The Global South Agenda Restarts: Development Finance, Debt and Governance Representation
“Global South” is becoming an important category in international discussion, yet it is highly diverse internally. This article examines three core issues of the Global South agenda — development finance, debt governance and institutional representation — and asks whether the multilateral system’s response is sufficient.
Beyond the Mekong: Regional Experience and Institution-Building in River Basin Governance
Cross-border river governance is a classic regional cooperation problem: misaligned upstream and downstream interests, insufficient data sharing and fragmented institutions. This article compares governance experience in Asia’s main basins and discusses the conditions for water diplomacy to move from crisis response to institutionalisation.
The Narrative Trap of Technology Competition: How Securitised Discourse Shapes Innovation Policy
“Technology competition” and “technological security” have become policy buzzwords, but securitised narratives can distort innovation policy. This article discusses the boundaries of security discourse: which technology issues genuinely need a security frame and which are over-securitised to the detriment of open cooperation.
The Translation Politics of Policy Discourse: How Knowledge Production Crosses Linguistic and Contextual Boundaries
Policy concepts travel globally but are often deformed in translation. This article discusses the translation politics of knowledge production: how concept migration carries contextual assumptions, how multilingual research institutions should manage the “untranslatable”, and how to avoid discursive colonisation.
The Observer’s Position: Standpoint, Framework and Self-Examination in International Relations Research
All observation starts from somewhere. This article discusses standpoint awareness in IR research: how analytical frameworks shape conclusions, how researchers identify their own presuppositions, and how institutions preserve space for multi-voiced discussion.
Beyond the Growth Narrative: How Public Policy Measures “Development Quality”
GDP growth cannot capture the full meaning of development. This article discusses the international shift in policy evaluation from quantity to quality: how multidimensional indicators, distribution and sustainability enter the governance agenda, and what this means for research institutions.
The “Implementation Problem” in AI Governance: From Lists of Principles to Operable Mechanisms
States and international organisations have issued many principles on AI governance; the real challenge is implementation: who interprets the principles, with what tools they are delivered, and what ensures consistency. This article discusses the path from “declaration” to “mechanism”.
The Public Responsibility of Knowledge Institutions: Independent, Transparent and Accountable Research Production
The value of a think tank lies in method, not volume. This article discusses the baseline of public responsibility for research institutions: transparent funding, open methods, checkable conclusions and disclosure of interests, and how these principles translate into daily editorial practice.
From Dialogue Density to Institutional Effectiveness: Knowledge Collaboration Pathways in Asian Regional Governance
Asia hosts one of the world’s densest networks of dialogue and institutions, but the number of dialogues does not equal governance quality. This article proposes a framework that moves from “density” to “effectiveness”, discussing three dimensions for assessing regional institutions and entry points for knowledge collaboration.
Reassembling Global Governance: Institutional Resilience and Knowledge Supply in an Age of Fragmentation
The multilateral system is shifting from “rule expansion” to “institutional competition”. From a research institute’s perspective, this article examines three manifestations of governance fragmentation, discusses how to assess institutional resilience, and locates independent knowledge supply in the reassembly process.
Independent Research · Global Dialogue · Public Policy
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