Seguinte, é um excerpto tirado de ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) duma discussão em que foi discutida o conceito de "Arco de Instabilidade".
O Arco de Instabilidade é um conceito geopolitico inventado pelo estratega australiano, Paul Dibb, no final dos anos 90 quando o regime de Suharto caiu na Indonésia e Timor-leste se tornou independente. Paull Dibb definiu que este arco é constituido pelos estados frageis e vulneraveis que se começa desde Indonésia, passa pela Papua Nova Guinea e Timor-leste e se extende até ao Pacífica do Sul. Para compreender melhor este conceito e como é que os paises do arco reagem a esta desginação, pode ler o debate seguinte:
The Pacific 'arc of instability'
Reporter: Graeme Dobell
HAMISH ROBERTSON: Turning to our own region now, Australia's Defence Minister recently gave a security pledge to the countries in what he calls the "arc of instability", stretching from Timor to the South Pacific.Dr Brendan Nelson says that Australia has a responsibility to defend the interests and values of the nations in its region.This report by Radio Australia's Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Graeme Dobell.
GRAEME DOBELL: The "arc of instability" is an Australian idea born at the end of the 1990s, as the Suharto era ended in flames in Jakarta, and Indonesia left East Timor in ashes.In defining the arc of instability, the strategic thinker Paul Dibb said the arc extended from Indonesia to Papua New Guinea and into the South Pacific.Where Australia might have once hoped for a security shield to its north, Professor Dibb said, now the arcipelago contained a group of vulnerable countries.Australia's Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, has adopted the arc of instability, but has changed its geographic reach, quietly dropping Indonesia from the definition he offered Parliament.
BRENDAN NELSON: We cannot afford to have failing states in our region. The so-called 'arc of instability', which basically goes from East Timor through to the south-west Pacific states, means that not only does Australia have a responsibility in preventing and indeed assisting with humanitarian and disaster relief, but also that we cannot allow any of these countries to become havens for transnational crime, nor indeed havens for terrorism.
GRAEME DOBELL: Doctor Nelson says the deployment of the Australian Defence Force to Solomon Islands in April, after the riots, and East Timor in May to deal with the political breakdown shows how quickly Australia can respond to security problems in the arc.The Defence Minister says Australia will act to stabilise governments, protect borders, counter-terrorism, and help with disasters.
BRENDAN NELSON: Australia has a responsibility in protecting our own interests and values to support defending and protecting the interests and values of these countries in our region.(sound of parliamentarians saying "hear, hear")
GRAEME DOBELL: It might look like an arc of instability to Australia's Defence Minister, but the countries of the arc don't like the term, any more than they accept being called "failing" or even "fragile".The head of Canberra's Pacific Centre, Professor Stewart Firth, says the arc of instability has some domestic utility in Australia, but it doesn't impress the region.
STEWART FIRTH: I've always thought that that is a bit of an overstatement, because you have to look at particular countries in order to determine their particular situation.I mean, Fiji, for example, which was supposed to have been in the arc of instability, is - as far as anyone can see - entering a pretty stable phase, and people are pretty optimistic about Fiji's future.Solomons of course has RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands), and for the moment at least we've got a stabilised situation there.Papua New Guinea, I think, you know, there are too many pessimists about Papua New Guinea.So, I mean, to talk about it as an arc of instability I think is to paint a pretty broad brush.
GRAEME DOBELL: Is it a useful tool for an Australian Defence Minister to use arc of instability? Is it a way of explaining defence policy to Australians? What are the Australian uses of the term "arc of instability"?
STEWART FIRTH: Yeah, I think that is right. I think there is a use for an Australian Defence Minister.And you could see that also when Australia intervened in Solomon Islands, that we were able to justify that on the grounds of the possibility of a failed state becoming a haven for terrorists. Although, most people who knew the Solomons thought that this was a pretty way-out idea. Nevertheless, it had some traction and leverage for the Australian voter and I think that in that sense it was a justified kind of approach.And I guess the same thing applies to the phrase "arc of instability" for the Australian audience, but it doesn't go down too well in the region. Pacific Islanders don't like the idea of being labelled as failures, and in a way this is a label.
GRAME DOBELL: What model do you see for Australian policy towards the island arc - if we look at the Australian intervention in East Timor, the Australian intervention in Solomons in the last few months - what is the model of Australia's approach to the island arc?
STEWART FIRTH: Well, I think the existing model is really very much a securitised model. It's all about security, it's about regional security and Australian security. We're intervening in this region, and we're attempting to improve governance outcomes, and so on, in the interests of security. So the model is really built around a security approach.Now, some people would say that while that may be important, we have to look beyond that to a development approach. If you think of Solomon Islands, for example, Solomon Islands, yes we have law and order back, but is that enough? No, it clearly isn't enough, given the fact that within five or six years the logging will just about be finished in Solomon Islands. We've got to think about the Solomon Islands' economic and development future, not just about the law and order situation.
HAMISH ROBERTSON: Professor Stewart Firth, head of the Pacific Centre at the Australian National University.
Report by Graeme Dobell.
Fontes: ABC (Australia Broadcasting Corporation)
