Papers by Stephan Ortmann
This chapter of the book debates a number of perspectives for the future of the institutional ref... more This chapter of the book debates a number of perspectives for the future of the institutional reform process in Vietnam. To some extent, this is achieved by using a comparative perspective with China, which is institutionally very similar but differs in regard to the duration and extent of the economic liberalization process. First, the discussion focuses on whether environmental governance can at all be effective under authoritarian rule. Then it turns to the obstacles of institutional reform within the one-party system. The political regime also poses an obstacle to the growing influence of civil society. However, China shows that there is room for improvement in getting support from businesses. Finally, some positive signs also exist in regard to Vietnam’s growing international integration.
Springer eBooks, 2017
Despite the institutional reforms detailed in Chap. 3, there has been very little progress in reg... more Despite the institutional reforms detailed in Chap. 3, there has been very little progress in regard to the implementation of environmental regulations. This is mainly due to the existence of strong economic interest groups which act as reform opponents who seek to hollow out and weaken the existing institutions. They have denied sufficient financial resources to the environmental state, which has resulted in low institutional capacity. They have made use of the weak legal system, which makes it difficult to punish violators. Finally, they have also used corruption and connections to circumvent many of the efforts of reformers. The situation is exacerbated by intra-government conflicts which not only help institutional opponents but also split institutional reformers.
In Singapore’s electoral authoritarian regime, power is largely concentrated within a small rulin... more In Singapore’s electoral authoritarian regime, power is largely concentrated within a small ruling elite controlled by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). However, in recent years, the once hegemonic status of the PAP appears to be slowly declining with the transition to a competitive authoritarian regime. Many political observers tend to focus on structural shifts such as the socio-economic changes and the careful liberalisation process, ignoring the long-term discursive transformation of the hegemonic discourse stemming from these developments. The chapter analyses this transformation by discussing the changing discursive framing of the political opposition, the discursive shifts driving the increasingly assertive civil society, and the modified justifications underpinning recent policy changes which aim to be more responsive to popular demands.
1. Introduction and Methodology: Containing Contention in Hong Kong and Singapore 2. Modernizatio... more 1. Introduction and Methodology: Containing Contention in Hong Kong and Singapore 2. Modernization and the Political Process Model 3. Depoliticization and the Rise of Social Protest in Hong Kong during the 1970s 4. Expanding Political Opportunities and Limiting Institutional Structures in Singapore 5. Ruling Elite Groups in Hong Kong During the 1970s: Positive Non-Interventionism and the Rise of Contention 6. Ruling Elite Groups in Singapore: Strength through Cohesion 7. Oppositional Groups in Hong Kong: The Right to Protest 8. Oppositional Groups in Singapore: Contention Denied 9. Comparing Ruling Elite Strategies in Hong Kong and Singapore: Implications for the Future Bibliography
This chapter places the institutional changes in Vietnam in an international context. First, it d... more This chapter places the institutional changes in Vietnam in an international context. First, it discusses the country’s role within international environmental regimes. Then it demonstrates the role of various international actors in supporting the institutional reformers within the government in their effort to reform the environmental state. Because Vietnam has reached all developmental goals except for the environment, it is not surprising that donor money is increasingly focusing on environmental protection. International organizations are, however, not just tools of the government but actors with their own interests. They have, for instance, been active in forming networks to exert their influence and to promote new patterns of governance. Questions can be raised about the sustainability of environmental aid as well as the potential of aid dependence.
Environmental Governance in Vietnam, 2017
For institutional reformers, it is essential to gain the support of businesses, which are part of... more For institutional reformers, it is essential to gain the support of businesses, which are part of the powerful economic interests that oppose the budding environmental state. This chapter first details the challenges inherent in Vietnam’s business sector which includes state-owned enterprises, small- and medium-sized enterprises, especially the massive number of household enterprises, and foreign-owned enterprises as well as joint ventures. In order to overcome the obstacles, reformers have promoted market-based governance mechanisms such as the polluters-pay principle, payment of environmental services, CP, and voluntary certification. The chapter probes how each of these approaches have been adapted to the Vietnamese context and what challenges they are facing in the market-Leninist system.
The Limits of Authoritarian Governance in Singapore's Developmental State, 2019
In Singapore’s electoral authoritarian regime, power is largely concentrated within a small rulin... more In Singapore’s electoral authoritarian regime, power is largely concentrated within a small ruling elite controlled by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). However, in recent years, the once hegemonic status of the PAP appears to be slowly declining with the transition to a competitive authoritarian regime. Many political observers tend to focus on structural shifts such as the socio-economic changes and the careful liberalisation process, ignoring the long-term discursive transformation of the hegemonic discourse stemming from these developments. The chapter analyses this transformation by discussing the changing discursive framing of the political opposition, the discursive shifts driving the increasingly assertive civil society, and the modified justifications underpinning recent policy changes which aim to be more responsive to popular demands.
