title: Indonesia’s great power and superpower environment in the post Cold War era: A study of Indonesia’s search for a dynamic regional equilibrium

authors: Syofian, Ahmad

subjects: Indonesia

abstract: Against the backdrop of regional transformation, during President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) period of office from 2004 – 2014, Indonesian officials have frequently expressed an expectation of a peaceful region through the promotion of a concept called the maintenance of a dynamic equilibrium. The concept was developed in the light of the rise of China, the US’ reengagement and Japan’s transformation, and is a response to the great power and superpower interactions in the region.
This study is thus timely, significant and relevant as well as important in contemporary Indonesia. First, it analyses the impact of regional dynamics on Indonesia, which have been perceived differently and with uncertainty especially by Indonesian elites. Secondly, it provides a study on Indonesia’s foreign relations in pursuit of the country’s search for a dynamic regional equilibrium. In so doing, it sheds light on Indonesia’s foreign policy which, for some scholars, is considered less focused and irrelevant, especially in responding to great powers dynamics in the region.
This thesis uses two main techniques of data collection to explore its main objectives: interviewing and textual / documentary investigation. The data collection was conducted, first, during the SBY Administration (from March to September 2014) and, secondly, during the Jokowi Administration (from June to September 2016). The data collection was primarily through in-depth interviews, which were semi-structured, with more than 50 officials and eminent persons involved in the process of Indonesian foreign policy making. The textual, or documentary, investigation was conducted using both primary and secondary resources. This research is qualitative in nature, but it contains data and statistics to support the analysis. This study sets its time frame into the end of 2016.
The research has two main findings. First, the great powers and superpower dynamics and interactions in the region generate opportunities for and threats to Indonesia’s interests. On the one hand, their presence and interactions enhance Indonesia’s hedging and even-handed policy that provide an opportunity to earn maximal gains and avoid a total loss. On the other, the element of competition between them has the potential to trigger disputes and creates instability in the region. In addition, some elements of opportunities also come along with threatening factors. Secondly, the research finds that Indonesia has displayed an array of efforts conforming to the policy of equilibrium maintenance. Indeed, despite some weaknesses, there has been a degree of maintaining a policy for balancing or even-handed strategies in Indonesia’s foreign relations with the US, China and Japan, as well as in the country’s participation in ASEAN and the Family.
At the end, this research finds that Indonesia’s relations with the superpower and great powers, as well as in ASEAN and the Family, are only a part of Indonesia’s foreign policy practices in the region. Accordingly, the discussion of Indonesia’s foreign policy towards the US, China and Japan in relation to a search for the maintenance of a dynamic equilibrium, is not distinct from that towards other countries in the region. In this respect, promoting a regional dynamic equilibrium is a collaborative effort that requires the support and participation of all states in the region.

text: Indonesia’s great power and superpower environment in the post Cold War era: A study of Indonesia’s search for a dynamic regional equilibrium Against the backdrop of regional transformation, during President Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) period of office from 2004 – 2014, Indonesian officials have frequently expressed an expectation of a peaceful region through the promotion of a concept called the maintenance of a dynamic equilibrium. The concept was developed in the light of the rise of China, the US’ reengagement and Japan’s transformation, and is a response to the great power and superpower interactions in the region.
This study is thus timely, significant and relevant as well as important in contemporary Indonesia. First, it analyses the impact of regional dynamics on Indonesia, which have been perceived differently and with uncertainty especially by Indonesian elites. Secondly, it provides a study on Indonesia’s foreign relations in pursuit of the country’s search for a dynamic regional equilibrium. In so doing, it sheds light on Indonesia’s foreign policy which, for some scholars, is considered less focused and irrelevant, especially in responding to great powers dynamics in the region.
This thesis uses two main techniques of data collection to explore its main objectives: interviewing and textual / documentary investigation. The data collection was conducted, first, during the SBY Administration (from March to September 2014) and, secondly, during the Jokowi Administration (from June to September 2016). The data collection was primarily through in-depth interviews, which were semi-structured, with more than 50 officials and eminent persons involved in the process of Indonesian foreign policy making. The textual, or documentary, investigation was conducted using both primary and secondary resources. This research is qualitative in nature, but it contains data and statistics to support the analysis. This study sets its time frame into the end of 2016.
The research has two main findings. First, the great powers and superpower dynamics and interactions in the region generate opportunities for and threats to Indonesia’s interests. On the one hand, their presence and interactions enhance Indonesia’s hedging and even-handed policy that provide an opportunity to earn maximal gains and avoid a total loss. On the other, the element of competition between them has the potential to trigger disputes and creates instability in the region. In addition, some elements of opportunities also come along with threatening factors. Secondly, the research finds that Indonesia has displayed an array of efforts conforming to the policy of equilibrium maintenance. Indeed, despite some weaknesses, there has been a degree of maintaining a policy for balancing or even-handed strategies in Indonesia’s foreign relations with the US, China and Japan, as well as in the country’s participation in ASEAN and the Family.
At the end, this research finds that Indonesia’s relations with the superpower and great powers, as well as in ASEAN and the Family, are only a part of Indonesia’s foreign policy practices in the region. Accordingly, the discussion of Indonesia’s foreign policy towards the US, China and Japan in relation to a search for the maintenance of a dynamic equilibrium, is not distinct from that towards other countries in the region. In this respect, promoting a regional dynamic equilibrium is a collaborative effort that requires the support and participation of all states in the region.

