Mr. Masashi Nishihara is Professor of International Relations at the National Defense Academy, in Yokosuka, Japan. A graduate of Kyoto University's Law Department, he also has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. After teaching at Kyoto Sangyo University, he moved to his current position in 1977. He was a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra, in 1979, and at the Rockefeller Foundation's International Relations Department, New York, in 1981-1982. In 1993-96 he served as Director of the First Research Department of the National Institute for Defense Studies. Among his various affiliations, he is a research associate at the Research Institute for Peace and Security. Mr. Nishihara is the author of many works on Japanese security and international relations, including East Asian Security and the Trilateral Countries (1985), Senryaku kenkyuu no shikaku (An Angle on Strategic Studies) (1998), UN Peacekeeping: Japanese and American Perspectives (co-editor, 1995), Vietnam Joins the World (co-editor, 1997), and The Japanese-US Alliance: 100 Questions and Answers (co-editor, 1998).
Mr. David I. Steinberg is Director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, and Senior Consultant to The Asia Foundation. A former member of the Senior Foreign Service, USAID, Department of State, serving in Thailand and as Director of Technical Assistance in Asia and the Middle East, he was also an Asia Foundation representative in Korea, Burma, Hong Kong, and Washington, D.C. He is the author of ten books and monographs and over sixty articles on Korea, Burma, Asian Development, and other Asian-related subjects. He writes an op-ed column for the Korea Times. He was educated at Darmouth College, Lingnan University (China), Harvard University, and the School of the Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Myanmar of 1988 to 1990 and East Timor of 1999 have similar developments. In Myanmar popular votes favored Aung San Suu Kyi, whom the military prevented from running the country. The military cracked down on democratic forces by brutal means. In East Timor, a popular referendum clearly endorsed independence, but was prevented by pro-Jakarta forces and Indonesian military contingents dispatched together through intense and massive intimidation. Can the two cases be treated in the same way? Will international sanctions against them work? How can Japan and the United States cooperate to bring about peace and stability in the region?
