Azeem Ibrahim, The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide
| Author | Nalanda Roy |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2347797018823978 |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
100 Book Review
The second major problem concerns the 4-P framework itself, specifically the
lack of conceptual clarification regarding the various ‘Ps’. For instance, Hu
treats ‘player’ and ‘preference’ as two independent variables. This invites the
question of how one can delineate one variable from another; where does one
variable’s relevance stops and the other’s starts? To put it another way—how do
we talk about ‘players’ independently of their ‘preferences’ or the ‘prospects’
they seek to achieve? How do we talk about ‘players’ independently of the
‘powers’ they amass? What is a player in the absence of her preferences, prospects
and power? The one chapter where this framework is most visible is the one on
US–Taiwan relations. However, even this chapter does not offer much
clarification on conceptual boundaries among these four independent variables.
On the contrary, when the author talks about players, much discussion is on their
preferences and prospects.
Overall, the value of Foreign Policies Toward Taiwan lies in Hu’s succinct
description of a number of countries’ foreign policy trajectories towards Taiwan.
As such, it would be helpful and informative to anyone who wants to acquire a
factual foundation of understanding Taiwan’s relations with the world. On the
theoretical front, though, the book’s analysis is cursory and incoherent.
Ultimately, it fails to live up to the grand goal it proposes to achieve in the
introduction chapter.
Jing Sun
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA
E-mail: Jing.Sun@du.edu
Azeem Ibrahim, The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide.
London: Hurst Publishers, 2016, 256 pp., £12.99 (paperback). ISBN:
9781849046237.
DOI: 10.1177/2347797018823978
The book The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide by Azeem Ibrahim
is an engaging and endearing account of the persecution of the Rohingyas in
Myanmar. With years of thoughtful research, the author was able to successfully
analyse and identify the political challenges faced by the Rohingyas in
Myanmar. The Rohingyas makes a significant contribution by communicating to
the audience the brutality involved in the laws discriminating against the
Rohingya, infringing on their freedom of movement, education and even
employment. The author attempts to initiate a debate and provide a painstaking
account of the oppressive nature of the regime in the twenty-first century.
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