Abstract

Great power competition has become a new mantra that symbolizes the transitions from the post-Cold war international relations shaped in the early 1990s. US-China trade disputes that began to boil during the Obama administration were developed into a trade war between the world’s two largest economies under the Trump administration, significantly affecting global supply chains and many other countries relying on multilateral trading systems. In its report released in 2021, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) that provides non-partisan policy and legal analysis exclusively to the US Congress officially acknowledges “the renewal of great power competition” with China and Russia. This suggests that changes in the distribution of power caused by these two countries create new threats to American interests and U.S. allies politically, economically, and diplomatically. The Ukraine war that started last February has also been generating discussions about the new Cold War, as the development of the war in Ukraine has deepened the United States and NATO Allies’ confrontation with Russia and China and enhanced bonding between the latter two countries. Amid growing tensions from great power rivalry, middle and small powers are now dealing with internal and external security challenges albeit to different extents, which are frequently intertwined with uncertainties in the global economy. Depending on issue areas, these non-major powers should navigate challenges and opportunities associated with great power competition and make strategic choices for national interests in existing multilateral institutions.

The current affairs invite us to critically revisit the ongoing debates on great power competition and its implications for geopolitics and the global political economy. Here the CMS seminar aims to facilitate discussions about the following questions. How does renewed great power competition restructure the post-Cold War international order? How does great power competition affect existing multilateral international institutions and the provision of global public goods, respectively? What kind of challenges and opportunities do middle powers and small powers see themselves from the extension of great power competition? How do these countries strategically articulate and pursue their national interests in response to the structural changes in the distribution of power? And how will the strategic interactions among countries affect existing multilateral agreements and the future of great power competition?

Session 1: Great Power Competition and the Changing International Order

Panellists

Tomoo Kikuchi is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. Previously, he worked at the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and Korea University and held visiting positions at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Keio University Global Research Institute. He grew up in Germany and Japan and studied at universities in Japan, Germany and the UK. He is interested in how the global financial market influences economic development of countries and has published papers on the topic in journals such as the Journal of Economic Theory. He has edited many books and journal special issues on trade, finance, and investment in Asia and is Associate Editor of the Journal of Asian Economics and Malaysian Journal of Economics. He frequently writes for newspapers such as the Straits Times and Nikkei Asia. He obtained his PhD in economics from Bielefeld University in Germany.

Su-Hyun Lee is Assistant Professor and the Coordinator of the MSc International Political Economy Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Su-Hyun primarily studies the issues of international and comparative political economy (IPE/CPE) with a focus on trade, labor, distributive, and redistributive politics. Her research focuses on explaining the impact of domestic political institutions and interest groups on foreign economic policy and exploring the political and socioeconomic outcomes generated by countries’ integration into the global economy. She is currently working on a book project that explores the political dynamics of US trade policy. Her other research projects examine the consequences of global economic integration, including the electoral effects of localized trade shocks, the skill-bias of tariff protection, and the political and economic consequences of Chinese aid and investment in developing countries. Her research publications have appeared in political science and international relations journals, including Political Science Research and Methods, Political Studies, The Social Science Journal, Revista Derechos en Acción, Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, and World Development.

Byungwon Woo is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. Professor Woo’s research interests include international organizations and international political economy. His research publications have appeared at various international relations and political science journals including American Journal of Political Science, Asian Women, Economics and Politics, International Area Studies Review, International Interactions, Journal of Human Rights, Korean Journal of International Studies, Korea Observer, International Studies Quarterly, Political Science Research and Methods, Political Studies, Review of International Organizations, and World Economy. He can be reached at [email protected].

Benjamin Herscovitch is a Research Fellow jointly appointed to the ANU National Security College (NSC) and the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet). His primary areas of expertise are Australia-China relations, China’s economic statecraft, and Australian foreign and defence policy. He is a member of the ANU Working Group on Geoeconomics and RegNet’s Centre for International Governance and Justice. Prior to joining ANU, Benjamin was an analyst and policy officer in the Australian Department of Defence, specialising in China’s external policy and Australia’s defence diplomacy. He was previously a researcher for Beijing-based thank-tanks and consultancies. Benjamin holds a Bachelor of International Studies from the University of New South Wales and a PhD in political theory from the University of Sydney.

