NCRE: Journal Articles
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Item Open Access ASEM’s First Two Decades: A Role Discovered(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2019) Doidge, MathewThis article examines the first two decades of the transregional Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM) from its inception with the Bangkok Summit of 1996. Examining instances of region building and the socialisation of states, it identifies the gradual emergence of a role for the forum, one that stands in some contrast to initial participant expectations. In this respect, rather than a structure for delivering substantive negotiated outcomes around issues such as trade liberalisation, the value of ASEM across its first 20 years came increasingly to be seen in its ideational aspects: identity building, norm diffusion, and dialogue without preconceptions.Item Open Access A clash of internationalizations: New Zealand and the Bologna Process(Informa UK Limited, 2019) Shannon W; Doidge, Mathew; Holland, MartinIn this paper we examine the normative and strategic impact of the Bologna Process on the New Zealand University system. We argue that, from a normative perspective, Bologna has not resulted in substantive change. Nevertheless, a specific, if low-level, normative response has been evident, driven by perceived market incentives and the market-based norms that underpin higher education and internationalization strategies in the New Zealand context. We contend that this response necessitates a conceptual extension of the normative power framework. From a strategic perspective, we consider the extent to which Bologna has succeeded in making Europe a geographic focus in New Zealand University internationalization strategies. In this respect, we find strategic priorities lie elsewhere, again reflecting the competitive market-based norms that underpin higher education in New Zealand.Item Open Access The Changing Place of Development in EU–Asia Relations(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2017) Doidge, MathewThis article examines EU–Asia development relations from the perspective of evolving paradigmatic debates on development. In so doing, it performs two functions. First, it highlights the way in which this development theory lens can provide additional insights into EU development relations, supplementing existing analytical frames and providing further depth to explanations of policy choice and development relationships. Second, it outlines the changing shape of EU development relations with Asia, from an initial side-lining of issues of development through to the reorientation and normalisation that has been evident since 2000. This dynamic is attributed to the intersection of two elements: (i) the Union’s perception of the Asian region; and (ii) the evolution in its conceptualisation of development, informed by exogenous theoretical debates. It is to the initial dissonance and subsequent congruence between these factors that the EU’s changing orientation towards development in Asia may, at least in part, be attributed.Item Open Access SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere(RMIT, 2018) Doidge, Mathew; Kelly, SerenaWhen we think of poverty reduction and development, we assume that these have always been inextricably linked. This is not the case. A focus on the problem of poverty was a relatively late entrant onto the development agenda. At the birth of the development age, in the decades following the Second World War, the emphasis of development was very much on states and economies. The dominant frameworks of development at the time (modernisation theory and the dependency critique), while differing in their analysis of the causes of underdevelopment, focused on the need to modernise and industrialise, with economic growth viewed as a key indicator of development success. This growth focus continued as the neoliberal counterrevolution in development economics took hold in the 1970s, particularly as expressed through the mechanism of structural adjustment, though emphasis shifted from the role of states to the role of global markets and the private sector. Insofar as poverty reduction was considered in these growth-focused models, it was seen as an incidental outcome: poverty, conceived largely in terms of a lack of income, was a problem that economic growth would rectify.Item Open Access European Union Interregionalism and the Capability-Expectations Gap(University of Canterbury. National Centre for Research on Europe, 2009) Doidge, MathewThis article addresses interregionalism in EU external relations. It considers the nature of interregionalism centred on two functional varieties - an internally focused, capacity building interregionalism and an externally focused, globally active form - and, in broad brush strokes, the evidence for each of these forms in EU interregional strategies. On this basis, it notes a capability-expectations gap in the EU's approach to interregionalism, with a certain dissonance between the Union's apparent acknowledgement of limited regional actorness in its partner groupings on the one hand and, on the other, its coincident high-level expectations as to what is achievable in the context of these relationships. The article concludes by suggesting priority areas for EU interregional strategy.Item Open Access New Zealand and the Asia-Europe Meeting: Three Years On(University of Canterbury. National Centre for Research on Europe, 2013) Doidge, MathewNew Zealand, alongside Australia and Russia, formally acceded to the Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM) in October 2010. This followed fifteen years of drift, a period during which initial strong interest, derailed by the opposition of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, subsequently became less certain as views of the forum’s utility to New Zealand dimmed. In effect, by the turn of the millennium, the issue of ASEM membership had been kicked into the long grass, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was happy for it to remain until it became clear in mid- 2008 that Australia was pushing strongly for entry and was likely to succeed. This move had wrong-footed MFAT, forcing a rapid rethink of a policy that had rested, among other elements, on a view that New Zealand’s non-membership was acceptable given Australia’s parallel exclusion. The final volte face and scramble for membership was therefore motivated in large part by a fear of marginalisation, a concern that Australian entry would leave New Zealand in the untenable situation of being the only regional state outside the forum.1 Three years on, it is worth considering where New Zealand stands in relation to ASEM. Given its less than wholehearted accession, what benefits does it perceive in participation, and to what extent have these been achieved?Item Open Access New Zealand and the Asia-Europe Meeting(University of Canterbury. National Centre for Research on Europe, 2013) Doidge, MathewThis article considers New Zealand?s accession to the Asia-Europe Meeting, considering both its formal path to membership and the evolving calculus by which its views of the process were structured, focusing on elements such as the enabling context provided by a change of national government in 2008, the impact of the global financial crisis and the position of Australia. Drawing on a set of interviews undertaken within the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, it goes on to examine perceived benefits of the Asia-Europe Meeting for New Zealand, and the extent to which these have been achieved. Finally, it addresses the issue of a New Zealand ASEM strategy, outlining potential areas for future engagement.