This chapter of the book debates a number of perspectives for the future of the institutional ref... more This chapter of the book debates a number of perspectives for the future of the institutional reform process in Vietnam. To some extent, this is achieved by using a comparative perspective with China, which is institutionally very similar but differs in regard to the duration and extent of the economic liberalization process. First, the discussion focuses on whether environmental governance can at all be effective under authoritarian rule. Then it turns to the obstacles of institutional reform within the one-party system. The political regime also poses an obstacle to the growing influence of civil society. However, China shows that there is room for improvement in getting support from businesses. Finally, some positive signs also exist in regard to Vietnam’s growing international integration.
Continuum, 2020
ABSTRACT This work examines the discursive bases to Hong Konger identities by using a repertoire ... more ABSTRACT This work examines the discursive bases to Hong Konger identities by using a repertoire of anti-mainland and pro-democracy graffiti that impose alternative, counter-geographies onto space. Given the spatial specificities of pro-Hong Kong graffiti, the communication of nativist messages is potent in demarcating the boundaries of Hong Kong nativism and mainland ‘Otherness’ by virtue of how mainland China and its peoples are cognitively experienced and perceived by geographical imaginations of place. As a spatial practice, graffiti writing, it is argued, contests hegemonic representations of space and disrupts representational space through the imposition of ‘counterspaces’ that subsume a set of power relations which reinforce the boundaries of Hong Kong nativism using geographical imaginations of mainland China blended with truths.
Third World Quarterly, Jun 2, 2023
This paper argues that the decision of an authoritarian regime to use repression depends both on ... more This paper argues that the decision of an authoritarian regime to use repression depends both on the repressing agent and the costs as well as the threat perception. This is illustrated in the comparison between two environmental protests in Viet Nam. In 2015, the Vietnamese press reported that police had used tear gas against protesters opposing massive pollution by the Vinh Tan 2 thermal power plant but later treated the violent protesters with leniency. In contrast, the 2016 protest against the Formosa Ha-Tinh Steel Corporation was widely censored in the press and numerous peaceful protesters were arrested and harshly punished. The Vinh Tan case was not perceived as a threat and the costs of repression were judged to be high, while in the case of Formosa, the initial denials of responsibility raised the costs for the regime and the movement that emerged eventually was perceived to be a threat to the regime.
Routledge eBooks, Nov 18, 2022
Asian Affairs
Abstract This interpretive visual report interacts with repertoires of graffitied messages photog... more Abstract This interpretive visual report interacts with repertoires of graffitied messages photographed at two university campuses in Hong Kong after skirmishes laced with tear gas and fire between students and riot police had ceased. This work is a response to several graffitied images taken in early 2020 after the campus siege of 2019. It is accompanied by a reference to the reverberations of recent watershed developments that have fundamentally changed Hong Kong society and the modern-day University's mission to establish coalescence amidst the diversity of ideas.
Critical Arts
In current conditions of late-modernity, nativism, localism, populism and racism are articulating... more In current conditions of late-modernity, nativism, localism, populism and racism are articulating as each other in Western European societies. In Asia's global city, Hong Kong witnessed revivifications of nativist and localist identities that were negotiated to counteract socio-cultural and political "Mainlandization" in the former British colony. The imaginative geographies underscoring political graffiti and civil disobedience wresting the right for political self-determination from Beijing during the anti-extradition bill (anti-ELAB) protests of 2019-2020 is retrospectively discussed in relation to frequent pro-establishment assertions that Hong Kongers ought to accept Beijing's sovereignty over the semiautonomous region. The graffiti vignettes presented in this work express opposition towards the Mainland presence in Hong Kong, which illustrates underlying nativist seniments.
Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Democratization, 2015
Uploads
Papers by Stephan Ortmann
“This important book reflects the challenges and questions currently foremost in scholars’, activists’ and policy- makers’ minds—the Anthropocene, environmental justice, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and post-politics—all addressed through the lens of environmental movements in Asia.” (Jonathan Rigg, University of Bristol)
“This book shows convincingly that the concept of Anthropocene is as relevant in Asia as anywhere.” (Philip Hirsch, University of Sydney)
“How have authoritarianism, democratization and political change affected environmentalism in East and Southeast Asia? How have environmental mobilization and demands for environmental justice at the grassroots influenced politics there? These are among the vital questions answered by this insightful and well-crafted volume.” (Paul Harris, Education University of Hong Kong)
“Despite its claims to universality, the Anthropocene concept remains largely a Western phenomenon. Yet the importance of Asia for the Anthropocene can hardly be overstated. This book is crucial in correcting this view by putting environmental movements in Asia center stage.” (Eva Horn, University of Vienna)