December 2017 Australian Institute of International Affairs Volume 10 Issue 4 Promoting understanding of international issues Publications by the Australian Institute of International Affairs The AJIA is edited by Professor Nick The Australian Institute of International Bisley, Head of Department, Faculty Affairs (AIIA) is proud to present the of Humanities and Social Sciences at Emerging Scholars Series to enable young La Trobe University and publishes high researchers to publish their work. The AIIA quality scholarly research on international hosts a number of interns in its National political, social, economic and legal Office who often write research reports to issues, especially (but not exclusively) earn academic credit. To give these high within the Asia-Pacific region. The journal quality papers an outlet, the AIIA produces is published five times a year by Routledge an annual volume, the Emerging Scholars Taylor and Francis. Series, in order to publicise their work. 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Quarterly Access (QA) is the national quarterly publication of Editorial Team the young professionals’ networks of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA). • Editor-in-Chief Nina Roxburgh All the views expressed in this publication are solely those of • Deputy Editor Tamara Tubakovic the individual writers. While providing a forum for discussion • Editor Alyce Hogg and debate on international issues, the AIIA does not • Editor Finian Cullity formulate its own institutional views, and eschews political bias. • Editor Bernadette Anvia • Editor Kelly Rogan Launched by ACCESS, the AIIA’s Network for Students and Young Professionals, Quarterly Access is an entirely volunteer- • Graphic Editor Alicia Sherman based publication providing a forum for students and young • Social Media Officer Jeremy Rees professionals with an interest in international affairs to contribute to the exchange of ideas. Contact the Committee via email [email protected] The Editorial Committee comprises a group of students and or for information on submitting an article visit: young professionals. www.internationalaffairs.org.au/publications/quarterlyaccess 01 Looking Into: Women Poppy Farmers in Myanmar Kirsty Dempsey 04 Gazing at the Stars: Australia’s Strategic Space Prospects Jonathan Lim 14 The Ugly Truth About Fake News: Fragility of Liberal Democracies in the Internet Age Zia Khan resigned as President of Jono Lim investigates why From the Zimbabwe, after a 37 year rule. Australia’s geopolitical Russia has been accused of standing and national Editor-in-Chief interfering in the US elections. Just recently Ratko Mladic, security interests can only be the former Bosnian Serb safeguarded and advanced with the establishment of a Dear readers, military commander known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” was governmental space agency Thank you for joining Quarterly found guilty of genocide at The and development of a Access for another fantastic Hague. Same Sex Marriage proactive space policy. year exploring the ideas and has passed in Australia. Zia Khan explores the research of young Australian Issues continue to unfold with writers and emerging role “fake news” has in the closure of Manus Island undermining the quality of academics in International detention centre sparking Relations. public discourse and electoral weekly protests in Australia’s decision-making within This has been quite the year. In major cities. The Rohingya liberal democracies, and the the beginning António Guterres crisis has refugees fleeing into threat this poses for liberal became the ninth secretary neighbouring Bangladesh; democratic governments. general of the United Nations. with accounts of torture, Donald Trump took control human rights violations, Kirsty Dempsey writes on of the oval office and was mass killings, and systematic the absence of women’s sworn in as president of the rape. All this and the planet experiences in academic United States. The European continues to endure the effects literature and development Union and the UK have bitterly of climate change and policy agency work in poppy farming dragged out inadequacies across the globe. in Myanmar, due to the the political, economic and In reality, this is just a short list global value chain of opium social divorce triggered by of the many, many, significant production and broader Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. international events that have transnational factors. North Korea has relentlessly occurred during 2017, which We say farewell to one of our pursued its nuclear capacity, affect us all. editorial Committee members, recently testing a ballistic With this in mind, in our final Alyce Hogg, and thank her missile in contravention to issue of Quarterly Access for all her work bringing this global pressure through for the year, we look to the journal to life throughout the sanctions. France welcomed its stars and to the power of the last two years. youngest president in history internet, to explore some of Happy reading, with the election of Emmanuel the bigger questions facing our Macron. Robert Mugabe global and local communities. Nina Roxburgh, Editor-in-Chief From the Editor-in-Chief 01 DECEMBER 2017 | Vol 10 Iss 4 Looking Into: Women Poppy Farmers in Myanmar Article by Kirsty Dempsey Kirsty graduated with a Bachelor of International Relations in 2015 and currently in her final semester of the Master of International Relations at University of Melbourne. DECEMBER 2017 | Vol 10 Iss 4 02 Interviews with Myanmar farmers indicate that theories. These studies have produced a range farming poppies “may be as normal as breathing” of outcomes, including theories claiming the for native peoples.1 2 Opium production has a long drug abuse issue stems from colonialism.8 history in Myanmar, being handed down through More recently, anthropological accounts of generations within families, a tradition that has opium production have assessed the impact been in the region for hundreds of years.3 The on local villages. However, absent from almost local reliance upon the plant was highlighted all academic literature on this topic is studies by a 2005 ban, in which 89.5% of villages in a of women, and how they have been specifically Myanmar region suffered food shortages.4 Clearly, impacted. Effectively, like other extractive opium production is an industry that is deeply industries, such as mining and palm oil,9 women rooted in Myanmar history, culture and politics. in opium production have been ignored by many key stakeholders. Yet despite this importance, as highlighted by Oxfam International in the Position Paper on Why is this? Gender Justice and the Extractive Industries, women working in Myanmar opium production are A common theme in the study of extractive discriminated against at every stage, from farming industries, the lack of literature on women in to cultivation, to trafficking.5 Although women the opium industry is an example of what occurs 10 often partake in all areas of opium production, when global processes contrast local dynamics. they are mostly overlooked in the academic Global consumption of cocaine, heroin and literature, as well as by development and aid methamphetamine is growing dramatically – agencies, like the United Nations Office on Drugs there are now an estimated 255 million drug 11 and Crime (UNODC). The question, then, is why? users globally. This has meant that much of the Myanmar opium finds its way to the global market This article posits that women are overlooked due as it is trafficked through the borders of Thailand to the global value chain of opium production, as and China.12 the literature is shaped by wider transnational factors that minimise the experiences of Myanmar John F. McCarthy et. al. argue that the role women, who are silenced by local systemic of women is overlooked in this process as practices. international actor frameworks fail to account for those local dynamics.13 This means that On June 26th, 2017, Myanmar 6 authorities as Myanmar opium is moved transnationally, publicly burnt $385 million of heroin, opium, the ability to focus on women in Myanmar is cocaine, and methamphetamines, marking the diminished. International Day Against Drug Abuse.7 The act symbolised the larger battle against drug abuse This is reinforced by Ko-lin Chin, who highlights in Myanmar, which has subsequently struggled to how wider regional activities have influenced overcome the flow on economic and social effects. the cultivation of opium, but omit the role of, or effects on, women.14 Although women appear As a result, the issue of opium production in to be acknowledged as present in, and affected Myanmar has been studied by many academics by the opium industry, their experiences