International Organizations

A recent article in The Atlantic highlighted a growing trend in economic aid of giving money directly to the needy, often without strings attached. The spread of smartphones is fueling this, which makes it a breeze to offer a few...

Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, has said to judge the G20 Summit in Antalya on Sunday 15 November based on three words: inclusiveness, implementation, and investment. Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, has said to judge the G20 Summit...

One-third of the IMF’s funding will evaporate over the next two years as bilateral loans negotiated in 2012 start to expire. This is a major problem. In a global economy fraught within downside risks, the global financial safety net —...

The G20’s tenth summit in Antalya, Turkey on 15–16 November 2015 promises to be a significant success. It will promote more inclusive growth through support for youth employment, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and women’s empowerment. It will increase investment...

South Asian states established the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985 to enhance a peaceful co-existence. SAARC includes eight member countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan and Bhutan. According to its charter, the...

The Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Lima, Peru have now concluded. This year’s meetings saw debates on the normalisation of US monetary policy, China’s new growth model, emerging market vulnerabilities and the...

As of October, fifty-one prospective founding members signed the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Articles of Agreement, which expects to be operational by the end of 2015. China has generally been cooperative with and supportive of Bretton Woods multilateral...

The Greek crisis has periodically dominated international headlines since 2009, when its economic and fiscal crunch led to a series of debt downgrades and ushered in fears of default. So what lessons does the crisis hold for the ASEAN Economic...

Pundits and policymakers increasingly see changing great-power politics in Asia as a challenge to ASEAN. China’s growing military assertiveness in the South China Sea, the US ‘rebalancing’ strategy, Japan’s moves to reinterpret its constitution, and India’s growing military presence and...

Ongoing disputes in the South China Sea between China and four ASEAN member nations — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — have dealt a major blow to the centrality and unity of ASEAN. Internal differences were on public display...

What started, as a pompous affair of five nations coming together in support of one another’s infrastructural needs, now appears to be more of a promotional event. What started, as a pompous affair of five nations coming together in support...

The world’s ‘steering committee’ often refers to the G20 and in less than five months, China will be firmly behind the wheel. At recent G20 summits and meetings in Beijing and Shanghai, government officials, academics and business representatives were asking...

Southeast Asia looks set to usher in a new era of cooperation and stability following the ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in early August. But significant challenges to regional integration remain and the risk is that ambitious...

Asia accounts for more than 50 percent of the world’s automobile production, 62 percent of liquid display screen, 86 percent of smart phones and 100 percent of digital cameras. Much of this production is based on production networks: that is,...

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is set to arrive at the end of 2015. It is a significant step forward and could be a crucial turning point for ASEAN. However, without a strong central authority and mandate, ASEAN integration will...