Pages Tagged : Common-Goods Issues

The question of how to address collective action problems in the 21st century needs to be discussed in the context of the debate about the future of the Western liberal order. The United States led order is becoming increasingly challenged by the gap between hugely increased geographical, functional, and normative ambitions of international society and the lack of means to deliver them.

This project aims to produce a new framework for explaining and understanding security and cooperation in the 21st Century. It brings together expert knowledge about security, risk and international cooperation. There is currently a mismatch between the increasingly complex problems faced by the world and the segmented research and management activities in developing governance structures that are more responsive and adaptive to these complex problems.

China, India and Japan are the three largest energy consumers in Asia. Just as there is common ground for cooperation in their efforts to meet energy demands, there is also potential for strategic competition. Although the trio’s energy policies are essential for regional prosperity and peace as well as their own development, there are few thorough and systematic examinations of the trio’s energy policies in a comparative context.

Major common-goods (non-traditional security) issues such as energy, environment, water, human development and food related issues create formidable challenges to Asia’s drive for modernisation. These issues also bring about unprecedented opportunities for the Asian countries to work together on the provision of common-goods. Given irrevocable regional economic integration, how Asian countries tackle common goods issues will exert a significant impact on global governance.