Research
- China and East Asian Energy
- Comparative Regionalism Project (CREP)
- An East Asian Community and New Dynamism of Regional Governance
- Management of Internal Conflicts in Asia, Phase 2
- Natural Resources and Violent Ethnic Conflict in the Asia/Pacific
- Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia, phase 1
- Rise of China and India: A US-Japan Study 2006
- The Rise of China and the Remaking of East Asia
- Rise of Popular Government and Nationalism in Northeast Asia—Study Group
- Strategic Vision for Implementing Integration in the East Asian Financial Market
1. China and East Asian Energy
Australian National University's Crawford School of Economics and Government (formerly the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government); Energy Research Institute of China; Japan Institute of Energy Economics; Korea Energy Economics Institute
Fall 2005–2010
Description: The Crawford School has initiated a major research project on China and East Asian energy. The research team, under the direction of Professor Peter Drysdale, is working in collaboration with experts from major energy research centers in China (Chinese Energy Research Institute), Japan (Japan Institute of Energy Economics), and Korea (Korea Energy Economics Institute). The agenda provides for regular dialogues with participants from the energy and policy sectors in East Asia and Australia.
Related Events: 1st meeting—October 10–11, 2005 (Beijing); 2nd meeting—August 29–30, 2006
Output: The project will involve annual conferences, regular publications, dialogues, and workshops with industry and policy partners.
Funding Sources: International Centre for Excellence of Asia Pacific Studies
Contact/Website: http://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/default.php
2. Comparative Regionalism Project (CREP)
University of Tokyo's Institute of Social Science; Tamio Nakamura, project leader
2005–2008
Description: "Regionalism" is gaining popularity as a form of governance in major geographical regions of the present world. European countries have developed the European Union (EU) over the past 50 years. North and South American countries are preparing for the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). In East Asia, many countries—particularly the ASEAN countries, China, Korea, and Japan—have been negotiating bilateral and/or regionally multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) and economic partnership agreements (EPAs) since the late 1990s. The CREP project aims (a) to identify similarities and differences among those three major regional arrangements in legal, economic, and political terms; (b) to clarify their impact upon local, national, regional, and global governance; and (c) in relation to East Asia, to discuss possible courses of action in the near future. Based on the findings, the research team will develop theoretical frameworks for Asian regionalism.
Related Events: Monthly seminars are being held as well as an annual international meeting. The first international workshop was in September 2005, with subsequent meetings in July 2006 and in 2007.
Output: A book will be published to synthesize the results of the project.
Funding Sources: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Contact/Website: http://project.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/crep/e-index.htm
3. An East Asian Community and New Dynamism of Regional Governance
Council on East Asian Community (CEAC); Akihiko Tanaka, project director
October 2004–September 2007
Description: This three-year research project aims to clarify the roots, background, and theoretical framework of the concept of an East Asian Community and to provide a policy perspective regarding how the United States should partake in this framework, taking the intentions and strategies of Asian countries into consideration. Some of the issues addressed in papers prepared for the 2005 workshop included the political process of the emerging East Asian Community; regional economic integration in the areas of trade and financial and monetary development; the potential for political and social integration in the region; and the significance of cultural diversity for an East Asian Community.
Related Events: 1st International Workshop—"An East Asian Community and the United States," June 17–19, 2005, Tokyo; 2nd workshop—June 20–21, 2006, Tokyo
Output: A book will be published in the 3rd year of the project.
Funding Sources: Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP)
Contact/Website: http://www.ceac.jp/e/pdf/061102.pdf
4. Management of Internal Conflicts in Asia, Phase 2
East-West Center, Washington DC
2005–2007
Description: This multiyear project (2002–2007) investigates the domestic, transnational, and international dynamics of internal conflicts in the Asia Pacific and explores strategies and solutions for the peaceful management and eventual settlement of these conflicts. Issues investigated include sovereignty, autonomy, economic development, migration, security operations, and secessionist movements. The second phase (2005–2007) investigates the nature, consequences, and management of conflicts in Sri Lanka, Burma, southern Thailand, Nepal, and northeastern India. Study Group members are drawn from the academic and policy communities in the United States and the relevant Asian countries including minority communities.
Related Events: 1st meeting of the second phase—Washington DC, October 30–November 3, 2005 (attended by participants from the United States, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Nepal, and India); meetings of the study groups have also been held
Output: Based on the research findings, 20 to 25 policy papers will be prepared, which will be published in the East-West Center Washington's Policy Studies series.
Funding Sources: Carnegie Corporation of New York
Contact/Website: http://washington.eastwestcenter.org/
5. Natural Resources and Violent Ethnic Conflict in the Asia/Pacific
East-West Center; Arun Swamy, project director
Ongoing
Description: The purpose of this project is to bridge the analytic gap between scholars who focus on ethnic conflict and those who have focused on resource conflict. The project features case studies in which both ethnic and resource grievances are present. Each case study is being presented by two authors familiar with the case, one working in each of the two traditions, each of whom will write a separate paper. Papers are currently being revised for publication.
Related Events: The project held a comparative interdisciplinary workshop on the relationship between natural resources and violent ethnic conflict in the Asia Pacific region. The workshop was held at the East-West Center in Honolulu in March 2005.
