Study and Dialogue: Strengthening Nongovernmental Contributions to Regional Security Cooperation
In thinking about how to build security cooperation in Asia, experts have tended to focus almost exclusively on how states interact. However, evidence from around the world points to the fact that nongovernmental actors, particularly civil society organizations, are playing a growing role on security issues. This implies that they have important contributions to make in helping build regional cooperation and in complementing and strengthening likeminded governmental initiatives.
JCIE is organizing a three-year study to explore how such nongovernmental initiatives can concretely contribute to regional security cooperation in East Asia. In the first year, the project team of mid-career experts is assessing what civil society organizations and networks are currently doing that contributes to regional security. The team is carrying out case studies in the fields of global health, disaster relief, human trafficking, piracy, and climate change to identify how civil society is contributing to efforts to regional cooperation in the fields of both traditional and nontraditional security. Building on this, in the second year, the team will attempt to identify how civil society initiatives can be made more effective and, in the third year, the study will focus on how to link up government and nongovernmental to strengthen regional cooperation. The working group is directed by Tadashi Yamamoto and guided by a group of prominent senior advisors chaired by Hitoshi Tanaka. This program is made possible through a generous grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of their Asia Security Initiative, and is being run in cooperation with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Publications
Report: Civil Society Contributions on Regional Security Issues
Activities
Jakarta Roundtable (August 4, 2010)
Jakarta Workshop (August 3, 2010)
Tokyo Workshop (January 18–19, 2010)
Project Team
Project Director
- Tadashi Yamamoto, President, JCIE (Project Director)
Senior Advisory Group
- Hitoshi Tanaka, Senior Fellow, JCIE (Chair, Senior Advisory Group)
- Han Sung-Joo, Chairman, Asan Institute for Policy Studies
- Charles Morrison, President, East-West Center
- Jusuf Wanandi, Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta
- Wang Jisi, Dean, School of International Studies, Peking University
Research team
Conceptualization of Security
- Rizal Sukma, Executive Director, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta [Team Director]
- Gui Yongtao, Associate Professor, Peking University
Global Health
- Yanzhong Huang, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Global Health Studies, John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance
- Yukie Osa, Chairperson, Japan Platform; President, Association for Aid and Relief, Japan
Human Trafficking
- Jun Honna, Associate Professor, Ritsumeikan University
Piracy
- J.N. Mak, Independent Analyst; former Director of Research, Maritime Institute of Malaysia
Climate Change and Energy
- Chung Suh-Yong, Associate Professor, Korea University
Project Coordinators
- James Gannon, Executive Director, JCIE/USA
- Tomoko Suzuki, Program Officer, JCIE