7-9 July 2010

Venue: Seoul, South Korea

The RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies participated in the MacArthur Asia Security Initiative (MASI) 2010 Annual Meeting in Seoul from 7–9 July 2010. Representatives from the Centre were Associate Professor and Head of Centre, Dr Mely Caballero-Anthony, and Programme Officer, Belinda Chng. Building on the success of the inaugural MASI Grantees Meeting and Official Launch held in Singapore in May 2009, the second annual meeting organised by the East Asia Institute in Seoul brought together over 46 participants from 35 institutions across 9 countries in Asia. The meeting enabled participating institutions to develop stronger research networks and provided a venue for MASI grantees to share their research findings, exchange ideas and explore areas for potential collaboration.

The meeting focused on two themes – 1) Post Crisis Global and Regional Order and 2) East Asian Community. The sessions on Post Crisis Global and Regional Order touched upon issues such as the blurring lines between traditional and non-traditional security; the role of institutions and the importance of institutional design; and emerging challenges which include resource scarcity, food security, climate change and environmental degradation. The sessions on East Asian Community discussed issues such as the impact of the economic crises on the balance of power, the rise of China, the conditions for East Asian regionalism and a sense of community in East Asia.

In moving forward, the meeting concluded that it would be important for Asia to develop a common vision in its contribution towards building a global community, transform the fundamental organising principle from balance of power to networked sovereignty and take advantage of global norms. With regard to the MASI network, participants were urged to develop diverse ways for cooperation among network institutes, focus on policy relevant studies and expand the pool of young researchers.

The RSIS Centre for NTS Studies is the core institution of the Asia Security Initiative Cluster 3 – Internal Challenges. The Centre received US$2.2 million from the MacArthur Foundation to conduct research in the area of non-traditional security from 2009 to 2011. It leads a cluster of seven research institutes and spearheads research on NTS issues facing Asia. These issues include climate change, environment and human security, energy security, as well as internal conflicts.