Funding Sources: United States Institute for Peace
Contact/Website: http://www.eastwestcenter.org/res-pr-detail.asp?resproj_ID=168
6. Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia, phase 1
East-West Center Washington DC; Muthiah Alagappa, project director
2005–2010
Description: This six-year, three-phase project (2005–2010) seeks to initiate a comprehensive and systematic study of the nuclear situation in Asia through research, publications, and training. Specifically, it investigates 1) nuclear weapons and delivery systems in the national security policies of key states in the Asian security complex; 2) the resulting nuclear dynamics and their implications for regional security; 3) the development of the intellectual foundations for ideas, concepts, theories, and strategies relevant to the present nuclear age to foster conceptual and theoretical scholarly work and to enable more effective policy debates on ways to address real problems linked to the acquisition, deployment, and control of nuclear weapons; 4) "new" ideas and institutions to prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons, especially to "undeterrable" non-state actors. The first phase of this project will focus on two sets of issues: a comparative study of the national perspective on the utility and role of nuclear weapons, and the resulting nuclear dynamics and their implications for security.
Related Events: First project meeting—May 1–3, 2006
Contact/Website: http://washington.eastwestcenter.org/
7. Rise of China and India: A US-Japan Study 2006
Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP), and the Japan Economic Foundation (JEF)
September 2005–October 2006
Description: The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP), and the Japan Economic Foundation (JEF) conducted a one-year study group on the rise of China and India, examining the implications for the United States, Japan, and the bilateral relationship between the two. The study group was comprised of American and Japanese business, government, and academic leaders and was cochaired by Kenneth Dam, former US deputy secretary of the Treasury, and Noboru Hatakeyama, chairman and CEO of the Japan Economic Foundation and former vice-minister of international affairs for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan. The research sought to make a substantive contribution to the US and Japanese policymaking processes and public discourse on how the two nations can improve cooperation and engagement with China and India. In particular, the group focused on "win-win" approaches for the United States and Japan to facilitate sustained growth and development in China and India, advance the evolving trade relationships between the four nations and the potential for new Asian free trade areas, help solve the energy and environmental challenges faced by the four countries, and promote innovation and technological development in support of growth.
Related Events: Meetings in San Francisco and Chicago in September 2005; meetings in Tokyo in July 2006
Output: Study group report, "Engaging China and India: An Economic Agenda for Japan and the United States," released in October 2006.
Funding Sources: Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP)
Contact/Website: http://www.chicagocouncilonglobalaffairs.net/
taskforce_details.php?taskforce_id=5
8. The Rise of China and the Remaking of East Asia
Council on Foreign Relations; Elizabeth Economy, project director
January 2005–present
Description: This project is exploring how China is moving to reshape the political, economic, and security landscape of Asia and what steps the United States must take to ensure that its interests continue to be addressed in this changing environment.
Output: The findings will be published as a book.
Contact/Website: http://www.cfr.org/project/455/rise_of_china_and
_the_remaking_of_east_asia.html
9. Rise of Popular Government and Nationalism in Northeast Asia—Study Group
Council on Foreign Relations (US); Eric Heginbotham, project director
July 2005–present
Description: This study group will assess Northeast Asia's new political, economic, and social geography and the implications for American policy. Over the last two decades, democratization and liberal economic reform have swept Northeast Asia. The impact on regional foreign policies and international relations, however, may not be entirely what American policymakers hoped for as they pressed for these changes. In Taiwan and South Korea, democracy has opened new opportunities for American diplomacy, but it has also introduced new and sometimes dangerous variables. Taiwan's "identity politics" have complicated US relations with China. And the rise of a new generation in South Korea, with very different views of North Korea and represented by a more assertive government, has limited Washington's room to maneuver in dealing with Pyongyang. China has not "democratized," but the government finds it increasingly difficult to control and contain popular nationalist sentiments. And although political reform in Japan has enabled a closer alliance with the United States, there too popular politics is facilitating the reemergence of nationalist forces. Dealing effectively with the new governments of East Asia will require a new understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by the political and economic transformations underway there.
Output: This project will result in a book.
Contact/Website: http://www.cfr.org/project/462/study_group_on_the_rise_of_popular_
government_and_nationalism_in_northeast_asia.html
10. Strategic Vision for Implementing Integration in the East Asian Financial Market
National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA); Hideki Kanda, study chair
July 2005–June 2006
Description: The rapid progress of globalization has facilitated free competition among nations and regions. In this climate, obtaining funds and efficiency in the circulation process have become fundamental to all industries. As a result, there is growing demand for improving the quality of soft infrastructure in the financial market. The European Union (EU) has made pioneering attempts to establish a common soft infrastructure in the financial market by accumulating both consultations and achievements. Similarly, in East Asia the establishment of a common soft infrastructure in the region's financial market has become an urgent priority. The project's study group will be chaired by Professor Hideki Kanda of the University of Tokyo and participated in by researchers and policy specialists from Japan and South Korea. Participants will jointly reexamine the importance of a common East Asian financial market. In addition, with reference to the EU as a pioneering case, the study will explore an integrated financial market appropriate for the region. This project aims to present a grand design and action plan for creating a strategic vision for the establishment of a soft infrastructure.
Contact/Website: http://www.nira.go.jp/newse/niranews/200508/200508.html#2