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This book addresses some of the neglected problems, people and vulnerabilities of the Asia-Pacific region. It talks about emancipation, human security, 'security politics', language and threat-construction. The book is divided into three sections: agents; strategies and contexts; and futures. The first section outlines a range of possible agents or actors potentially capable of redressing individual suffering and vulnerability in the region. It examines East Asian regional institutions and dynamics of regionalism as potential sources of 'progressive' security discourses and practices. There is focus on the progressive security potential of regional institutions and regionalism has become increasingly prominent in literature on security in the Asia-Pacific. Two common interpretations of the role of epistemic communities in the construction of security are contested: that they are either passive sources of governmental legitimacy, or autonomous agents with the capacity of constructing or creating state interests. The second section reviews strategies and contexts, outlining a range of different sites of insecurity in the region, the ways in which dominant security discourses and practices emerge, and the extent to which such discourses are contested in different contexts. Indonesian government's approach to minority groups and separatism, the issue of civil unrest and human rights abuses in Burma, and the Australian government's attitude towards refugees and asylum-seekers are discussed. The third section deals with security futures, specifically discussing the question of what alternative security discourses and practices might look like. Finally, the book outlines a feminist critical security discourse and examines its applicability to the Asia-Pacific region.
; others to point to the distinction between elite-based and bottom-up interpretations of ‘progressive’ security discourses; and still others emphasize sensitivity in suggesting what alternative practices and arrangements might be ‘better’ in different contexts. While retaining this valuable breadth of critical security perspectives, however, we can nevertheless talk about a critical
research and policy-making needs to move further in this direction. And while some would caution against the ‘securitisation’ of refugees and IDPs, for example, through the application of the language of security ( Suhrke, 2003 ), I would argue that it is also possible to advance a progressive security discourse bringing refugees under the human security banner with an emphasis on