Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs Vol. 12/1 (June 1990)

Contents

• Preliminary pages

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• ARTICLES
• The Transformation of Vietnam's World-view: From Two Camps to Interdependence, by Gareth Porter , author see abstract
  Until the mid-1980s, the world-view held by the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party was based on orthodox Marxist-Leninist beliefs that world politics was a class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. From its inception, the Vietnamese communist regime saw the world primarily as a mortal struggle between imperialist and revolutionary camps. But Hanoi carried out a far-reaching reassessment of global economics and politics in the latter half of the 1980s, culminating in the acceptance by the Vietnamese Political Bureau of a new world-view in 1988, based on the assumption that the most important reality for Vietnam is the necessity to find a niche in the world economy. Elements of the old world-view continue to coexist with the new one, however, producing continuing debates and shift in emphasis from struggle against imperialism to economic interdependence.
• A New Scramble for the South China Sea Islands, by Chang Pao-Min, author see abstract
  This article surveys the developments in the Spratly islands since 1986 when China began to intensify its naval activities in the area, thereby spurring a five-power scramble for the control of these islands, particularly after the March 1988 naval skirmish between Vietnam and China. The article also examines the problems and prospects of a negotiated settlement of the increasingly complex dispute, and analyses the dilemmas confronting all the five countries involved. It concludes with a pessimistic note that the situation is most likely to get worse before it can get better in the next few years.
• International Fishery Relations in the Gulf of Thailand, by Ted L McDorman, author see abstract
  The primary characteristic of international fishery relations between Thailand and its three Gulf of Thailand neighbours in the 1980s has been conflict. Thailand's successful fishing fleet is frequently accused of fishing illegally in the waters claimed by the other states. This has led to arrests, confiscation, imprisonment and sometimes violence. The fishery incidents have complicated relations between Thailand and its Indochinese neighbours and been an irritant in Thai-Malaysian relations. As the 1980s closed the fishery conflicts were easing, but resolution has not been achieved. The 1990s will see further conflicts until the Thai fishing fleet no longer roams unrestrained in the Gulf of Thailand and the adjacent South China Sea areas.
• Culture and Compliance: A Negative Assessment of Positive Values, by Daniel R Gibson , author see abstract
  Calls for deliberate inculcation of positive social or moral values are common place. This article reviews one such proposal, which suggests that government-sponsored "cultural renewal" can help developing countries enlist the compliance of their citizens and overcome a destructive politics of self-interest. The reviewer welcomes the proposal's stress upon politics as a prime determinant of development outcomes, but faults its reliance upon value orientations as a basis for, or predictor of, political behaviour. As an analytical approach, interpretation of politics in terms of values sows confusion, as empirical cases show. As a guide to political practice, enabling government to become the arbiter and enforcer of positive values encourages authoritarianism. Such a set of values in the hands of government will more likely be employed selectively as a political means rather than universally for development ends. The article suggests that the study of interests offers richer grounds for analysing issues of compliance and development.
• BOOK REVIEWS
• BOOK REVIEW: Pacific Asian Economic Policies and Regional Interdependence edited by Robert A Scalapino, Seizaburo Sato, Jusuf Wanandi, and Sung-joo Han, by Khong Cho Oon , author

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• BOOK REVIEW: The Armed Forces of New Zealand and the ANZUS Split: Costs and Consequences., by Philip Methven, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Soviet Air Defence Missiles by Steven J Zaloga, by Derek da Cunha, author

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