Bilateral Partners Research Articles

Strategic partnership between Japan and New Zealand: foundation, development and prospect

There is an increasing proliferation of bilateral strategic partnerships in and beyond the Indo-Pacific region. Yet such a partnership between Japan and New Zealand is underexplored. The central aim of this article is to fill the gap. This article first clarifies the definition of, and then provides an analytical framework for, a ‘strategic partnership’. The article then analyses how these countries laid the foundation of their strategic partnership and how they have since built upon that foundation. In the implementation process of the strategic partnership, this article examines three elements: 1) the consolidation of their strategic partnership in official documents; 2) the institutionalisation of regular meetings; and 3) participation in defence and security exercises. Although the Japan-New Zealand strategic partnership is still in the early stages, this article argues that it has the potential to grow further given bipartisan support and positive perceptions in civil society in both countries. This article also analyses three factors that exert an impact on the development of their strategic partnership: China’s continued assertive maritime presence, the rejuvenation of the US-New Zealand bilateral relationship, and Japan and New Zealand’s ongoing commitment to the South Pacific region.

A process approach to understanding multiple open source innovation contests – Assessing the contest structures, execution, and participant responses in the android developer challenges

As organizations recognize the importance of open innovation, understanding emerging mechanisms for soliciting outside participation is a growing area of academic interest. Strategies can be as diverse as hosting innovation contests, sponsoring open source software (OSS) communities, or engaging in bilateral partnerships. While these have been studied as distinct strategies, more recent work has identified the possibility for combining these approaches, or deploying different methods at different times. Because each of these open innovation strategies are characterized by different incentive systems as well as different work and social practices, the combination of these can reveal unexpected participant responses (e.g., collaboration in innovation contests, competitive behavior in OSS communities). This study examines an explicit attempt to combine these strategies, to host an open source innovation contest. Through the case of Google's Android Developer Challenge, a series of multi-million dollar innovation contests used to launch an OSS community over several years, this study utilized a process approach to understanding open source innovation contests to understand how participants responded and also how the contest conditions changed over time. We found several practices of competition and collaboration that worked around the short term and long term incentives and constraints posed by the contest. We also followed the contest through various transition phases and found that participants reacted strongly to changes in structure, execution, and shifting conditions over time. Through this case, we extend our understanding of innovation contests as a process and specifically the promises and pitfalls of open source innovation contests.

Re-(Modi)fying India’s Israel Policy: An Exploration of Practical Geopolitical Reasoning Through Re-representation of ‘India’, ‘Israel’ and ‘West Asia’ Post-2014

Narendra Modi became the first Prime Minister of India to undertake a stand-alone visit to Israel from 4 to 6 July 2017. Although India–Israel relations had been normalised in 1992, the nature of this bilateral relationship remained murky as India avoided any explicit recognition. However, with Modi’s visit, the policy of ‘equidistance’ or ‘de-hyphenation’ of ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine’ was formally operationalised proclaiming that India’s relations with one country will have no impact on relations with the other. Conventional academic wisdom attributes causal determinants to Indian foreign policy vis-à-vis Israel as guided by international and domestic factors. This article contends that a constitutive approach to understanding India’s foreign policy towards Israel and the Middle East offers a viable alternative. Adopting Gearoid O Tuathail’s theoretical framework of practical geopolitical reasoning, this article critically explores the geopolitical representations of ‘India’, ‘Israel’, ‘Palestine’, ‘West Asia’, ‘South Asia’ and ‘Middle East’ in the National Democratic Alliance government’s foreign policy discourse through an analysis of ‘grammar of geopolitics’, ‘geopolitical storylines’ and ‘geopolitical script’. The article demonstrates that re-representation of ‘India’ as a ‘global actor’ and re-representation of ‘Israel’ as a country in ‘West Asia’ have enabled the Modi-led government to implement India–Israel bilateral partnership which underscores strategic cooperation in full visibility via overt normalisation.

Deliberation on the risks of nanoscale materials: learning from the partnership between environmental NGO EDF and chemical company DuPont

ABSTRACT While Deliberative Policy Analysis primarily focuses on the role of public agencies in deliberative practices, this paper extends the analysis of deliberative platforms to industry-civil society deliberations. More in particular, the paper examines deliberation processes that took place within a three-year bilateral partnership between a non-governmental organization, Environmental Defense Fund and a large multinational chemical company, DuPont, to develop a joint risk framework for engineered nanoscale materials. I will show that the deliberative space created by EDF and DuPont did not meet the ideal of communicative rationality, i.e. the possibility of those affected by a particular problem having the opportunity to participate in the deliberative platform and share their issues and concerns. However, the outcomes of this bilateral partnership did become part of the public sphere, i.e. the open space in society supported through a diffuse media infrastructure. As such, opportunities were created for those excluded to share concerns and raise questions. Inspired by this case study I will argue that to gain insight into problematic situations evoked by the development of newly emerging science and technology, deliberations in the public sphere are just as important as face to face deliberations in concrete, tangible spaces.

