Authors: Greg Fealy and Sally White, ANU

Australia’s first academic conference on Indonesian terrorism was held at the Australian National University (ANU) early in December.

Entitled ‘Indonesian Terrorism in a Global Context’, the conference brought together researchers specialising in the study of Indonesia’s jihadists and scholars working on global trends in terrorism. Read more…

Author: Vikas Kumar, Bangalore

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, commentators on East Asia Forum have highlighted the moderate character of Southeast Asian Islam.

Bahrawi argues that contested interpretations of Islam are democratising Islam in Southeast Asia — but similar contests seem to be ineffective in countries like Pakistan. And van Bruinessen argues that large, resilient Islamic organisations are stabilising Indonesian democracy — but comparable organisations are failing to play such a role in other Islamic countries. So are local factors playing a bigger role in Southeast Asia than is usually suspected?  Read more…

Author: Peter Baofu, Universiti Utara Malaysia

As China fast approaches superpower status, its current policy of non-interference in world affairs will soon become obsolete.

China’s need for an updated foreign policy is more urgent than ever, and its new global outlook will undoubtedly carry global implications. Read more…

Author: James Reilly, University of Sydney

The Arab Spring’s conspicuous arrival raises an important question further afield: might a similar round of popular protests shake the foundations of Communist Party rule in China?

The success of a sophisticated strategy combining tolerance, responsiveness, persuasion and repression in response to the public’s mounting demands for political participation would suggest not. Read more…

Authors: Alexander Vorontsov, Russian Academy of Sciences and Oleg Revenko

Despite Libya and North Korea’s geographical distance many analysts have drawn parallels and even forecast similar fates for their leaders.

The NATO intervention in Libya poses the following question: In the contemporary world can a small country conduct an independent foreign policy, regardless of the approval of the global ruling class, without running the risk of being punished for it? Read more…

Authors: Troy Stangarone, Korea Economic Institute, and Greg Scarlatoiu, Committee for HRNK

The Arab Spring (the reform movements sweeping the Middle East and North Africa) is comparable to the democratic awakening that occurred at the end of the Cold War in Eastern Europe.

With the US’s and Europe’s resources stretched thin — and perhaps unwelcome in an evolving region that may view the West as complicit in its oppressive past — it is prudent to look ahead and ask what the broader global community can do to assist. Read more…

Author: Donald K. Emmerson, Stanford University

‘Bin Laden Dead: Muslim World Reacts,’ announced ABC-TV. An Afghan rickshaw driver likened him to ‘a hero in the Muslim world.‘ Far from a hero, said a Pakistani professor, ‘he was a problem for the whole Muslim world.’

‘For the Muslim world,’ his death was like the lifting of a curse, wrote the Islamic Society of North America. According to the staff of eCanadaNow, ‘the Muslim world is reeling’ because Bin Laden was buried at sea in violation of the Muslim tradition that allows for that practice only if the deceased actually died there Read more…