Asia

This paper is confrontational and challenges many deep assumptions in mainstream development. It argues that from the early 1990s in many ways Cambodia became a ‘donor playground’. It supports this argument by reference to various arguments in development studies, to a specific case study of intervention in Cambodia, and to an examination of important parts of the relevant donor ‘knowledge production’.

This study aims to provide a brief overview of bauxite mining in three key locations in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. It takes a deeper look into the role that China is playing in investing in bauxite mining and regional infrastructure to strategically position the country as the main market for bauxite, alumina and aluminum from these three countries.

In this issue, our authors report on conflicts stemming from coal and copper mining in Afghanistan, India, and Myanmar. The articles on Cambodia and on Inner Mongolia in China illustrate how the traditional economic models and ways of life of indigenous populations suffer from the unrestrained exploitation of raw materials.

Publication Series on Democracy 31: The present study by Andrea Fleschenberg shows that in national and international debates about the transition process in Afghanistan women’s voices are seldom present, or taken into consideration.

Despite the tens of millions of dollars in aid and concessional loans being spent in Cambodia, the evidence shows that tenure insecurity, forced evictions and large-scale land grabbing are escalating to alarminglevels. The paper calls on development partners to adopt a ten-pronged framework for a human rights approach to development.

All over the world, information technologies and the internet have taken an increasingly important role in communication, challenging the conventional means of news consumption. Our office in Thailand has performed interviews with academics, journalists and activists to explore the role of new media in social movements in Thailand, and how it will develop.

How People Define Violence and Justice is a joint research project of ACSFo and HBS on international crimes, massacres, rapes, murders, destruction of residential areas, homicide and imprisonment of intellectuals, torture and human rights abuses of the past fifty years. The standards for justice and human rights violation in this project are defined by people. Views, beliefs and utterances of respondents constitute the basis of this research.

With their presentation of specific topics and discourses, the media construct specific realities that shape a society’s images of other regions. This comprehensive study analyzes the portrayal of China in German media. Originally published in German, this summary summary shows the essential results.

Nuclear Energy generation is slated to rise in the coming decades from the present 3 percent to upto 20 percent in the energy mix of India. With climate change concerns, nuclear energy is now being brought back and reconsidered as 'clean' and 'zero cost' energy. The amount of waste created will increase manifold.

Current military operations in the region led by international and Afghan forces, as well as diplomatic pressure on neighboring countries are part of counterinsurgency efforts to stabilize Khost province.