Polish-German Cooperation in the Field of Cultural Heritage: the Case of the European Park Association of Lusatia

The article aims at assessing the possibilities of developing network cooperation at the Polish and Ger-man border, where cross-border bilateral partnerships dominate. The solution to this specific fact is analysed in a case study regarding a trans-border project dedicated to the protection of Polish-German cultural heritage, and using it to the advantage of the development of tourism within the border region. Based on this example, the authors analysed the factors contributing to the development of cross-bor-der network cooperation, the barriers which hinder it, as well as benefits of such cooperation forms. This article also touches on the role of the Euroregion “Sprewa-Nysa-Bóbr/Spree-Neiße-Bober” and the INTERREG VA Brandenburg - Poland Cooperation Program 2014-2020 in supporting the development of cross-border partnerships across the Polish-German border.

Zróżnicowanie formalnych podstaw współpracy gospodarczej Unii Europejskiej z państwami Partnerstwa Wschodniego a wzajemna wymiana handlowa

The economic relations of the European Union (EU) with the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries are diverse in terms of their formal basis, scope and size. All EaP countries were already covered by the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) in 1993/1994 and some by the additional GSP+ scheme in 2005, and bilateral Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (with the exception of Belarus) in 1998–1999, replaced in 2016–2018 by an Association Agreement with a DCFTA for Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, and in Armenia by a comprehensive and strengthened Partnership Agreement. However, the analysis of trade flows between 2007 and 2017 did not reveal a clear link between the volume of trade and the type of agreement governing economic relations. Although for most Eastern Partnership countries, the EU is the most important export market (except for Belarus) and the most important supplier (except for Armenia and Belarus), for the EU as a whole, the EaP countries remain second and third tier partners.

Strategic Foreign Aid Competition: Japanese and Chinese Assistance in the Philippine Infrastructure Sector

This study examines the Sino-Japanese strategic foreign aid competition in the Philippine infrastructure sector. It argues that the practice of geoeconomics in East Asian affairs has intensified as a result of China's rise as a great-power competitor and the growing nexus of security and economics in the region. In order to make their foreign aids attractive, Japan has adopted a set of normative principles that are encapsulated in its “Quality Infrastructure” as a strategy, while China continues to emphasize the principles of Chinese aid and the adoption of the BRI. The article found, among other outcomes, that the existing maritime dispute between the Philippines and China affects the legitimacy and attractiveness of Chinese assistance. On the other hand, due to their deepening bilateral relation, Japan remains the Philippines's most important bilateral development partner.

Next Frontiers in Philippine Oncology and Development in the Entire Cancer Care Continuum from Prevention to Management

Abstract The master plan of our newly strengthened National Integrated Cancer Control Program is the offshoot of our newly enacted National Integrated Cancer Control Act. Our vision for the program is Comprehensive Cancer Care and Optimized Cancer Survival by 2025. We hope to achieve the vision of our country, that is, the Filipinos will live long, healthy and productive lives by 2040. The portfolio of investments and strategies to attain our vision will be incorporated and consolidated in the soon-to-be-developed Cancer Control Strategic Action Plan 2020-2030. The action plan will map out, prioritize and sustain (especially by funding) all our whole-of-government, whole-of society, whole-of-system, equity-based and life-course approaches and efforts across the entire cancer care continuum to attain our vision. The portfolio will include the following initiatives: establishment of cancer care centers such as the Philippine Cancer Center, Specialty Cancer Centers, Comprehensive Cancer Care Centers, Regional Cancer Centers and Cancer Treatment Satellites; development of local clinical practice guidelines for priority cancers; establishment of the strengthened Philippine Cancer Registry, including surveillance and data analytics; strengthening of cancer research and development; institutionalization of multidisciplinary team approach to patient care; and use of artificial intelligence and precision medicine. The entire cancer care continuum starts from primary prevention such as vaccination and risk factor assessment; screening or early detection such as genetic testing and counseling and use of artificial intelligence for cancer detection and precision medicine screening; patient navigation and palliative care will start from cancer diagnosis and precision medicine will be utilized for both diagnosis and treatment;and opioid analgesics access program will be strengthened for palliative and hospice care. We are also open to bilateral partnership in this cancer journey.

