Ramesh Thakur - The Japan Times

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Ramesh Thakur

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Ramesh Thakur

Ramesh Thakur is Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; adjunct professor, Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, Griffith University, and editor-in-chief of Global Governance from Jan. 1, 2013. He began writing for The Japan Times in 1998 as Vice Rector of the United Nations University.

For Ramesh Thakur's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

COMMENTARY / World

May 6, 2001

The politics of land and race

The Western consensus about Zimbabwe holds that having inherited a country that was as beautiful as it was prosperous, and with the goodwill of the world behind him, President Robert Mugabe has outstayed his welcome at home, outlived his usefulness to his country and exhausted the patience and goodwill of the international community. The West's dominant image of Zimbabwe is one of a country sliding into lawlessness and anarchy.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 26, 2001

Parliamentary democracy isn't perfect but it's the best form of government we have

The persistent weakness of prime ministerial leadership in India begs the question of whether it would be better off with presidential government. Does the latter offer a better solution to the chaotic spectrum of splinter parties, the debilitating hold of caste politics and the cancer of corruption? The answers are relevant and of interest to many other countries.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 21, 2001

Dissenting from globalism

In discussions with frontline humanitarian agencies, it becomes clear that they are experiencing a mild backlash against global human-rights instruments. Some countries have become apprehensive of signing agreements for fear of later intervention by outside powers on grounds of noncompliance.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 17, 2001

Sadly, conflicts make sense

Conflict is sometimes said to be the normal condition of human society; peace is the exception that requires explanation. Many of today's conflicts are peculiarly resistant to efforts at resolution because a set of contradictory logics tilts the balance toward their perpetuation. For example, while most conflicts today are internal wars, almost all international modalities are designed for inter-state warfare.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 11, 2001

Trade NMD for the CTBT

The new administration in Washington has taken office firmly committed to the concept of a national missile defense system, arguing that future U.S. security needs take precedence over arms-control agreements rooted in Cold War history. Its views on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, an agreement signed in the late 1990s with the goal of confining nuclear testing to history, are less clear-cut. If friends and allies concede on NMD in principle, they might well be able to shape the final form of NMD and persuade Washington to accept the CTBT in return.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 29, 2001

Banks untouched by evolution

After three years here, I believe the essence of the difference between Japan and India can be summed up thus: In India, nothing works, but everything can be arranged (for a consideration, of course); in Japan, everything works, but nothing can be arranged. One of the surprising aspects of life in Japan is an antiquated banking system for ordinary customers. Combined with the wonderful politeness and extraordinary self-control of Japanese society, the end result can be a frustrating sense of impotence, for one is not allowed explosions of rage as a way of letting off steam.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 22, 2001

Partnerships for humanitarian crises

The number of refugees, displaced people and others of concern to the UNHCR jumped from under 15 million in 1990 to over 22 million in 2000: a 50 percent increase over the decade. Refugees are a symptom of a deeper malaise in the polities from which they have fled. The failure to establish satisfactory coping mechanisms is a symptom of a deeper malaise afflicting the world. The treatment meted out to refugees by the host countries -- including the entire infrastructure of laws, regulations, administrative practices and personnel -- separates a civilized from an uncivilized society.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2001

Overseas Indians: Use them or lose them

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural convention of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin in New Delhi on Jan. 6, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called for "a partnership among all children of Mother India so that our country can emerge as a major global player." Noting the seminal contributions of the Indian diaspora to the information-technology, biotechnology, agriculture, space and energy sectors in adopted countries, he asked for a similar contribution by them to their mother country.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 31, 2000

Solving the Kashmir dispute

Three of the world's most protracted conflicts are in Asia: the Palestinian-Israeli crisis in West Asia, Kashmir in South Asia and Korea in East Asia. The world's interest is engaged in South Asia because of the fate of over 1 billion people, the importance of India as the world's most populous democracy and the nuclearization of the subcontinent. Although not the most dangerous place on Earth, Kashmir is the most likely nuclear flash point.

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 25, 2000

Sanctions target the innocent

The use of sanctions as a tool of foreign and international policy increased dramatically in the 20th century. Yet as the crumbling sanctions on Iraq show, their track record in ensuring compliance is pitiful. They inflict pain on ordinary citizens while imposing questionable costs on leaders who are enriched and strengthened on the back of their impoverished and oppressed people.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 25, 2000

Western peacekeepers' flight from Africa

The prospect of disasters in Africa concentrates the world's mind wonderfully on the problems and failures of international peacekeeping. We should focus also on the parallel danger of creeping apartheid. Sensitivity to body bags has made Western powers increasingly averse to the perils of peacekeeping. In conflict-prone areas outside their own neighborhood, they leave risky operations to nonwhite soldiers. The result is that those with the military muscle to mount effective operations lack the courage of their convictions; those with the will lack the military means. Such a tribalization of peacekeeping undermines the solidarity of the international community in the shared management of a fragile world order.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 20, 2000

Dusting off Russo-Indian ties

Indians share with Americans a fondness for litigation and with Russians a sense of black humor. India is the world's most populous democracy, the United States is the most powerful and one of the oldest, and Russia is one of the newest. A joke making the rounds in India is that the services of the Russian election commission have been called in to clean up the mess of the U.S. presidential election. At last count, the leading candidate was Russian President Vladimir Putin.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 11, 2000

The special mandate of peace research

This is the eleventh month of the year, on the eleventh day of which, at the eleventh hour, the world pays homage to those who died in the first great war in the century of wars.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 15, 2000

India shooting itself in the foot

During a recent trip to India, the heretical thought took hold that ardent nationalists can be de facto anti-nationals.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 24, 2000

U.N. deaths are no surprise

The recent death of U.N. aid workers in Timor was a tragedy. The reprehensible action has rightly drawn international condemnation. The perpetrators will hopefully be caught, tried and punished.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 10, 2000

Multiculturalism and meritocracy are key

We live in a world of at least 2,000 nationalities, 200 states and 20 nation-states (where the populations are more or less homogeneous). The doctrine of self-determination was one of the most powerful ideologies of the 20th century. The drive to self-determination by disaffected communities created major crises for the international community in Kosovo and East Timor last year, and could do so again in one or more of several ethnic and religious flash points around the world. There is thus an urgent need for successful multiculturalism in plural societies. Public policy must strive for a balance between the rights of individuals, the welfare of identity groups and the interests of the state.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 20, 2000

Suffer the stolen children

Mahatma Gandhi, asked what he thought of European civilization, replied, "I think it's a very good idea."

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 6, 2000

It's Delhi's move in Kashmir

India recently celebrated the first anniversary of victory over Pakistan-backed incursion into the Kargil sector of Kashmir. Some victory: The two had faced off in the most dangerous nuclear confrontation since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. They have gone to full-scale war three times already and their relations are based on a permanent state of paranoia. Both are sites of frequent terrorist attacks; each insists that the needle of suspicion points to the other.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 24, 2000

G8 nations vs. the rest of the planet

On July 17, the United Nations University hosted a symposium on "The Kyushu-Okinawa Summit: The Challenges and Opportunities for the Developing World in the 21st Century." The conference was jointly organized by the Tokyo-based Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development, the Toronto-based G8 Research Group and UNU.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 19, 2000

Beat swords into plowshares

Given the tragic history of Okinawa, when the eight wise men of the world meet there it would be particularly appropriate if they turned their minds, in this International Year of the Culture of Peace, to the subject of ridding the world of war and genocide.

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[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

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The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Live like a lord or lady for a night at Ozu Castle

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