The protracted humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state has forced millions of Rohingya to flee their homes from ethnic and religion persecution. Most headed to neighbouring countries including Malaysia, Bangladesh and Thailand by land or by sea across the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca. To date, nearly 1.2 million Rohingya live in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar since the mass exodus in 2017. As the world’s largest refugee influx, the Rohingya crisis has affected not only Myanmar but also the neighbouring countries and ASEAN member states. For the past 40 years, ASEAN member states in particular Malaysia and Thailand have been a preferred destination for refugees seeking refuge from violence and human rights abuse. In light of this, ASEAN has adopted security mechanism as part of regional responses for addressing the crisis facing the Rohingya ethnic. This article demonstrates, first, the mechanism and responses adopted by ASEAN in handling the influx of Rohingya refugees in Southeast Asia. Second, this article scrutinizes challenges to ASEAN’s efforts and way forward to resolve the burgeoning refugee issue. By exploring these collective efforts, this article investigates the extent to which these efforts and approaches play a functional role to suppress clandestine movement of Rohingya and subsequently protect the refugees. This article obtains its data from textual analysis including media reports, policy papers, academic articles, and official statements from ASEAN and ASEAN member states. The findings conclude that concerted efforts from ASEAN, albeit limited, are significant to providing new opportunities to strengthen national and regional protection for this vulnerable population.
As communications technology, air travel, and a complex international economy continue to make the world smaller, the importance of peaceful and cooperative relationships between nations increases. However, it is unclear to what extent research on international relations (IR) has expanded as a global discipline; narrated by balanced perspectives and provides an impact. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of 4,986 documents related to IR as recorded in the Scopus database from 1913 to 2022. Specifically, this paper analyzes (a) the trends and developments; (b) influential documents and frequent keywords and (c) major players in terms of productive journals, authors and institutions in IR studies. This paper provides a new panoramic view through tables and science maps on the publication of IR studies. The findings show a gradual interest in the IR field before the Second World War and this accelerated during the mid-twentieth century. Political economy is gaining more importance and most publications centre on IR theorieswhile discussing prevailing events affecting the world. However, the Western influence of IR is still primarily mainstream, whereIR publications are mainly controlled by large Western publishers, influenced by Western authors affiliated with long-establishedWestern institutions. Seemingly, the non-Western contributions to the IR field have yet to establish their own footing in the field despite much discussion about diversifying IR. This remains a challenge for non-Western scholars, journal publishers, and institutions seeking to contribute to the ongoing debate in the study of international relations.
Terrorism via Mediterranean Sea route is one of the security threats faced by Europe in recent years. The basin recorded large volume of maritime vessels traversing daily via the major straits and consequently expose them for the possibility of terrorist attacks. This includes cargo and commercial vessels that carry tons of valuable cargo. There is growing concern that the vessels may be used to support terrorist activities. In light of this, NATO has adopted maritime operations to strengthen sea patrolling and enhance security of sea lanes in the Mediterranean. This paper seeks to examine the terrorist incidents occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. The paper then scrutinizes the evolution of NATO’s approaches to combat terrorism in the basin from 2001 until 2016. Specifically, this paper analyses the implementation of Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) which has initiated as an immediate response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States to fight against international terrorism. The mandate assigned through this operation includes, amongst others, monitoring and surveillance activities, escorting assistance, compliant boarding and joint training with NATO partners. These tasks have significantly contributed to a sharp decline in terrorist plot in the Mediterranean Sea. This paper obtains its data from textual analysis and interviews with NATO military officers. The results conclude that maritime operations by NATO play a functional role to hinder the potential of terrorist attacks and effectively maintain the security of the sea lanes.
Terrorism via the Mediterranean Sea route is one of the security threats faced by Europe in recent years. The basin recorded a large volume of maritime vessels traversing daily via the major straits and consequently exposed them to the possibility of terrorist attacks. This includes cargo and commercial vessels that carry tons of valuable cargo. There is growing concern that the vessels may be used to support terrorist activities. In light of this, NATO has adopted maritime operations to strengthen sea-patrolling and enhance the security of sea lanes in the Mediterranean. This paper sought to examine the terrorist incidents that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. The paper then scrutinized the evolution of NATO's approaches to combat terrorism in the basin from 2001 until 2016. Specifically, this paper analysed the implementation of the Operation Active Endeavour (OAE) which was initiated as an immediate response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States to fight against international terrorism. The mandate assigned through this operation includes, amongst others, monitoring and surveillance activities, escorting assistance, compliant boarding and joint-training with NATO partners. These tasks have significantly contributed to a sharp decline in terrorist plots in the Mediterranean Sea. This paper obtained its data from textual analysis and interviews with NATO military officers. The results conclude that maritime operations by NATO play a functional role to hinder the potential of terrorist attacks and effectively maintain the security of the sea lanes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.