry ODA, and contributed to token corporate conservation projects. As well, there is now less Japanese investment, technology, and credit linked to logging. But massive timber purchases from unsustainable sources, wasteful consumption, timber prices that ignore environmental and social costs, import barriers that deplete Southern revenues, and the residual impact of past Japanese practices continue to accelerate destructive logging in Southeast Asia. Sustainable tropical timber management will require fundamental changes to Japan’s shadow ecology. It is also imperative to confront Southern political forces driving deforestation. While reforms will certainly face formidable -- perhaps insurmountable -- political and economic barriers, unless the world community tackles these issues, the remaining primary forests of Southeast Asia will soon perish.

Recent estimates of global maternal mortality indicate that for the first time since the Safe Motherhood Initiative of 1987, deaths due to pregnancy-related causes are on the decline. Defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, maternal mortality is one of the strongest health statistics showing the disparity between poor and rich countries. Although a global decline is documented, challenges to reducing maternal mortality, and meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for maternal health remain, particularly in many Sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian countries. This study presents an assessment of Cambodia’s progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal deaths by ¾ by 2015. The report examines issues related to the improvement of maternal health, outlining the magnitude, determinants, and prevention methods of maternal mortality globally and in Cambodia. Cambodia’s health policies and contextual factors impacting the maternal mortality ratio such as dramatic increases of skilled health personnel for delivery, delivery in health facility, and use of antenatal care are identified as key contributors to MMR reduction. Continued progress in reducing maternal mortality in Cambodia requires improvements to midwifery skill, competencies around normal and emergency birthing care, and salaries of midwives as well as an incentive for new graduates to work in the public sector. An increase in the cooperation between government health centers and hospitals are crucial to ensure obstetric referrals, supervision of health center staff, and an improvement in maternal death data collection. Finally a national priority to increase the use of family planning and safe abortion will significantly contribute to the continued reduction of MMR.

Southeast Asia and Bangladesh are at present global hot-spots of pirate attacks on merchant vessels and fishing boats. This thesis explains why, and in what form, piracy still exists. It will argue that an examination of contemporary piracy is important because it can be understood as both a symptom and a reflection of a range of geo-political and socio-economic problems and security concerns. The thesis examines pirate attacks on small craft, including fishing boats, and merchant vessels in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh between 1992 and 2006. It describes the different types of contemporary pirate attacks, identifies piracy hot-spots, and looks at the various kinds of pirates active in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh. Furthermore, it discusses a number of factors which have contributed to the shaping of modern day piracy in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh. Issues examined in this regard include the impact of ecological degradation and over-fishing on the occurrence of piracy; loop-holes and shortcomings in maritime laws and regulations that are conducive to the operations of pirates; the involvement of transnational crime syndicates and radical politically motivated groups in piracy; and the problems with state and private responses to pirate attacks. It will be argued that the examination of these factors reveals not only how they shape piracy, but that they also have an impact upon security well beyond pirate attacks. Examining piracy in this way is akin to looking through a prism, allowing a critical gaze to be cast over a range of political, social, and ecological developments, as well as security risks, and their impact on the lives and circumstances of people in Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, and the wider international community. It will be suggested that piracy and the various responses to it both reflect political and social developments within countries, and co-operation, tension and friction between states. Additionally, it will be demonstrated that the occurrence of pirate attacks in a region or a country indicates the existence of a wide range of traditional and non-traditional security risks, which can have far reaching repercussions for individuals, nations, or the international community. Through the examination of piracy in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh, and the responses it triggers, important new trends and practices in the security sector are also identified, including the increasing privatisation of security and protection services around the globe.

Southeast Asia and Bangladesh are at present global hot-spots of pirate attacks on merchant vessels and fishing boats. This thesis explains why, and in what form, piracy still exists. It will argue that an examination of contemporary piracy is important because it can be understood as both a symptom and a reflection of a range of geo-political and socio-economic problems and security concerns. The thesis examines pirate attacks on small craft, including fishing boats, and merchant vessels in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh between 1992 and 2006. It describes the different types of contemporary pirate attacks, identifies piracy hot-spots, and looks at the various kinds of pirates active in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh. Furthermore, it discusses a number of factors which have contributed to the shaping of modern day piracy in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh. Issues examined in this regard include the impact of ecological degradation and over-fishing on the occurrence of piracy; loop-holes and shortcomings in maritime laws and regulations that are conducive to the operations of pirates; the involvement of transnational crime syndicates and radical politically motivated groups in piracy; and the problems with state and private responses to pirate attacks. It will be argued that the examination of these factors reveals not only how they shape piracy, but that they also have an impact upon security well beyond pirate attacks. Examining piracy in this way is akin to looking through a prism, allowing a critical gaze to be cast over a range of political, social, and ecological developments, as well as security risks, and their impact on the lives and circumstances of people in Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, and the wider international community. It will be suggested that piracy and the various responses to it both reflect political and social developments within countries, and co-operation, tension and friction between states. Additionally, it will be demonstrated that the occurrence of pirate attacks in a region or a country indicates the existence of a wide range of traditional and non-traditional security risks, which can have far reaching repercussions for individuals, nations, or the international community. Through the examination of piracy in Southeast Asia and Bangladesh, and the responses it triggers, important new trends and practices in the security sector are also identified, including the increasing privatisation of security and protection services around the globe.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: p.263-291.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Middle East, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa))--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Lawson, Letitia. "June 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 13, 2009. DTIC Identifiers: Maritime strategy, drug war, piracy, Caribbean, national strategy. Author(s) subject terms: Africa; Drug War; Piracy; Maritime Strategy; Caribbean; Coast Guard; Southeast Asia; Indonesia; Singapore; Malaysia. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-73). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1986.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1986.