Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Kirill Nourzhanov, ANU
By local standards, 2013 proved quite successful for the people and leaders of the five Central Asian republics. There were no major wars, natural disasters, or coups d’etat. The governments continued to muddle through the usual raft of problems, and ordinary citizens remained largely quiescent; there was a distinct lack of an Arab Spring-like atmosphere. Read more…
Author: Susan Harris Rimmer, ANU
What an extraordinary beginning to foreign policy Australia has seen under the new Abbott government, especially in the realm of diplomacy. There has been more drama in a few months than would normally fill a book reviewing the decade.
Australia’s first female foreign minister, Julie Bishop, was sworn in and days later chaired the UN Security Council as Australian president for the first time in decades. Read more…
Author: Cesar E. A. Virata, former Prime Minister of the Philippines
The Philippine economy is likely to register a GDP growth rate of 7 per cent in 2013. This comes even after many challenging events throughout the year, including the US tapering announcement, territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea with China, and the calamities that hit several areas in the central and southern Philippines. Read more…
Author: Gary Hawke, New Zealand Institute of Economic Research
This year, like last, New Zealand will remain challenged by tension between its place in an Asian economic region and its history as part of the Anglosphere. In particular, there is always uncertainty over whether policy choices will be governed by analysis of New Zealand’s interests in the Asian region or by nostalgia for past associations and the comfort of familiarity. Read more…
Author: Ross Garnaut, University of Melbourne
Australia is enjoying its 22nd year of economic growth without recession — an experience that is unprecedented in any other developed country. For the first decade of expansion, growth was based on extraordinary increases in productivity, attributable to productivity-raising reforms from 1983. In the early years of this century, reform and productivity growth slowed sharply and then stopped. Read more…
Author: Dushni Weerakoon, Institute of Policy Studies
Sri Lanka’s post-conflict development aspirations have been fashioned on a simple but socio-politically persuasive argument: sustain growth at high levels and extend its benefits to more people. In this, the government that swept into power in 2010 has delivered Read more…
Author: Adam P MacDonald, Halifax
In 2013 President Sein’s government continued with their widespread — but not completely comprehensive — reform agenda, enacting important domestic changes alongside a number of successful foreign engagements erasing Myanmar’s previous pariah status.
