The contributors to this book explore approaches to building a framework for nuclear governance in the Asia-Pacific – encompassing nuclear safety, security, and safeguards/non-proliferation. Nuclear governance collaboration offers an avenue for states in the Asia-Pacific to tackle the emerging opportunities for and challenges to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and the civilian applications of nuclear and radioactive materials. The nature of national actions, bilateral initiatives and regional cooperation in capacity building taking place in East Asia provides a good foundation to pursue a more robust collaborative framework for nuclear governance in the wider Asia-Pacific region. The contributors to this book explore the most critical nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation issues faced by states in the Asia-Pacific and the growing cooperation spearheaded by Southeast Asian countries, China, Japan, South Korea and the United States. This book is a valuable read for academics working on security and strategic studies, international relations, non-traditional security issues as well as nuclear-related issues.

Confronting the challenges of nuclear power governance, this book provides pathways to nuclear safety cooperation between countries in East Asia where regional cooperation is challenged by geopolitical tensions. The book is split into three parts: first looking at nuclear risk and safety communications, second on nuclear policy and harmonization of safety standards, and third a comparative analysis of nuclear regulatory agencies in East Asia. Taken as a whole, the contributors recommend the establishment of a nuclear safety system that, which allows for mutual verification of safety standards at the regional level, and a regulatory framework with international credibility, which will help standardize risk communication. They suggest that the exchange of experiences involving nuclear power plant safety, efforts toward common safety standards, safety management, and collaborative efforts between Japan, China, and South Korea are extremely urgent issues. By comparing the European system of nuclear governance with that of East Asia, the book highlights the need for nuclear safety organizations in East Asia to strengthen interconnections and build regional linkages. This book will be of interest to policymakers, academics, and researchers in the field of energy policy, energy economics, nuclear safety, nuclear governance, and nuclear engineering.

This book analyses the responses of middle powers in the Asia-Pacific toward the contemporary great powers’ rivalry of the United States and China, through specific cases studies of South Korea, Australia, Japan, India, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Presenting local perspectives from multiple middle powers as they face the task of maintaining the international order in light of the recent competition between China and the United States, it further develops theories of foreign policy analyses, forming a systematic framework through initiating crucial concepts, including reluctant hedging, economic statecraft, and strategic position-taking. The contributions also provide an in-depth examination of the contemporary geo-politics of the region, including the impact of both the Trump and Biden administrations, Beijing’s “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy, cross-strait relations with Taiwan, and the influences of Japan, Vietnam, Australia and South Korea, revealing that regional middle powers do indeed exert influence on the direction of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. Providing comprehensive studies of many regional powers in the Asia-Pacific, this will be a valuable resource for scholars and students of International Politics, Asian Politics, Asian Studies as well as policy makers on Asia-Pacific relations.

Over the course of four decades of the Cold War, Chakraborti and Chakraborty analyse India’s path from nonalignment towards realism and self-assertion, and finally to confidence-building and interdependence with respect to their neighbours in Southeast Asia. What were the reasons for India’s shift from non-alignment to a more pragmatic approach to foreign relations in its relationships with both the non-Communist states of ASEAN and the Communist States of Indochina? How was this shift perceived by those countries? To what degree were Pakistan’s foreign and defence policies responsible for India’s changes in alignment throughout the Cold War? What lessons can we draw from these events, as the Indo-Pacific is again becoming a major arena of great power rivalry? In order to address these questions, Chakraborti and Chakraborty study the development of India’s foreign and security policies throughout the period, tracking the changes of stances between and within administrations. They evaluate how these decisions were driven by a combination of ideology, pragmatism and changes in priorities as the regional architecture developed over time. A valuable read for scholars and students of India’s foreign relations and of Indo-Pacific geopolitics more broadly.

In response to the growing demand of energy policy makers and regulators in the Asia and Pacific region for additional knowledge support on clean energy, this publication—prepared under the Law and Policy Reform Program of the Office of the General Counsel—presents lessons learned from countries’ clean energy policy and regulatory measures and approaches discussed during the Inaugural Asia-Pacific Dialogue on Clean Energy Governance, Policy, and Regulation held on 21–22 June 2010 at the Asian Development Bank. This publication also seeks to serve as a reference for stakeholders interested in developing a clean energy action plan for Asia and the Pacific.