year: 2018

title: František Jiránek and the Italian connection:  A study of the influence of Antonio Vivaldi on the  bassoon concertos of František Jiránek

authors: Bradfield, Craig Anthony

abstract: The concertos of Antonio Vivaldi rapidly transformed not only Venetian and Italian music but influenced composers across the rest of Europe as well. The older generation of composers felt the need to integrate at least some of the features of the new and malleable Vivaldian ritornello model into their own works, and the younger generation simply fell completely under the inspiring composer's spell. Vivaldi's influence relied on his reputation as a virtuoso performer, Venice's cultural standing and, in particular, the rapid dissemination of his publications throughout Europe. 
Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot and musicologist Václav Kapsa have accrued a large amount of research on Vivaldi and Jiránek's lives, works and influence but have not spent a lot of time on the composer's bassoon concertos specifically. Inspired by their work, I have been able to create a clear image of both composers' surroundings, influences, and possible motivations to extrapolate my theories regarding the Jiránek bassoon concertos and his relationship with his teacher Vivaldi.
This thesis is presented in six chapters, alongside performance editions of Jiránek's four extant bassoon concertos (including the two incomplete works) and a recording of a performance of the two complete concertos (KapM Jiranek 18 in F major and KapM Jiranek 21 in G minor), and two by Vivaldi (RV 496, and RV 501). 
Chapter 1 sites the study in the well-traversed area of Vivaldi scholarship, surveys the literature and introduces the purpose and processes of the thesis. Chapter 2 provides a detailed overview of the musical life of Bohemian composers of the early eighteenth century, the esteemed musical court of Count von Morzin, and Vivaldi's connection with it. Chapter 3 introduces František Jiránek and highlights his time as a student of Vivaldi. Chapter 4 considers the dominant galant aesthetic of the Bohemian courts and provides a discussion of rhetorical elements. Chapter 5 is a descriptive analysis, after John White, of the first movements of four bassoon concertos, each by Vivaldi and Jiránek. Chapter 6 presents findings and conclusions.
During the 1720s, Vivaldi moved away from the earlier 'classic' concerto form of the 1710s creating a more flexible and inventive model. Unlike many of Vivaldi's followers who were influenced by the composer's earlier concertos, it is clear by the information gathered in this research that Jiránek followed his master's lead and composed in a similarly flexible way. The specific formal and motivic characteristics that have been identified here show that Jiránek used a vast array of these Vivaldian traits (such as compositional frameworks, orchestration, and phrasing) effortlessly, which he combined with an impressive working knowledge of the instruments he was writing for, comparably to his teacher, in a very idiomatic way.

