About the topic
The starting point: East Asia in its context. Rapidly growing interdependence within the region, interaction between economic developments, international and domestic politics, and security relations require an interdisciplinary approach that views issues within their regional context. Following the increasing global role of the region Europe is affected not only in trade relations and security, new patterns, of (informal) institution building and conflict resolution will influence patterns of international negotiations world wide. The contextual study of individual issues led us to rethink questions of theory in our respective disciplines; as an example, we tend to regard ‘culture’ not as an external factor, but as a component within each factor of social science factorization.
Tangible results: Dynamics in Pacific Asia. Conflict, Competition and Cooperation – Opportunities for Europe, eds. K.W. Radtke and J. Stam with the cooperation of T. Akiyama, J.P.M. Groenewegen and L.M. van der Mey. Planned publication date: April 1997. The contributions are by members of the research group and invited guest writers.
International symposia: ‘International Relations and Security in Pacific Asia’, 2-3 April, 1996, at Institute Clingendael; ‘Asian Business Systems and Enterprise Strategies’, 13-14 May 1996, at NIAS.