The topic focuses on domestic and regional trends in the political economy of Asia since 2000. Domestically, the topic assesses the nature of Asia's emerging economies, the rise of urban middle classes, the democratic transitions underway since the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) of the late 1990s, the emergence of civil societies and the challenges they face.
The topic assesses the competing merits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). It considers whether Asia's evolving regional Arrangements - ASEAN+3, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asian Summit - are resilient enough to manage Asia's multitude of traditional security challenges centring on the rise of China, the US 're-pivot and Japan's move to become a 'normal' military power, and 'non-traditional' security challenges such as climate change.
This topic aims to:
Timetable details for 2021 are no longer published.