Publications/ Books

Freedom News: The untold Story of the Communist Underground Publication, Kumar Ramakrishna (ed.), 2008

From 1948 to 1960, both Singapore and Malaya were engaged in a struggle with the Malayan Communist Party (M.C.P.) for the right to shape the political destinies of both countries. While the battle north of the Causeway took the character of an intense rural insurgency, in Singapore itself the British colonial authorities faced a sophisticated urban subversion campaign by the Singapore Communists targeted at restive Chinese students and workers. Against this backdrop the M.C.P. published a clandestine newspaper called Freedom News, which sought to mobilise political support for the Communist cause on both sides of the Causeway against the ”British Imperialists” and persuade young Singaporeans and Malayans that World Communism represented the wave of the future.

This volume, for the very first time, reproduces copies of all Freedom News issues ever published. The collection is supplemented with an accessible Introduction, based on hitherto classified internal papers of the old British Special Branch, that seeks to situate Freedom news against the tumultuous events of this very important period in Singapore’s history, The documents in this collection provide extremely useful insight into the motivations and aspirations of intelligent and determined men whom had they succeeded in wresting control of the country, would have changed the destiny and fortunes of our nation forever.

STRATEGIC CURRENTS: Marking the Transition to the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Yang Razali Kassim (ed.), 2006

STRATEGIC CURRENTS is published by the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) to mark its transition to the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies or RSIS from 1st January 2007. Edited by Yang Razali Kassim, Strategic Currents showcases the breadth of the school’s work since the inception of IDSS in 1996. It draws from the stable of opinion pieces on a diversity of issues that has been published through IDSS Commentaries, ranging from the strategic and political to economic and non-traditional security. Among the areas covered in this inaugural issue are regional politics, namely the emergence of China; the international economy such as the future of the WTO; issues in homeland security, maritime security as well as terrorism; the future of the Revolution in Military Affairs; and issues in contemporary Islam.

Strategic Currents aims to be a channel for thinkers and formulators of inputs on strategic issues to express themselves. The whole idea is to provide a platform for views and perspectives on matters relating to international studies – from security in the broadest sense of the word to diplomacy and inter-state relations. In so doing, this publication hopes to support RSIS’ vision to be the focal point for the academic teaching of international studies broadly conceived, in keeping with its stature as the first graduate professional school of international affairs in this part of the world.

Contents:
* Revolution in Military Affairs
* China and the Region
* International Political Economy
* Contemporary Islam
* Maritime Security
* Homeland Security
* Terrorism

S Rajaratnam on Singapore: From Ideas to Reality, Kwa Chong Guan (ed.), 2006

This book, a compilation of key speeches and articles by the late Mr S Rajaratnam, is a tribute to one of the founding fathers of Singapore. As the country's first foreign minister, he was pivotal in conceptualising and implementing its foreign policy. Present at the birth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), he was also instrumental in ensuring a constructive role for Singapore in regional cooperation. A staunch supporter of a multicultural society, Mr Rajaratnam envisioned the country as a cosmopolitan "global city".

The volume is divided into four thematic sections: foreign policy, ASEAN regionalism, multiculturalism, and Singapore's history - broadly encompassing Mr Rajaratnam's most important contributions to the making of modern Singapore. Also included are original research essays that reassess Mr Rajaratnam's contributions, written by senior staff of the new S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Contents:
* Foreign Policy
* ASEAN Regionalism
* Multiculturalism
* Singapore's History

Readership: General readers interested in Singapore, its multiculturalism, history, regional policy and foreign policy.

Review
" This compilation of Mr Rajaratnam's speeches and writings gives the reader an insight into the foundation of Singapore's foreign policy and into the mind that wrote the Pledge our children recite in school every day."

George Yeo
Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs

"The book paints a deep impression of Mr Rajaratnam as a thinker, ideologue and man of great vigour and passion who cared deeply for Singapore."

S Chandra Das
Former Member of Parliament, Singapore

"Mr Rajaratnam made invaluable contributions to what I would call the Singapore school of diplomacy. He was a realist but he was not a fatalist. He did not believe that small states were powerless. This book very aptly captures his idea about how Singapore should conduct itself diplomatically."

