Asia's century and the problem of Japan's centrality

Japan has long been regarded as a central component of America's grand strategy in Asia. Scholars and practitioners assume this situation will persist in the face of China's rise and, indeed, that a more ‘normal’ Japan can and should take on an increasingly central role in US‐led strategies to manage this power transition. This article challenges those assumptions by arguing that they are, paradoxically, being made at a time when Japan's economic and strategic weight in Asian security is gradually diminishing. The article documents Japan's economic and demographic challenges and their strategic ramifications. It considers what role Japan might play in an evolving security order where China and the US emerge as Asia's two dominant powers by a significant margin. Whether the US–China relationship is ultimately one of strategic competition or accommodation, it is argued that Japan's continued centrality in America's Asian grand strategy threatens to become increasingly problematic. It is posited that the best hope for circumventing this problem and its potentially destabilizing consequences lies in the nurturing of a nascent ‘shadow condominium’ comprising the US and China, with Japan as a ‘marginal weight’ on the US side of that arrangement.     

The haves and have nots in Australia's Tropical North – New Perspectives on a Persisting Problem

There is significant confluence in the literature that leads one to expect groups of haves and groups of have nots in socio‐economic systems within common spatial contexts. Several economic theories suggest economic activity to be concentrated in a few core areas with geographically large ‘peripheries’ relying on one or two industries for employment and income. In the context of the north of Australia, issues of disparities in socio‐economic status between the region and elsewhere in Australia, and also within the region have been highlighted in the literature for some time. This paper discusses the contemporary situation using customised data collected and analysed for 55 river‐basin catchments in the Tropical Rivers region of northern Australia to highlight the extent of the haves and have nots problem. A range of spatial economic theories are discussed as theoretical bases for the present day situation and as pointers to revisionist approaches which may address it. Transforming the have nots to improved states of well‐being will be a costly and difficult process. Consequently, we argue that factors other than raw incomes and economic production should be reconsidered and re‐prioritised by governments as redress to the ongoing ‘problem’ of the North.     

Attorney General Kennedy versus Solicitor General Cox: The Formulation of the Federal Government's Position in the Reapportionment Cases

In a recent article in this journal, “May It Please the Court? The Solicitor General's Not-So-‘Special' Relationship: Archibald Cox and the 1963–1964 Reapportionment Cases,” ¹ Helen J. Knowles shows how the Supreme Court went beyond the arguments of the Solicitor General, Archibald Cox, in establishing “one man, one vote” as the governing principle for the election of state legislators. In making this demonstration, Ms. Knowles also shows how Attorney General Robert Kennedy prevailed on Cox to support the plaintiffs in six reapportionment cases despite Cox's serious doubts about this position. ² In doing so, Ms. Knowles was more than generous in describing my small part in this story.     

Regional Planning in Queensland's Rangelands: Challenges and Prospects for Biodiversity Conservation

In Australia, the Commonwealth and State governments are increasingly devolving natural resource management (NRM) responsibilities to regional bodies. This move has led to the development of regional NRM plans. Native vegetation and biodiversity conservation, along with soil, pasture and water resources, are key components of the regional NRM plans in Queensland's extensive rangelands. This paper outlines and applies a set of criteria for evaluating the native vegetation and biodiversity content of accredited regional NRM plans for Queensland's rangelands. The evaluation showed considerable variation in the comprehensiveness of the information and knowledge base and management action targets among plans, including the poor articulation of impacts of excessive grazing pressure on biodiversity. The NRM plans lacked effective integration of natural resource, native vegetation and biodiversity conservation targets and actions. Several regions had too many biodiversity targets, many of which were poorly integrated. This is symptomatic of a limited understanding of rangelands as ecological systems and the lack of an integrated planning framework. We conclude regional NRM planning is not a ‘silver bullet’ for biodiversity conservation in the rangelands, but rather, it is the beginning of a long road to address complex, multi‐scale problems at a regional level.     

The Agency of Dolphins: Towards Inter‐species Embassies as Sites of Engagement with ‘Significant Otherness’

Cetacean–human interaction, at sites where free‐ranging dolphins approach humans, is occurring more than ever before. Management policies and strategies, and their underlying research, intended to protect both dolphins and humans during these interactive events, affect the quality and nature of interactivity. The agency of the dolphins, and its representation in management schemes, is analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis of selected texts from the discourse of Dolphin–Human Interaction Management (DHIM). Analysis suggests a prevailing discourse of protectionism but also reveals the possibility for a new kind of management scheme based upon an acceptance of the ‘significant otherness’ of non‐human species. This can be achieved by means of inter‐species etiquette, acknowledging the choices made by non‐humans to interact with humans. An inter‐species etiquette, coupled with multi‐species education (education across species boundaries, designed and delivered so as to enable mutually beneficial interaction), offers those non‐human animals widely referred to as ‘ambassadors’ safe places in which to be encountered. This new form of inter‐species interaction space is named an ‘embassy’.     

A Look Back at the Steel Seizure Case

During every national emergency, the system of checks and balances designed, as James Madison wrote in Federalist 51, to prevent a power grab by any of the three branches by giving each “the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others,” comes under great pressure. ¹ After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the public looked to the President to take extraordinary measures. Congress quickly moved to expand executive powers to meet the emergency, confirming the view of a leading textbook on the presidency that “it has become the dominant institution in a system designed for balanced government.” ²     

Resource and environmental management: connecting the academy with practice

The rewards and challenges related to a research program that involves interactions between basic and applied research are shared. Specific experience is examined regarding integrated water resource management, capacity enhancement in developing countries and writing textbooks. Key lessons include the manner in which applied research and practice inform and enhance basic research, the role of theoretical and conceptual frameworks in guiding applied research, the need to understand the distinction between multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary models and the importance of facilitating evolution from visions, strategies and plans to action.