Asia in International Space: Law, Politics, and Development
Has Asia, as some scholars like Simon Chesterman claim, benefited greatly from the international order and been somewhat reluctant to critically engage with it beyond fulfilling their obligations? What has happened to numerous yet relatively weak and amorphous regional institutions in Asia, such as ASEAN? How, after all, does one describe and assess international law and politics from 'the Asian perspective'?
These are the central inquiries driving the ALC/CILIS Reading Group 2025, where we delve into the intricate relationships between international law, political economy and historical development, with a particular focus on Asia. Our aim is to move beyond conventional narratives and explore critical perspectives that challenge established understandings. Through a series of carefully selected readings, we will examine themes such as the Asian ambivalence towards international law, the legacies of colonialism, the rise of a nationalist development state, the complexities of regionalism, and the impacts of neoliberal expansion.
The Reading Group will meet monthly, with snacks provided by the ALC and CILIS.
The Reading Group is coordinated in 2025 by the ALC/CILIS Graduate Researcher Academic Associates, Earn Asanasak, Ratu Ayu Asih Kusuma Putri, Nurul Azizah Zayzda, and Eryanto Nugroho. Please contact them if you have any queries or suggestions at all.
If you know of anyone who may be interested in attending, please contact Kathryn Taylor.
ALC 2023-2024 Reading Group - Reading List
ALC 2024 Reading Group - Reading List
CILIS Past Reading Group - Reading Lists
Semester 1, 2025
- SESSION 1 27 March
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ROOM 722
International Law in Asia and the Global South
Chesterman, Simon."Asia's Ambivalence about International Law & Institutions: Past, Present, and Futures" in Simon Chesterman, Hisashi Owada and Ben Saul (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific, Oxford Handbooks (2019).
Eslava, Luis, and Sundhya Pahuja. "The State and International Law: A Reading from the Global South."Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 11, no. 1 (2020): 118-138.
- SESSION 2 24 April
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ROOM 831
The Evolving Discourse of International Law in Asia: Approaches and Perspectives
Desierto, Diane A. "Postcolonial International Law Discourses and Regional Developments in South and Southeast Asia." International Journal of Legal Information 36, no. 3 (2008): 387–431. - SESSION 3 29 May
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ROOM 831
China's Approach to International Law
Posner, Eric A. and John C. Yoo. "International Law and the Rise of China." University of Chicago Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper No. 127 (2006). - SESSION 4 26 June
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ROOM 831
Southeast Asian Regionalism: History vs Political Economy
Tarling, Nicholas. "Part 1 Definition and Chronologies." in Regionalism in Southeast Asia: To Foster the Political Will. Oxford: Taylor & Francis Group, 2006. Accessed March 5, 2025. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Kesboonchoo-Mead, Kullada. "Globalization and ASEAN Regionalism." in ASEAN and the EU in the International Environment Nomos (2000).
- SESSION 5 24 July
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ROOM 831
Indonesia's Approach to International Law and Agreement
Butt, Simon. "The Position of International Law within the Indonesian Legal System." Emory Int'l L. Rev. 28 (2014): 1.
Syarip, Rakhmat. "Defending Foreign Policy at Home: Indonesia and the ASEAN-based Free Trade Agreements." Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 39.3 (2020): 405-427.
Semester 2, 2025
- SESSION 6 28 August
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ROOM 831
Required ReadingsDick, Howard. "Formation of the nation-state, 1930s–1966." The Emergence of a National Economy. Brill, 2002. 153-193.Umar, Ahmad R.M. and Bachtiar, Farahdiba R. "Defending developmentalism: Indonesia and the politics of the New International Economic Order, 1974-2024." Development in Practice 35.1 (2025): 1-12.
- SESSION 7 25 September
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ROOM 831
The Ideology of Colonial Capitalism in Indonesia
Alatas, Syed Hussein. The Myth of the Lazy Native: A Study of the Image of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese from the 16th to the 20th Century and Its Function in the Ideology of Colonial Capitalism. Routledge, 2013.
EJV van Nederveen Meerkerk, "Industriousness in An Imperial Economy: Delineating New Research on Colonial Connections and Household Labour Relations in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Indies." Special Issue on Global Labour History, Workers of the World : International Journal on strikes and social conflicts (2013).
- SESSION 8 23 October
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ROOM 831
The Evolution of the Extractive Industry in Indonesia
Tilley, Lisa. "Extractive Investibility in Historical Colonial Perspective: The Emerging Market and Its Antecedents in Indonesia." Review of International Political Economy 28.5 (2021): 1099-1118.
Gellert, Paul K. "Neoliberalism and Altered State Developmentalism in the Twenty-first Century Extractive Regime of Indonesia." Globalizations 16.6 (2019): 894-918.
- SESSION 9 20 November
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ROOM 831
Neoliberal Expansion in Indonesia: The Labour
Widya Permata Yasih, Diatyka. "The Emergence of a New Precarity: The Indonesian Trajectory." Precarious Workers in the Gig Economy: Neoliberalism and its Discontents in Indonesia. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2025. 61-101.
Habibi, Muhtar, and Benny Hari Juliawan. "Creating Surplus Labour: Neo-liberal Transformations and the Development of Relative Surplus Population in Indonesia." Journal of Contemporary Asia 48.4 (2018): 649-670.
- SESSION 10 10 December
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ROOM 831
Foreign Aid and Development in Asia
Cullather, Nick. "A Parable of Seeds". The Hungry World: America’s Cold War Battle against Poverty in Asia, Cambridge, MA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2010, pp. 159-179.
Geithner, Peter F. “The Ford Foundation in Southeast Asia: Continuity and Change.” Legacy of Engagement in Southeast Asia. Ed. Ann Marie Murphy and Bridget Welsh. ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, 2008. 181–194.