Asia Policy: a peer-reviewed journal devoted to bridging the gap between academic research and policymaking on issues related to the Asia-Pacific

Asia Policy publishes, in descending order of emphasis, three types of peer-reviewed articles:

• social scientific research articles that both use social science theories, concepts, and approaches and draw clear and concise policy implications on issues of import to the region
• research notes that present, in a well-organized format, new and important descriptive information of use to policymakers, especially on topics that have traditionally been underrepresented in the literature
• policy analyses that present original, persuasive, analytically rigorous, and clear and concise research-based argumentation on crucial policy matters

To help bridge the gap between academic research and the policymaking realm, we require that all submissions meet the criteria spelled out in the Guidelines for Submission, which are available both online and in each issue of the journal. Submissions should avoid as much as possible the use of academic jargon and must include a one-page Executive Summary that succinctly describes the topic, main argument, and policy implications of the article. Each submission will be subject to an anonymous peer review process that includes critiques from both the academic and policy communities.

Asia Policy will also occasionally include other formats—e.g., essays, debates, and roundtables—on issues related to bridging the gap. We will focus particular attention on formats that allow for the exchange of ideas among academics, policymakers, and those whose experience straddles both worlds.

Download Asia Policy, Issue 6, July 2008

PDF format, 1.33MB, 202Pages.

CONTENTS:

Policy Q&A

      Understanding Islamic Finance:
      Local Innovation and Global Integration
      Shamshad Akhtar, Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Robert W. Hefner, Nik Norzrul Thani, Angelo Venardos, Frank E. Vogel, Ibrahim Warde

Articles

      Prosperity’s Children: Generational Change and Japan’s Future Leadership
      J. Patrick Boyd & Richard J. Samuels

      China’s Fifth Generation: Is Diversity a Source of Strength or Weakness?
      Cheng Li

Research Notes

      Securing Southeast Asia’s Sea Lanes: A Work in Progress
      Ian Storey

      The “Sixth Modernization”? China, Safety, and the Management of Risks
      Richard P. Suttmeier

Book Review Roundtable

      David C. Kang's China Rising: Peace, Power, and Order in East Asia
      Evelyn Goh, Ellen L. Frost, Christopher P. Twomey, Jalal Alamgir, Bin Yu, Peter Van Ness, David C. Kang

The “Sixth Modernization”?
China, Safety, and the Management of Risks
Richard P. Suttmeier

This article examines the reasons behind China’s failure to develop mechanisms to manage environmental and technological risks resulting from rapid industrial development.

Main Findings:

• Recent revelations about the safety of Chinese products, deep-seated problems with industrial safety in China, and the increasingly serious degradation of China’s environment point to the underdevelopment of institutions for managing environmental and technological risks.

• China’s response to these problems through efforts to strengthen state regulatory agencies is a necessary, but not sufficient, step.

• The often-puzzling relationships between risk and modernization experienced by other countries suggest that, in addition to state regulatory action, China also needs decentralized mechanisms for identifying risks, for developing science-based health and safety standards, and for ensuring the accountability of public and private actors responsible for creating hazards.

Policy Implications:

This “sixth modernization”—the development of institutions and values that can manage environmental and technological risks—will require significant political change and will take time. The international community, which has acquired an increasingly serious stake in the ways risks are managed in China, can help move the process forward by redoubling efforts to promote the establishment of international best practices for safety, reliability, and environmental protection:

• Foreign governments can do their part by making cooperative risk management a more central objective of their China policies and by expanding programs with the Chinese government for the development of modern regulatory regimes of law, science, decisionmaking, and enforcement.

• Foreign companies can help by giving greater priority to the dissemination of the norms and values of modern safety culture among their Chinese partners.

• Governments and industry, along with NGOs, can help move the process forward by sponsoring programs to explore how market-based mechanisms and state action can work together in the Chinese context to produce effective risk management regimes.

Richard P. Suttmeier is Professor of Political Science, Emeritus, at the University of Oregon.

Visit Asia Policy Official Website

The National Bureau of Asian Research is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution dedicated to informing and strengthening policy in the Asia-Pacific.

NBR conducts advanced independent research on strategic, political, economic, globalization, health, and energy issues affecting U.S. relations with Asia. Drawing upon an extensive network of the world’s leading specialists and leveraging the latest technology, NBR bridges the academic, business, and policy arenas.

The institution disseminates its research through briefings, publications, conferences, Congressional testimony, and email forums, and by collaborating with leading institutions worldwide. NBR also provides exceptional internship opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students for the purposes of attracting and training the next generation of Asia specialists.

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