Alan Chong is Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He has published widely on the notion of soft power and the role of ideas in constructing the international relations of Singapore and Asia. His publications have appeared in Contemporary Southeast Asia, The Pacific Review; International Relations of the Asia-Pacific; Asian Survey; East Asia: an International Quarterly; Politics, Religion and Ideology; the Review of International Studies; the Cambridge Review of International Affairs and Armed Forces and Society. He is also the author of Foreign Policy in Global Information Space: Actualizing Soft Power (Palgrave, 2007) and editor of International Security in the Asia Pacific: Transcending ASEAN towards Transitional Polycentrism (Palgrave, 2018). He is currently working on several projects exploring the notion of “Asian international theory”. His interest in soft power has also led to inquiry into the sociological and philosophical foundations of international communication. In the latter area, he is currently working on a manuscript titled ‘The International Politics of Communication: Representing Community in a Globalizing World”. In tandem, he has pursued a fledgling interest in researching cyber security issues. He has frequently been interviewed in the Asian media and consulted in think tank networks in the region.

Session 2: Regional Groupings and Small Powers: Challenges and Strategies

Panellists

Kaewkamol “Karen” Pitakdumrongkit is Head and Assistant Professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), U.S.A.

Her research interests include international economic negotiation, Indo-Pacific economic governance and integration, regional-global economic governance dynamics, ASEAN Economic Community, and ASEAN’s external relations (ASEAN-Plus frameworks). She has published in various outlets such as The Singapore Economic Review, The International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, The Pacific Review, Australian Outlook, Review of International Political Economy, The Diplomat, and East Asia Forum. Her media interviews include Bangkok Post, Bloomberg, Business Times, Channel News Asia, CNBC Asia-Pacific, New Straits Times, The Strait Times, South China Morning Post, and Xinhua.

Besides publications and media engagement, Dr. Karen organized several capacity-building programmes such as the Annual RSIS-World Trade Organization (WTO) Parliamentarian Workshops in Singapore, and In-Country Workshops on Technical Trade Issues which are tailored to the specific needs of the trade officials in Asian countries. She was also part of the team involved in composing the elements of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025. In addition, Dr. Karen teaches modules at the RSIS MSc International Political Economy programme, and occasionally provides briefings to international diplomats and military students at Singapore’s Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College.

Chheang Vannarith is a public policy analyst and government relations strategist. He has over a decade of experience as a geopolitical and geoeconomic analyst, with a focus on Southeast Asia. He is currently the President of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI). He was honored a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2013.  He previously served as Visiting Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute (2017-2018), China Institute of International Studies (2016), Institute of Developing Economies in Japan (2012), and East-West Center in the United States (2010); Southeast Asia Consultant at The Nippon Foundation in Japan (2016-2018); Adjunct Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Social Sciences (2017 – Present); Lecturer of Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Leeds (2013-2016), Executive Director of Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (2009-2013); Technical Advisor to the Cambodian National Assembly (2011); and Assistant to Cambodia’s Defense Minister (2011-2012).  He received his BA in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in 2002, MA in International Relations from the International University of Japan in 2006, and PhD in Asia Pacific Studies from the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in 2009.

Anne-Marie Schleich was a German diplomat from 1979 until 2016. Most recently, she was the German Ambassador to New Zealand and seven Pacific Island States from 2012 to 2016. She was the German Consul-General in Melbourne, Australia from 2008 to 2012 and has also served in Singapore, Bangkok, Islamabad and London. From 1998 to 2001 she was the Deputy Head of the Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America Department, Foreign Affairs Directorate, Office of the German Chancellor, Berlin. In 2001, she was appointed Head of the Department for International Environmental Policies at the German Foreign Office. Dr Schleich has a doctorate degree in Political Science from the University of Mannheim.

Dr Schleich has recently written a number of articles on geopolitical developments in the Asia-Pacific region which were published in Australia, Germany, Singapore and Switzerland. She has also been a speaker at various international conferences in South East Asia and at the National University of Singapore. Her research focus is on geostrategic developments in Oceania, China-India border conflicts as well as the China-Pakistan relationship.

Him Sothearoth has been serving as the Programme Coordinator and Research Fellow for the Mekong Centre for Strategic Studies of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI). Additionally, she is also a lecturer at the Institute for International Studies and Public Policy (IISPP). Throughout her career, she has participated in many training programs: Global Peace Building Program Primary Course (2016), the 21st International Junior Diplomats Training Program (2015), the United Nations Women Empowerment and the First World Congress and Global Program (2012), and Exchange Program of Innovative and Entrepreneurship (2011). She received her BA from International Studies Royal University of Phnom Penh, Institute of Foreign Languages, Cambodia in 2012, and MA in International Relations from Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies (GSAPS) of Waseda University, Japan in 2018.