Asia-Pacific Diplomacy in Transition: Ideas, Issues and Institutions

In the twenty-first century, the Asia-Pacific region has been affected by a growing tension between deepening globalisation – a process powered by revolutionary changes in communication and information technologies that have made states more interconnected and more vulnerable – and the revival of great power rivalry, a development which presupposes that the capacity of great powers to determine events remains as strong as ever. This uneasy co-existence between globalising forces and enduring Westphalian principles is creating new and difficult challenges for diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific. The 53rd University of Otago Foreign Policy School addresses this issue by bringing together an international team of scholars, policy practitioners, and observers to explore five interrelated themes:

• The Diplomacy of the US, China, and India

• The Diplomacy of Economics and Trade

• Institutions and Regional Diplomacy

• Civil Society Context: Autocracy, New Actors, and Democratisation

• Security Dynamics of the Contemporary Asia-Pacific

In addition, the 53rd School will convene two Roundtable Sessions on:

• The Challenge of Institutional Adaptation for Foreign Ministries in the Asia-Pacific

• New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific 75 years after the Establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)

Otago Foreign Policy School