text: František Jiránek and the Italian connection:  A study of the influence of Antonio Vivaldi on the  bassoon concertos of František Jiránek The concertos of Antonio Vivaldi rapidly transformed not only Venetian and Italian music but influenced composers across the rest of Europe as well. The older generation of composers felt the need to integrate at least some of the features of the new and malleable Vivaldian ritornello model into their own works, and the younger generation simply fell completely under the inspiring composer's spell. Vivaldi's influence relied on his reputation as a virtuoso performer, Venice's cultural standing and, in particular, the rapid dissemination of his publications throughout Europe. 
Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot and musicologist Václav Kapsa have accrued a large amount of research on Vivaldi and Jiránek's lives, works and influence but have not spent a lot of time on the composer's bassoon concertos specifically. Inspired by their work, I have been able to create a clear image of both composers' surroundings, influences, and possible motivations to extrapolate my theories regarding the Jiránek bassoon concertos and his relationship with his teacher Vivaldi.
This thesis is presented in six chapters, alongside performance editions of Jiránek's four extant bassoon concertos (including the two incomplete works) and a recording of a performance of the two complete concertos (KapM Jiranek 18 in F major and KapM Jiranek 21 in G minor), and two by Vivaldi (RV 496, and RV 501). 
Chapter 1 sites the study in the well-traversed area of Vivaldi scholarship, surveys the literature and introduces the purpose and processes of the thesis. Chapter 2 provides a detailed overview of the musical life of Bohemian composers of the early eighteenth century, the esteemed musical court of Count von Morzin, and Vivaldi's connection with it. Chapter 3 introduces František Jiránek and highlights his time as a student of Vivaldi. Chapter 4 considers the dominant galant aesthetic of the Bohemian courts and provides a discussion of rhetorical elements. Chapter 5 is a descriptive analysis, after John White, of the first movements of four bassoon concertos, each by Vivaldi and Jiránek. Chapter 6 presents findings and conclusions.
During the 1720s, Vivaldi moved away from the earlier 'classic' concerto form of the 1710s creating a more flexible and inventive model. Unlike many of Vivaldi's followers who were influenced by the composer's earlier concertos, it is clear by the information gathered in this research that Jiránek followed his master's lead and composed in a similarly flexible way. The specific formal and motivic characteristics that have been identified here show that Jiránek used a vast array of these Vivaldian traits (such as compositional frameworks, orchestration, and phrasing) effortlessly, which he combined with an impressive working knowledge of the instruments he was writing for, comparably to his teacher, in a very idiomatic way.

year: 2023

title: Accommodating multiculturalism and biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand: implication for language education.

authors: May, Stephen

subjects: bilingual education

abstract: The field of language education in Aotearoa New Zealand, as elsewhere, has developed significantly since its early and almost exclusive focus on the acquisition of English literacy in schools. As the field has expanded, so too has the range of language education sectors addressed and the theoretical approaches and understandings employed in relation to language and literacy education. Both developments have resulted in a more coordinated literacy education policy - exemplified to date most clearly in the New Zealand Literacy Taskforce - and a more situated, less monolithic understanding of the widely different literacies available to learners. Despite these developments, however, one area still remains noticeably under-theorised and marginalized in relation to the ongoing development of language and literacy education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand - the place of second language learners within it. This paper explores this lacuna and the potential policy implications of addressing and integrating first and second language educational concerns within an evolving national literacy education policy. This has particular implications for the further development of bilingual education - both for Maori and, possibly, other minority groups - and for the related possibilities of multicultural education. It also requires a wider and clearer recognition of minority language education rights, as developed within both international law and political theory, in order to apply these rights appropriately to an Aotearoa New Zealand context which is currently witnessing rapid and extensive demographic (and linguistic) change.

text: Accommodating multiculturalism and biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand: implication for language education. The field of language education in Aotearoa New Zealand, as elsewhere, has developed significantly since its early and almost exclusive focus on the acquisition of English literacy in schools. As the field has expanded, so too has the range of language education sectors addressed and the theoretical approaches and understandings employed in relation to language and literacy education. Both developments have resulted in a more coordinated literacy education policy - exemplified to date most clearly in the New Zealand Literacy Taskforce - and a more situated, less monolithic understanding of the widely different literacies available to learners. Despite these developments, however, one area still remains noticeably under-theorised and marginalized in relation to the ongoing development of language and literacy education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand - the place of second language learners within it. This paper explores this lacuna and the potential policy implications of addressing and integrating first and second language educational concerns within an evolving national literacy education policy. This has particular implications for the further development of bilingual education - both for Maori and, possibly, other minority groups - and for the related possibilities of multicultural education. It also requires a wider and clearer recognition of minority language education rights, as developed within both international law and political theory, in order to apply these rights appropriately to an Aotearoa New Zealand context which is currently witnessing rapid and extensive demographic (and linguistic) change.

year: 2002