International Organizations

  The next OPEC meeting on 2 June will act as little more than a forum for continued altercations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.  The 2 June 2016 OPEC meeting will be held amid a backdrop of oil prices near $50 per...

In 2016, Southeast Asia has found itself engaged in proactive regional initiatives led by major powers. The recently signed, but still to be ratified, US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is one attempt, while China’s land-based ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ and ‘21st...

Later this month, Japan will host the 42nd G7 summit. One point of discussion will be Japan’s plan to increase its consumption tax in April 2017. Nobel laureates Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz have come out against this plan, arguing...

ASEAN+3 (the ASEAN members plus China, South Korea and Japan) was born from the ashes of the Asian financial crisis and the IMF’s response to it. It’s no secret that displeasure — if not hostility — to the policy prescriptions...

Over 20 years ago, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was founded to address highly sensitive and contentious political and security issues in Asia. Its objective was to develop confidence-building measures and, in time, preventive diplomacy with an ultimate goal of...

Many features of the US–Soviet cold war are present in contemporary US–China relations: ideological competition, struggles over the control of natural resources, and old-fashioned rivalry for leadership of the global community. Many features of the US–Soviet cold war are present...

South Asia’s economic potential has long been constrained by low levels of economic integration. Despite being closely linked geographically, culturally and historically, intra-regional trade is very low. A major problem has of course, been political difficulties within and between South...

Since ASEAN’s creation in 1967, it has contributed enormously to regional stability and prosperity. It consists of 10 countries whose populations total over 600 million people. In addition, its economy ranks collectively as the third largest economy in Asia and...

The last time G20 finance ministers met in China back in 2005, the country was the world’s fifth-largest economy. As the next two-day meeting begins, with China as president, it lies in second spot, having overtaken several other G20 members:...

January 2016 marked the beginning of Japan’s most recent two-year term as an elected, non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). This is Japan’s 11th term, the most of any nation in the world. Japan’s dream is to...

The G20 finance ministers and central bankers will meet in Shanghai starting tomorrow.   From some quarters, there is a sense of urgency.  The IMF, for example, is likely to cut its world GDP forecast of 3.4% this year. That forecast...

On 4 February IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde warned that the global financial safety net — the international resources and institutions designated to fight economic crises and prevent contagion — has become too fragmented and asymmetric. The safety net, she...

Despite its economic and strategic importance, the United States has not given priority to ASEAN until recently. There was hope that this would begin to change with the US pivot to Asia in 2009. However, up to November 2015, the...

Can America preserve the US-led regional order by resisting China’s challenge to replace it with ‘a new model of great-power relations’? A lot depends on how much support the United States can expect from its friends and allies in the...

Recently, the International Monetary Fund announced “historic reforms” in its governance. In reality, changes have barely begun. The IMF does not look like the world it purports to represent. During the global crisis of 2008/9, advanced economies could no longer...