Rozman shows how East Asia’s international relations over three decades can be best understood through the lens of triangles, analyzing relations between the key nations through a series of trilateral relationships. He argues that triangles present a convincing answer to the question of whether we had entered a new era of bipolarity like the Cold War or an age of multipolarity. Triangulation emerged as a dynamic in East Asia in the aftermath of the Cold War and was accelerated in the course of the Xi and Trump administrations. Even as Sino-US competition and confrontation deepened, triangles had a substantial presence. East Asian triangles share an unusual mixture of three distinct elements: deep-seated security distrust, extraordinary economic interdependence, and a combustible composition of historical resentments and civilizational confidence. The combination of the three makes the case for triangularity more compelling, Rozman argues. The legacy of communism, the pursuit of reunification on the Korean Peninsula, and moves to expand beyond the US-Japan alliance have all driven the way triangles have evolved. Only as bipolarity intensified in the 2020s was triangularity losing ground. The degree of turnabout is analyzed for all of the cases considered. Rozman evaluates each key triangle of states in turn and assesses how the relationship impacts the region more widely. This book provides an essential framework for understanding the current state and trajectory of East Asian international relations, for students and policymakers. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book examines three ironic phenomena of South Korean democracy that have developed after its democratic transition in 1987. While the evaluation of South Korea’s political system by external institutions has steadily improved, people’s trust in the nation’s political system continues to decline. However, in the face of political distrust, unlike in Western democracies, voter turnout has increased. Even though political participation and the political influence of citizens have been strengthened over time, the political influence of civic organizations that fostered the initial democratization movement in the 1980s has weakened, parallel to the decline in citizens’confidence in these organizations. Why is South Korean democracy witnessing ironic phenomena that cannot be succinctly explained by existing theories of political development or democracy? This book seeks these answers within the framework of a twotrack democracy, that is, the interplay between institutional and contentious politics. A model of democracy that combines contentious politics with formal politics can shed light on this phenomenon. Yun proposed that the traditional hierarchical and elite-centered political system is no longer sustainable. In order to resolve the democratic deficiency perceived by citizens, it is necessary to consider a new model of democracy beyond the improvement of representative democracy. Moreover, the new model of democracy should be based on a fusion of institutional politics and contentious politics. The book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the politics of South Korea democratization and democracy more generally.

Combining data from nearly 100 interviews with national parliamentarians from ten Asian countries, the contributors to this book analyze and evaluate the advancement of gender equality in Asia. As of the year 2022, no country in Asia has gender parity in its parliament. Meanwhile, the proportion of national-level women parliamentarians in Asia averages a mere 20%. What is more important than simple descriptive representation, however, is whether outcomes for women are improving. Rather than focusing on numerical representation, the chapters in this book focus on the substantive representation of women. In other words, what do women and men parliamentarians do to advance women’s well-being and gender equality? Using semi-structured interviews, the author of each chapter examines these efforts in the context of a specific Asian country. The case studies include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Timor-Leste. The book is an essential resource for scholars and students of Asian politics and the politics of gender.

This book makes a case for a reorientation of the nuclear nonproliferation regime, posing an alternative conceptualization of nuclear order centered on the regional level. It draws on an array of theoretical tools from the literatures on regionalism, security governance, and international institutions, developing a framework that analyzes the conditions that would allow for more robust regional nuclear cooperation. These include the presence of (1) institutional architecture, (2) political, economic, and military relations among states, and (3) fundamental regional awareness and identity. Wan then deploys this theoretical approach to several case studies, including Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, focusing on two interrelated questions. First, what is the viability of a stronger regional nuclear order in the region? Second, what form would such an order most likely take? In the process, the book identifies the magnitude and character of the proliferation challenge specific to each region. It also considers the existing character of nuclear cooperation at the regional level. Wan presents the historical development of regional nuclear order in Latin America as a model for the rest of the world. In this area, regional institutions--ranging from organizations to dialogues to ad hoc arrangements--gradually became more involved across economic, environmental, and human security domains, providing the foundation for multilateral cooperation in the nuclear arena. As his analysis shows, in light of the contemporary proliferation landscape, the establishment and strengthening of such regional nuclear orders is essential.

In many ways, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) is a microcosm of the Singapore brand of government. The DNA of Singapore's policymaking is its forward-looking nature. S. Rajaratnam's trademark is taking the long view while Lee Kuan Yew articulated his wish for leadership foresight and the admiration for 'helicopter quality' candidates in policymaking. This was how RSIS' mission began under the stewardship of the late President S. R. Nathan. RSIS began (as IDSS — i.e., the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies) in 1996 as a form of policymakers' clairvoyant on security matters. To date, it is Singapore's 'frontline' think tank on Asia-Pacific security, counter-terrorism, inter-religious dialogue and non-traditional security threats. The contributors in this edited volume, Forward Engagement: RSIS as a Think Tank of International Studies and Security in the Asia-Pacific, are the stalwarts of the RSIS mission for the past 20 years and the leading lights for the RSIS of the 21st century. These are their reflections for posterity as well as their forward projections for their quasi-diplomatic and intellectual roles in the service of Singapore's national security.