This paper set out to examine how successful ASEAN was in making its regional governance more inclusive and “people-oriented”, as aimed for in its charter. This rhetorical shift towards greater...Show moreThis paper set out to examine how successful ASEAN was in making its regional governance more inclusive and “people-oriented”, as aimed for in its charter. This rhetorical shift towards greater people empowerment can be seen as a response to such external pressures as the rising civil society, international normative pressures as well as diminishing credibility due the regional challenges faced in the 90s, an attempt to regain ground domestically as well as internationally. It must be acknowledged that by adopting rhetoric of people empowerment slow but steady successes have been achieved. Notwithstanding the progress and benefits ASEAN’s change of course and following interactions have brought, in reality rhetoric is decoupled from ASEAN’s political practices. While attempting to regain ground, the association’s intergovernmental nature and on-going tensions between more and less democratic member states prevented it from actually embracing this course. Despite its expressed goals, ASEAN has so far failed to establish clear formal interfaces for the interaction with civil society. The conflict between the principle of sovereignty and the clear advantages of adhering to global trends and domestic pressures towards integration and democratisation that ASEAN faces is important to understand this discrepancy between expressed aspirations and political reality. Within ASEAN, ever increasing regional economic integration in the region stood in contrast with nationalistic sentiments and socio-economic developmental pressures. Indeed, existent consultations with civil society seem largely to be aimed at giving greater legitimacy to the charter- that ultimately only consolidated ASEAN’s state-centred nature. Facing competing institutional logics of the more democratic and traditionally more illiberal or even authoritarian member states, a situation of institutional complexity, decoupling rhetoric from practice enabled maintenance of the stability of the ASEAN community while retaining organisational efficiency. The association remains largely inaccessible to those rendered unsuitable to its reform agenda, making it not “people-oriented”.Show less
In research project, it was examined if an array of six receive coils for MRI has a higher SNR than an array of two receive coils with the same surface. In order to do so, both an array of six and...Show moreIn research project, it was examined if an array of six receive coils for MRI has a higher SNR than an array of two receive coils with the same surface. In order to do so, both an array of six and an array of two coils were built. The coils were impedance matched and tuned at a frequency of 298.10 MHz. Q-spoiling circuits were used to detune the coils during the transmission of the RF pulses. To decouple the coils, the method of inductive decoupling was used. To compare the two arrays, low tip angle gradient echo images of phantom bottles were acquired. The conclusion of these images was that an array of six receive coils for MRI indeed had a higher SNR than an array of two receive coils with the same surface.Show less