Міжнародні військові навчання країн-членів НАТО за участю підрозділів Збройних сил України та програми Альянсу з підтримки миру в Україні

У статті розглянуто питання анексії РФ в Україні Кримського півострова та подальшого розгортання сепаратистського руху в південно-східних областях, який згодом переріс у збройний конфлікт на Сході України. Проаналізовано напрями і характер співпраці між Збройними силами України та військовими підрозділами Альянсу. Визначено ступінь практичної взаємодії в межах діючих програм двостороннього партнерства на рівні Україна – НАТО, включаючи військово-навчальну підготовку. Досліджено хронологію трансформації організаційних форм присутності української армії на Сході України від Антитерористичної операції до Операції Об’єднаних Сил і роль НАТО в цьому процесі. Безпосередньо вказано на складові елементи впливу Північноатлантичного Альянсу на реформування українського війська відповідно до вимог і стандартів, визначених Організацією. Відображено роль розташованого у м. Києві Офісу зв’язку НАТО та Центру захисту й обробки інформації. Окрему увагу приділено питанню боротьби з кіберзлочинністю та захисту інформаційних систем держави від впливу ззовні. Зокрема, мова йде про захист об’єктів критичної інфраструктури держави (атомні електростанції, стратегічні державні підприємства тощо), електронних реєстрів виборчих списків громадян, баз даних банківської системи держави. Зазначено про діяльність операційних центрів НАТО з протидії кіберзлочинам та створення подібних установ в Україні. Відмічено морську складову взаємодії у співпраці України та Організації Північноатлантичного договору, особливу актуальну на тлі загострення ситуації в Азово-Чорноморському регіоні протягом 2018 року, пов’язаної з проходом українських військових кораблів Азовської флотилії Військово-морських сил України Керченською протокою, яка перебуває під контролем окупаційних військ Збройних сил Російської Федерації, і викликаних цим так званих «прикордонних конфліктів», останній із яких у листопаді минулого року призвів до захоплення росіянами українських військових суден та полону українських військових моряків.

Tax reform and fiscal space in developing countries

This paper investigates empirically the effect of tax reform on fiscal space in developing countries. The analysis has used an unbalanced panel dataset comprising 99 developing countries (of which 37 Least developed countries—LDCs) over the period 1980–2015. It has shown empirical evidence that tax reform is associated with greater fiscal space in developing countries, with this positive impact being particularly higher for LDCs than for the set of other countries in the full sample. Furthermore, the higher the degree of openness to international trade, the greater is the positive effect of tax reform on fiscal space. In light of the importance of securing greater fiscal space to finance development needs, policymakers in developing countries should pursue their tax reform in the context of greater trade openness, notably with the assistance of both bilateral partners (developed countries) and relevant international institutions.

Turkish Domestic Actors’ Role in Foreign Policy Making: Case of Turkey – KRG’s Strategic Bilateral Partnership

This paper aims to describe the role of Turkish domestic societal actors in the state policy making in the case of strategic bilateral partnership between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG); a quasi state within the Iraqi federal state. The rareness of literature describing domestic forces within Turkey and the consequence for the state’s policy in building a strategic partnership with the KRG was the gap that this research would be expected to narrow. The paper argues that Turkish domestic actors like the individual, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Turkish military and business people had an important role; shaping Turkey’s preference and national interests strongly determined by their views on nation and economic regulation which occupied its legitimate preference. The research applied the ideational liberal theory proposed by Andrew Moravcsik emphasizing the primacy of domestic actors. The research was qualitative with descriptive analysis model. The paper represents a perspective that identity or values well embedded in domestic actors’ views do matter to understand the state behavior either cooperation or conflict.

EU-UK Security and Defence

The UK’s departure from the European Union poses many challenges, not least in the field of security and defence. This paper assesses the implications of this for both parties and tries to outline options for a new bilateral partnership. The paper opens with a reminder of the headline contribution that the UK has made and continues to make to European security and defence and its significance as an actor within the Union. It goes on to suggest that Brexit is a lose-lose scenario for both partners, notwithstanding a shared set of security threats and an overall common approach to meeting them. The paper outlines the significant advances in the development of CSDP since the Brexit referendum result and the importance of the Commission’s proposal of new funding to the development of EU member state defence capacities. The paper then reviews options, which have surfaced in the EU and UK respectively to define a new bilateral partnership. The challenges to involving a third-country in EU policy development and execution are examined and the urgent need for the Union and the UK to devise a new – necessarily weaker – relationship is underlined.

