Human rights and the right to development : insights into the Myanmar government's response to rights allegations

Myanmar is ruled by a military government that is strongly condemned for human rights abuses. In responding to these allegations, the Myanmar government repeatedly adopt the language of Right to Development as a counter perspective and counter allegation. The Right to Development is not well reflected in the Western human rights discourse, and both its development and Myanmar's position in the Right to Development dialogue are considered. This paper looks at the differing perspective that an understanding of the official public Myanmar response to rights allegations brings to the human rights debate surrounding Myanmar, highlighting contested ideas concerning the identity of rights duty-bearers, conceptions of those duties, and allegations of double standards. While the Myanmar position that sanctions violate the Right to Development is rejected, it is suggested that this difference in perspective is a contributor to the impasse and communication gap between the West and the Myanmar regime over human rights.

Power politics and the Indonesian military

This book, based on extensive original research, examines the role of the military in Indonesian politics. It looks at the role of the military historically, examines the different ways it is involved in politics, and considers how the role of the military might develop in what is still an uncertain future.

The inadequacy of Western media theory in third world internal conflicts : the case of military censorship in Sri Lanka

The literature of communication and conflict is long and deep. However, it has focused primarily on cross-border conflict in the northern hemisphere. Not much academic research has been done on intra-state conflicts in general or on Asian conflicts in particular. This research on the Sri Lankan separatist conflict contributes towards filling this void.Newspaper reports in three languages on Operation Jayasikurui (1997) as well as on the capture of Elephant Pass (2000) were analyzed by trained coders with high reliability. In-depth interviews were conducted with Sri Lankan journalists and military personnel who participated in these incidents. Triangulation sources include Sri Lanka Army materials and the Sri Lanka Government Gazette.

Results clearly show that despite stringent governmental regulations, censorship had no effect on these Sri Lankan newspapers, which employed unique cultural techniques to circumvent these restrictions. Despite their apparent divergent ethnic backgrounds, all newspaper samples are consensual in their depiction of the conflict all the time while managing to set different agendas for their individual readerships. Media regulations could not impose censorship as proposed by Western theoretical constructs. Results show no correspondence between media samples and imposition of government or military policy. The press enjoyed freedom to convey war information to the public and exhibited a distinct streak of social responsibility in their watchdog instincts.Dominant Western propaganda models and theoretical perspectives do not apply to the Sri Lankan context. Understanding the cultural dimensions is essential before theorizing on media behaviour. No particular theoretical framework from the literature could be used to make inferences. One further interesting finding suggested from this research: Internal conflict within the Asian region may have its own unique theoretical perspective. The study concludes by proposing an alternative model.

Providing information for business: government strategy for the online world

Governments assume a major role in providing information resources for business as a way of promoting national development. This has proven to be a much more demanding task than one might suppose, given the diversity and complexity of business needs and the limitation of government resources for undertaking the task. This chapter will: (1) identify the challenges posed for government online business information strategies, (2) discuss research relating to the information strategy of one Australian government agency to support export development among small business, and (3) set out a framework for government online information provision in a diverse industry context. Coordination of the many government information services remains a challenge, especially among different levels of government. Well-designed strategies can improve the usability of online information and the efficiency of government information services.

A national information infrastructure model for information warfare defence

Information infrastructures are an eclectic mix of open and closed networks, private and public systems, the Internet, and government, military, and civilian organisations. Significant efforts are required to provide infrastructure protection, increase cooperation between sectors, and identify points of responsibility. The threats to infrastructures are many and various, and are increasing daily: information warfare, hackers, terrorists, criminals, activists, and even competing organisations all pose significant threats that cannot be sufficiently dealt with using the current infrastructure model. We present a National Information Infrastructure model that is based on defence against threats such as information warfare.

Self-reported health beliefs of government housing tenants

Our aim was to provide a description of the self-reported health beliefs of a sample of Victorian public housing tenants, and to identify how gender, age and geographic location relate to these beliefs. Telephone interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of 360 tenants, asking questions such as what they believe are the major health problems for men and women, what they do to keep healthy, and what makes it difficult to keep healthy. There were many differences in the beliefs held by older participants compared with those of younger participants. By asking about health in general, rather than specific aspects of health, this research identified the views about health which are most salient to participants, rather than those prompted by a survey on a particular disease or health behaviour. The health promotion implications of these findings are discussed.

The role of personality in leadership: an application of the five-factor model in the Australian military

This study investigated the relation between the five-factor model (FFM) of personality trait domains and leadership effectiveness. Ninety-nine Australian Army commissioned officers completed the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and were rated by their superior officer on the Australian Army annual leadership effectiveness evaluation schedule. Participants indicated whether they had been selected to attend a leadership promotion course at the Army Command and Staff College, widely regarded within the Army as indicative of an officer's effectiveness. It was hypothesized that leadership effectiveness would be predicted by the personality trait domains of high Conscientiousness, Openness, Agreeableness, and Extraversion and by low Neuroticism. High Conscientiousness and low Extraversion scores predicted high leadership effectiveness and the likelihood of attending the leadership promotion course. High Openness scores also predicted the likelihood of attending the promotion course. The results support the utility of the FFM in exploring the role of personality in leadership effectiveness among military leaders.

Mustering consent: government-sponsored virtual communities and the incentives for buy-in

The global trend to electronic service delivery (ESD) by governments can include the sponsorship of virtual communities that create value and become places where people, content, and communication come together around a need, enabling government agencies to extend their traditional service-provision role. Implementation is sometimes problematic, however, and understanding the implementation process is crucial to the success of such virtual communities. This paper reports a case study of a virtual community (an on-line export-documentation system) that links government and business. The study employs Bijker's framework to conceptualize the process of defining the technical standard and implementing the documentation system. Diffusion effects shaped the implementation and influenced participant responses, illustrating Bijker's argument that an artifact or product demonstrates interpretive flexibility before it stabilizes.

Counter-terrorism and (in)security : Fallout from the Bali bombing

In the wake of the Bali bombing the Australian government has proposed a number of national security measures that pose a real danger to human security in Australia and the region. These measures include renewed and increased military and intelligence exchanges with Indonesia, and laws that allow the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) to detain people without charge or even suspicion in order to gather intelligence. In less emotional times these initiatives would be rejected as contrary to human rights concerns and Australia’s democratic traditions, which include the rule of law and due process protections. In the current climate, however, human rights and civil liberties are apt to be portrayed as unaffordable luxuries.

Regulation and autonomy in teacher education: government, community or democracy?

Current attempts in industrialised countries to regulate teacher education in increasingly prescriptive ways raise profound social, ethical and pedagogical issues. This paper looks at the challenge such prescriptions pose and suggests that such regulation serves the democratic state less well than a more autonomous form of education. The implications of this alternative for teacher education are explored.