Kellee S. Tsai, Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University
Date: September 7, 2005
Time: 12 Noon
Place: 271 Hamilton Hall

"Doing business with Burma's military junta" by Ian Holliday
Whether to do business with rights violating regimes is one of many dilemmas faced by socially responsible corporations. Ian will discuss the difficult case of Burma. Ruled by a closed military elite, the country has long been subject to informal and formal sanctions. However, as sanctions have failed to trigger political reform, Ian suggests that it is necessary to review the policy, with attention to the potential contribution socially responsible corporations might make. Ian will sketch possibilities for corporate engagement. He contends that, by doing business with Burma's rights violating regime, multinational corporations can extend the frontiers of global corporate social responsibility.

Ian Holliday is Professor of Policy Studies and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, he was at the University of Manchester. On Burma he has published in Asian Survey, Japanese Journal of Political Science and Journal of Business Ethics.

"Prospects for a transition from military rule" by Andrew Reynolds
Following his recent visit to Burma and Thailand, Andy will speak to the process of constitutional design in Burma and the prospects for a transition from military rule. He will outline the flourishing debate among pro-democracy activists both inside and out of the country about whether to engage with the regime's deeply flawed 'road-map to democracy' process.

Andrew Reynolds is an Associate Professor of Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. His research and teaching focus on democratization, constitutional design and electoral politics. He has served as a consultant on issues of electoral and constitutional design for a range of countries. Among his books are The Architecture of Democracy (Oxford, 2002) and Electoral Systems and Democratization in Southern Africa (Oxford, 1999). He spent August 2005 in Burma and Thailand meeting with and advising pro-democracy and ethnic minority leaders.

Date: Monday, October, 10 2005
Time: 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Place: 08 Gardner Hall

Dr. Garry Rodan, Director of the Asia Research Centre, and Professor of Political and International Studies at Murdoch University, Western Australia

Abstract: The emergence of the so-called ‘Post-Washington consensus’ has highlighted differences among neoliberals over the relative importance of institutional factors in the establishment and consolidation of market power. Yet it is in the articulation by neoliberals of precisely what institutions they understand as important in this process that tensions between economic and political liberalism become manifest. Here we see different strands within the neoliberal approach, some of which view political liberalism as a natural adjunct to free markets while others emphasize the role of institutions in constraining challenges to market power. Nowhere is this more evident than in the differing conceptions of transparency. This paper examines the implications of these tensions for authoritarian regimes engaging with the global political economy, focusing specifically on the Singapore case. It emphasizes important ideological and political intersections between the agenda of economic liberals and types of authoritarian regime.

Date: Friday, September 9, 2005
Time: 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Place: Toy Lounge, 4th Floor Dey Hall

Phil Robertson Jr. was, until recently, the Program Manager of the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in Greater Mekong Sub-region, based in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to his work with the UN, he served as Mainland Southeast Asia Representative for the American Center for International Labor Solidarity.

Abstract: Southeast Asian labor movements have long been weakened by government interference, faulty labor laws, and political influence and corruption between ruling elites and employers (who are increasingly one and the same). Authoritarian governments fear empowerment of the urban poor as destabilizing and seek to marginalize organized labor as force in civil society. More recently, as Southeast Asia has seen increased cross-border migration and border development schemes, the exploitation of migrant workers has added another challenge. Migrant workers are being incorporated into industrial development schemes that substantially reduce labor costs and foster employer dependency on cheap, easily controlled, and disposable labor. Non-enforcement of laws, discriminatory attitudes towards migrants, and employer-government alliances create a system where migrant workers’ rights can be abused at will. Like hyenas, local and foreign employers prey on the weakest workers – desperately poor migrants seeking work, and in some cases fleeing human rights abuses and persecution in their home countries. Border development schemes offer the opportunity for this “Hyena Capitalism” to spread. Focusing on Thailand and its neighbors, the origins and development of Hyena Capitalism will be discussed.

Date: Monday, September 26, 2005
Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 noon
Place: Toy Lounge, 4th Floor Dey Hall
Coffee and tea will be available from 10:00 am

Mr. Skip Boyce, US Ambassador in Thailand

The Southeast Asia Interest Association, with the support of the Carolina Asia Center and the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Kenan-Flagler Business School, has asked that we publicize a discussion with Mr Skip Boyce, the US Ambassador in Thailand. Ambassador Boyce will briefly talk about Thailand-US relations, and then will be available for Q&A.

Faculty and interested students are welcome to attend.

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Ralph Boyce was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 25, 2004 and sworn in as the United States Ambassador to Thailand on December 15, 2004.

Before this assignment, Mr. Boyce served as Ambassador to Indonesia from October 2001 to October 2004. Prior to that, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and Pacific Affairs from August 1998 to July 2001. His area of responsibility included Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands.

Mr. Boyce entered the Foreign Service in 1976 and was assigned to Tehran as Staff Assistant to the Ambassador in September 1977. In September 1979 he was posted as Commercial Attache in Tunis. In September 1981, he was assigned to Islamabad as Financial Economist.

From July 1984 to August 1988, Mr. Boyce served in the State Department, first as Special Assistant and then as Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of State, responsible for the foreign affairs budget. In August 1988, he was assigned to Bangkok, Thailand, as Political Counselor, where he served until August 1992, when he was transferred to Singapore as Deputy Chief of Mission. From June 1993 until September 1994, Mr. Boyce was Charge d'Affaires, a.i., in Singapore during the absence of an Ambassador. In October 1994, he returned to Bangkok as Deputy Chief of Mission, where he served until August 1998.

Mr. Boyce was born February 1, 1952, in Washington, D.C. He obtained a B.A. from George Washington University in 1974 and an M.P.A. from Princeton University in 1976. He speaks Persian, French, and Thai.

Date: Monday, September 12, 2005,
Time: 4:00 to 5:30 pm
Place: Murphey 116 (the main lecture hall on the first floor of Murphey)

Dr. Maki Morinaga, Assistant Professor of Japanese Theater and Literature, University of Minnesota.

In a fascinating glimpse into the history of Japan's Kabuki theater, Morinaga explores the phenomenon of late-19th-century female performers who took the stage as Kabuki onnagata, becoming "women impersonating men impersonating women." Sponsored by the First-Year Seminar Program (in conjunction with ASIA 006J) and the Carolina Asia Center.

Date: Thursday, October 13
Time: 3:30-5 pm
Place: House Library, room 205