Core themes
Environments in Transition
We live in a world in transition. As the major players of world politics grapple with the challenges of the 21st century, their political, economic, social, and physical environments are shifting under their feet, and often radically so. Rapid technological advancements further amplify and complicate these changes. Where do these transformations lead, who benefits or suffers from these changes, and what does a responsible strategy look like that promises to steer societies through these radical uncertainties?
Over the coming years, our research on Asia will focus on three core themes:
1. Regional and Global (Re)Ordering
Asia’s political environment is changing, leading to a great deal of uncertainty. How are political actors re-configuring regional order, especially in the face of US-China rivalry? What approaches do middle powers take, as they are finding their footing in this tumultuous international environment, and how are they re-inventing themselves and their relations in the process? These are crucial questions both for stakeholders within the region as well as for their partners in Europe and beyond.
2. Technological Transformations
Technological innovations promise to address the challenges of the 21st century. How should we assess the frequent hyperbole that accompanies such promises? How truly transformative are technologies like block-chains, generative artificial intelligence, automated decision-making systems, electric motorisation, and renewables? When are such technologies put to effective use to address societal problems, and when do they merely become window-dressing for extractive logics and vested interests in production and governance networks? To fully understand the implications of technological transformations, we must look past ‘solutionist’ ideas that see the world’s problems as easily ‘fixed’ by tech, to instead ask who does what, with which innovation, and to what end.
3. Evolving Environments
The full costs of economic and technological hypermodernity are coming forcefully into view. How are stakeholders addressing the fallout of environmental degradation and cushioning its impacts, especially for the most vulnerable in our societies? What are we to make of the complex trade-offs between developmental goals and environmental constraints? And what practical risks, but also opportunities, open up as societies are forced to take questions of renewable resources and sustainable development ever more seriously?
