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388Book Reviews democratization and other forces and institutions have forced the military in Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere in the region to rethink their role in politics. But in Myanmar (the new name given by the State Law and Order Restoration Committee or SLORC) colonialism, World War II, and the failures of post-colonial governments have left no countervailing forces or institutions to challenge the tatmadaw's dominance ofthe state through coercion. For how much longer can this tatmadaw dominance of the state continue? This is the challenge for Myanmar's neighbours and partners in ASEAN: to conceive ofalternative futures for Myanmar and strategies to initiate change. Kwa Chong Guan Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies Nanyang Technological University Singapore Non-Traditional Security in the Asia-Pacific: The Dynamics of Securitisation. By RalfEmmers. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press [Marshall Cavendish International (Singapore)], 2004. 84pp. In a region marred by comprehensive and multifaceted security challenges, non-traditional security agendas have attracted a great deal of scholarly attention in Southeast Asia to grapple with security issues that cannot be explained by the traditional approaches. Ralf Emmers' monograph, Non-Traditional Securityin theAsia-Pacific: The Dynamics ofSecuritisation, is an important contribution to the growing discourse on non-traditional security studies in the region. Comprising four major chapters with a briefIntroduction and a succinct Conclusion, the author examines non-traditional security issues in Thailand, Singapore and Australia using the "securitisation theory" of the Copenhagen School. Chapter 1 discusses the framework of analysis developed by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde ofthe Conflict and Peace Research Institute (COPRI) based in Copenhagen. In the book, Security: A New Framework ofAnalysis (Lynne Rienner, 1998), Buzan and his associates introduce the concept of "securitisation" to challenge the traditional conception of security. Emmers applies the "securitisation theory" to have a deeper understanding of the "securitisation" of drug trafficking, piracy/maritime terrorism, and people smuggling in Thailand, Singapore and Australia, respectively. Though the Copenhagen School of security Book Reviews389 has been criticized for its conceptual limitations, Emmers considers it a useful framework to define security in the Asia-Pacific and to determine how a specific matter becomes securitized and desecuritized in the region (p. 3). Emmers also regards the Copenhagen School as an attractive framework in identifying the referent of security and the securitizing actors in the three aforementioned countries. In fact, the Copenhagen School provides the coherence and logic of the monograph, reflecting the author's mastery of "securitisation theory". Aware ofthe conceptual shortcomings of the Copenhagen School, Emmers "employs a more rationalist understanding of securitisation" in the Asia-Pacific (p. 6), making the author a "revisionist" disciple of the Copenhagen School. Chapter 2 examines the securitisation ofdrug trafficking in Thailand. Because the drug trade aggravates crime, spreads sexually transmitted diseases, undermines family structures, creates shadow economies and compromises the political system, among others, the Thai government declared drug trafficking as a threat to national security. Emmers identifies Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his government as the securitising actor while the referent objects of security are "the national sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Thailand (military and political security), the integrity and stability of the political system (political security), the Thai population (societal security), and the economic development and prosperity of the country (economic security)" (p. 14). Emmers observes that the securitisation of drug trafficking is also motivated by political purposes and electoral benefits in order to increase the chances ofreelection ofthe present government. The act of securitisation also gives the issue of drug trafficking "a new sense of urgency" attracting fund support against the drug menace. Emmers argues that without the act of securitisation, the anti-drug campaign would not have generated an increase in budgetary support in Thailand. Chapter 3 analyses the securitisation of piracy and maritime terrorism in Singapore. In the act of securitisation, the securitising actor is the Singapore government while referent objects of security are "the safety of navigation in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (economic and military security) as well as the ecological environment of the Straits (environmental security)" (p. 41). Emmers contends that as Singapore is a maritime state which depends on freedom ofnavigation for economic prosperity, piracy and maritime terrorism have become...

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