Political Interaction between the Central Asian Participants of the EAEU and the European Union

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan combine their membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) - the most large-scale and dynamically developing integration association in the Post-Soviet space -with an active participation in projects and programs of the European Union (EU). This economic and political alliance is aimed at the regional integration of its 28 member countries located mainly in Europe. The EU is simultaneously actively involved in the economic and political processes in the Post-Soviet space, including its Central Asian segment. The EU strategy in the Central Asian region is aimed at bilateral and regional cooperation with its partners, among which Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan occupy an important place. The bilateral partnership and cooperation agreements concluded between them and the EU have become the main instruments providing the European Union with influence in these countries. The EU accession in the Central Asian region and the promotion of a united Europe’s interests combine with the attention of the EU institutions and structures to important areas of Central Asia development. Among these areas are transport networks, energy, security, government, education and human rights. Although the integration in the EAEU and the EU, as well as the terms of trade and economic agreements concluded by the participants of the EAEU with the EU, has a number of distinctive features, this does not become an obstacle to the aspirations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan for in-depth cooperation with the EU -both in politics and economics. The EUs tactics of distancing itself from the EAEU, positioning the united Europe as a kind of an alternative to this integration union becomes a serious geopolitical challenge both for the EAEU and for the prospects of integration in Central Asia while maintaining Russia’s leading role in this process.

US-Australia-Indonesia Trilateral Security? Conditions for Cooperation

ABSTRACTSince the 1950s, US strategic architecture in the Indo-Pacific has been premised on its hubs-and-spokes model of bilateral alliances and security partnerships. Since the 2000s the US began working toward forging deeper interrelationships between its regional allies and partners. The emerging strategy ultimately aims to interlink long-standing allies like Japan and Australia, and also non-traditional partners in the development of a security network capable of maintaining the regional ‘rules-based order.’ In analysing the US-led triangular Indo-Pacific geometry, this article considers the prospects of an evolving and substantive US–Australia–Indonesia security trilateral. It does so by utilising Miller’s ‘conditions for cooperation framework’ to test the likelihood of greater cooperation between these three states. These conditions include cultural similarity, economic equality, habits of international association, the perception of common danger, and greater power pressure. It concludes that while there remain strict limitations on any formal alignment between the ANZUS partners and Indonesia, there are convergent interests in key sub-strategic areas in the maritime space and thus a viable path toward greater trilateral cooperation but not, as yet, formal arrangements.

The Erosion of German Elite Trust in the United States of America

In this article, I address two salient issues in IR trust research: first, I introduce a longitudinal, content analysis to measure foreign policy trust. Second, I provide an in-depth analysis of how recent crises affected German political elites’ trust of the United States. I begin with a brief conceptual sketch of foreign policy trust and argue that treating it as a trusting discourse is a useful way to bridge the micro–macro gap. Next, I introduce a content analysis to measure trust, present coding rules and discuss advantages and problems of the approach. The empirical section consists of data generated from coding German Bundestag speeches and newspaper op-eds from 2000 through 2014. By disaggregating the data to specify who trusts whom and regarding which issues, I propose the following: First, there is a significant decline in trust among the traditionally pro-American German center-right politicians. Second, there is a steady decline in trust in the United States as a state entity, as opposed to strongly fluctuating trust in different U.S. presidents. Third, the NSA crisis directly affected German elites’ trust in the bilateral security partnership, an area where trust was stable even during the Bush presidency.

The Right to be Forgotten—The EU and Asia Pacific Experience (Australia, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore)

This article explores the right to be forgotten or otherwise known as the right to erasure in the EU and Asia Pacific. The right to be forgotten has quickly become an important concept of data protection law. It allows a person to request that their personal data and information be deleted or removed from an internet website. Subsequently, from the application of this right, a person has a level of their personal privacy protected over the internet. However, the acceptance and implementation of this right by Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and the EU varies. With the implementation of the EU General Regulation on Data Protection in May 2018, the right to be forgotten is well entrenched in the EU. This article investigates an issue of growing significance because of Australia’s engagement with these countries, accentuated by the use of the internet. First, one of Australia’s closest neighbours, Indonesia, has the largest Islamic population. Secondly, Singapore being a Commonwealth country along with Australia, has also adopted the common law, and has strong trade and other bilateral partnerships. Thirdly, of all the Asian nations, Japan, that recently obtained equivalency from the EU in data protection law, has seen the right emerge in that state. The right, in many respects is also in conflict with other rights and freedoms (right to expression) and other areas of the law. It is an area of law that may never be settled, as technology continues to evolve. This article will highlight the current status of the right to be forgotten across these jurisdictions, with what can be considered three models of data protection and privacy law. These laws have been developing separately throughout the EU, South East Asia and the Pacific.