Professor Tommy Koh
Chairman, Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore

Non-Traditional Security In Asia: Dilemmas in Securitisation, Mely Caballero-Anthony, Ralf Emmers, and Amitav Acharya (eds.), 2006

A comprehensive analysis of the nature of security issues confronting Asia. Given the growing trend of an expanding security agenda beyond the military dimension of inter-state relations, this volume provides an extensive study of emerging non-traditional challenges to this region. These challenges include: environmental degradation, illegal immigration, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, transnational crime, poverty and underdevelopment.

In particular this volume -
* Brings together regional perspectives from across Asia
* Examines how these perspectives are perceived and managed
* Develops a systematic, conceptual framework

Specifically this study draws upon, modifies and operationalises the concepts of securitisation and desecuritisation. A valuable contribution to existing studies on security and ideally suited to core and supplementary reading for third-level undergraduates and post-graduates of security studies, international relations and development studies.

Review
"A much needed empirically rich addition to the securitisation literature. This book is much more than a coverage of NTS in Asia, it develops, problematises and enriches our understanding of the securitisation/ desecuritsation process. The theoretical developments are on their own invaluable but its application to Asia addresses on of the critiques of securitisation – that it is Euro-centric – and in so doing this volume helps to elucidate that critique."

Dr Alan Collins, University of Wales Swansea, UK

Studying Non-Traditional Security In Asia: Trend and Issues, Ralf Emmers, Mely Caballero-Anthony, and Amitav Acharya (eds.), 2006

The security challenges confronting Asia today go beyond the traditional dimensions of security and tend to be more diverse than what the region has ever known before. Issues like infectious diseases, trafficking in illegal drugs, irregular migration, environmental degradation, financial crisis, and natural disasters are increasingly being treated as pressing concerns with serious security implications. Such concerns pose threats to the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation-states as well as to the welfare and security of their respective societies and individuals.

Consisting of a collection of essays, this volume presents current trends and research directions in non-traditional security in Asia. It is structured around research projects undertaken by various research institutes in the region, showcasing their major findings and highlighting key implications for the field of non-traditional security studies.

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Maritime Security in the Asia-Pacific, Joshua Ho and Catherine Zara Raymond (eds.), 2005

This authoritative book brings together, in single volume, international experts renowned in their specialisations to discuss issues and current trends relating to maritime security.

It looks at the issue of maritime security in the Asia-Pacific through a three-step approach. Firstly, it surveys both the global maritime outlook and the outlook in each of the regions of Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. From these regional perspectives, trends in commercial shipping and force modernisation, and issues like weapons proliferation and maritime terrorism are discussed. After looking at the maritime environment, the specific challenges that the maritime community faces are examined. These challenges include maritime boundary and territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the force modernisation of three Northeast Asian navies, and the spectre of maritime terrorism. The volume concludes by looking at some new initiatives for maritime cooperation, a survey of maritime ‘regime’ building, and the legal and political implications of the proliferation security initiative.

After Bali, The Threat of Terrorism in Southeast Asia, Kumar Ramakrishna and See Seng Tan (eds.), 2004

This book critically analyses the specific threat of terrorism in southeast Asia since the Bali blasts of 12 October 2002 and the US-led war on Iraq. It offers a comprehensive and critical examination of the ideological, socioeconomic and political motivations, trans-regional linkages, and media representations of the terrorist threat in the region, assesses the efficiency of the regional counter-terror response and suggests a more balanced and nuanced approach to combating the terror threat in Southeast Asia. The contributors include leading scholars of political Islam in the region, renowned terrorism and regional security analysts, as well as highly regarded regional journalists and commentators. This represents a formidable and unequalled combination of expertise.

The New Terrorism, Anatomy, Trends and Counter-Strategies, Andrew T. H. Tan and Kumar Ramakrishna (eds.), 2002

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washngton represented a true watershed in world history. The attacks revealed the horrifying nature of the so called "new terrorism" that has emerged in the post-Cold War era. The new terrorism is defined by four key features: sheer lethality, religious dimension, networked organizational structure and greatly enhanced striking power.

As September 11 clearly demonstrated, the new terrorists can leverage on technology to inflict catastrophic damage even on superpowers, let alone other states.

To examine the new dimensions of terrorism, a conference was organized in Singapore in late March 2002 that brought together a number of leading experts from a wide range of backgrounds from America, Europe and Asia, and the key findings are presented in this volume under the following headings: Anatomy of the new terrorism, Terrorist trends and patterns in the Asia-Pacific region, Religion and Terrorism: Southeast Asian Perspectives, Formulating counter-strategies.