Irish Diplomacy in a Time of Crisis and the Evolution of a ‘European’ Diplomatic Service

The foreign policies of several European states have been centrally engaged in national crisis management subsequent to the crisis in the euro-zone. In several instances this has included determined efforts to rebuild national credibility, intensively to engage with bilateral partners and multilateral agencies both in Europe and internationally and actively to contribute to trade promotion and the attraction of foreign direct investment as part of a programme of national economic recovery. In such a context, where a national diplomatic service is tasked with roles that can be seen to be addressing a near existential crisis for the state, what if any role does foreign policy coordination at EU level play? If such coordination played a marginal role or was non-existent, what does this say about the utility and purpose of EU foreign policy? To what extent does this necessarily delimit or define the potential added-value of the EEAS to national diplomatic services? The proposed paper will conduct a detailed analysis of Irish diplomacy in a time of crisis (2008-2014), assess its response to that crisis, evaluate the role of EU-level foreign policy coordination and finally offer conclusions as to what this may suggest for the future of EU foreign policy.

The incentive effect of venture capital in bilateral partnership systems with the bias mono-stable Cobb–Douglas utility

Partnerships, between multiple sides that share goals and strive for mutual benefit, are ubiquitous both between and within the enterprises, and competition and cooperation are the fundamental characteristics in partnership systems. As the inherent effect of capital-product switching applied together with stochastic fluctuations of internal and external environments, the effects compete and cooperate to make the system achieve global optimum in the statistical sense. Thus motivated, we establish an over-damped nonlinear Langevin equation to describe the dynamical behaviors subject to the bias mono-stable Cobb–Douglas utility under the wealth-constraint condition. Based on linear response theory, we derive the performance indexes, including output signal-to-noise ratio, stationary unit risk return, systematic risk and bilateral risk, and stochastic resonance (SR) and reverse SR phenomena are observed by the simulations. Finally, we introduce one true example to explain the actual phenomenon observed from the practice. The purpose in this paper is to develop a quantitative method and associated prototype system beg the questions of how the external venture capital incents the partners especially associated with partnership success and what roles the internal and external risks play, respectively.

China's Belt and Road Initiative: Opportunities and Challenges for Economic Growth in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an upper middle income country, with a population of 21 million, situated in an extremely important strategic location for security and international trade in the Indian Ocean at the center of the East-West maritime trade and mobility route belonging to the South Asian region. Sri Lanka’s economic growth has always been sluggish during the post-independence period. Sri Lanka has also witnessed a thirty-year separatist conflict and a serious impact by the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 that devastated the country. While China has assisted Sri Lanka by aid and loans in the process of rebuilding the economy devastated by Tsunami and separatist conflict, China itself has embarked on a global mission of intense bilateral economic cooperation by formalizing its bilateral economic relations through the Belt and Road Initiative. The geographical scope of BRI spans from the East Asia through South Asia, West Asia, and Africa to Europe, and Sri Lanka has become a bilateral partner of China in the BRI. Since the BRI is designed to enhance cooperation and assistance on policy coordination, trade and investment cooperation, and cultural exchange, Sri Lanka stands to gain by being a partner of the BRI while being confronted with many challenges. The BRI has created a complex web of bilateral economic relations covering three continents of the world that includes nearly 80% of the world population. Given the global significance, the BRI tends to generate both opportunities and challenges for Sri Lanka. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of BRI for Sri Lanka in its efforts to achieve development goals that are aimed at escaping from the middle income trap. The paper argues that Sri Lanka has gained/will gain significant economic benefits from BRI while being compelled to face challenges which can be overcome through appropriate policy regimes and policy cooperation and coordination.

신북방시대 한국의 대러 외교전략과 과제

This article examines the new foreign policies of Korean government in order to search for ways to promote cooperation between Korea and Russia. The Korea-Russian relations are laden with the least conflicts compared to other countries in Northeast Asia, and for this reason, they have good conditions to establish cooperative relations. However, their bilateral partnership remains at a lower level than its potential. In order to promote the cooperation between Korea and Russia, the Korean government has to review and strengthen the strategic partnership with Russia. Especially, by concluding an FTA with Russia, Korea will be able to upgrade the economic cooperation. For this purpose, the Korean government intends to launch its New Northern Policy. Compared to similar policies existed in the previous governments, the current government plans to expand the scope of its policy geographically by simultaneously pursuing the New Southern Policy so that the Korean peninsula becomes an economic hub of East Asia. In addition, the Northern Economic Cooperation Committee, which will promote the New Northern Policy, was established for inter-ministerial coordination.