The East-West Center Research Program provides rigorous and critical analysis of key regional issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the U.S. including policy analyses that address these issues. It is a source of regional expertise in support of the Center’s programs. Collaborative research promotes better relations and understanding among the nations of the region and the U.S. and contributes to both capacity and institution building.  Work is organized into four study areas: Economics; Environmental Change, Vulnerability, and Governance; Politics, Governance and Security; and Population and Health.

Highlights

More than a decade ago, the East-West Center began developing computer models for the spread of HIV/AIDS, including both the Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) and the UNAIDS Estimation and Projection Package (EPP). Today, EWC-developed software enables national health programs throughout the region to analyze their local HIV epidemics and develop effective policy responses. For example, the Thailand Analysis and Advocacy (A2) Team, coordinated by Senior Fellow Tim Brown, has worked successfully with the government to establish a prevention goal of reducing the number of infections in half by 2010. Models have been prepared in all other sites now and are being used for policy analysis and have been the topic of workshops in the 2006 and 2007 Summer Seminar on Population. The Commission on AIDS in Asia presented its report, Redefining AIDs in Asia, to the United Nations in March.  Two of the nine members of the commission, Senior Fellow Tim Brown and Tadashi Yamamoto (President, Japan Center for International Exchange) from Japan who serves on the Board of Directors were members of the commission.

NASA has awarded Jeff Fox, Environmental Change, Vulnerability and Governance study area coordinator, a three-year grant for a projected total of $826,639.  Through this grant, researchers will determine the effects of the explosive expansion of rubber cultivation in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia (MMSEA) on regional water and carbon dynamics.  The study will bring together a multidisciplinary team of specialist in three fields (remote sensing/land cover-land use, ecosystem modeling, and hydrology) from the East-West Center, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the National University of Laos, Harvard University, and the Carnegie Institution.

MMSEA is comprised of the highlands areas of Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, China’s Yunnan Province and half of Cambodia.  Hydrologic changes to this region could have serious consequences for approximately 200 million inhabitants of the region and for the climate of monsoon Asia.  The research builds on the many years of work on land use and land cover change in mainland Southeast Asia carried out by Jeff and his team. Understanding the dynamics of these changes within the context of a changing climate are critical to the formulation of effective policies for sustainable development.

The Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI) has been working in Cambodia on several projects.  One involves a video outreach project that is showing on Cambodian prime time TV and throughout the country with the cooperation of the NGO community.  It is designed to raise the level of understanding of the People of Cambodia regarding the tribunals that are scheduled for the last quarter of 2008.

Another project is the training of all judicial officers: defense, co-prosecutors and all judges of the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (the UN hybrid tribunal). The training for the defense lawyers took place in March and October, 2007, with great success. Training for the prosecution was conducted successfully the last week of August, 2007.  Both of these projects are largely funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.

In addition to the activities themselves, the hope is that our suite of activities in Cambodia will increase knowledge of the rule of law in Cambodia as well as contribute to the legal skills of the Cambodian Bar.  The inaugural Summer Institute on International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, “Asia Pacific Transitional Justice and Peace-building” was held in Bangkok, Thailand, May, 2008.  This two week program was held in partnership with Mahidol University’s Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development and had 30 participants from the region and around the world.  We are also collaborating with the ASEAN Human Rights Working Group which consists of leading international experts in international law and human rights from Southeast Asia.
 
On 6 June 2008 in Honolulu, a delegation of 10 Indonesian judges led by the Chief Justice of the Indonesian Supreme Court, Bagir Manan, signed a five-year agreement with the East-West Center and the War Crimes Studies Center at the University of California, Berkeley to expand the human-rights training that the two institutions have been providing to Indonesian judges and legal officials since 2004.  The agreement builds upon the relationship already established between the Indonesian Supreme Court and AIJI and will include training programs for Indonesian judges, prosecutors, police and members of the National Human Rights Commission.

Shabbir Cheema launched the Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative.  Following a successful workshop in January (Promoting Trust in Government Through Innovations in Governance in Asia and the Pacific), a second workshop, “Workshop on the Role of Civil Society Organizations in National and Global Governance” was held in Honolulu in July.  Towards the end of the year, the “Stakeholders Conference on Cross-Border Governance in Asia and the Pacific” is planned.  The initiative’s partners include Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, United Nations University, Soka University of America and national institutions in six Asian countries.

The East-West Dialogue, is being spearheaded by non-resident fellow, Peter Petri.  A group of eminent economists who work in the Asia Pacific region has been assembled to contribute to the project.  A thought leader will be asked to contribute an article focusing on a topic that is current, controversial and constructive and that offers policy proposals or actions.  Two to three individuals from the region will be asked to contribute complementary or contrasting commentary on the main article, providing additional insight into the topic.  The inaugural issue was co-authored by Petri and Center President, Charles Morrison and is currently available on our website.  The second issue will be published soon and will feature an article by Michael Plummer, Why Should the US Help to Build an ASEAN Community?

While we are not establishing a formal China theme or study area, we have reconvened the EWC “China Group” comprised of all those at the Center whose work deals with China to share research and projects, capitalize on the shared knowledge, and explore new and novel ways of understanding China’s dynamic change, the challenges it poses for China, and implications for the region and beyond. The ‘competitive advantage’ that the Center brings to this work is its broad regional perspective and expertise as well as its experience and network of expert colleagues and alumni. It is a lens through which we seek to understand contemporary China.

The Thirty-Ninth Summer Seminar on Population coordinated by Senior Fellow Peter Xenos, was comprised of three individual workshops but included common activities providing ample opportunity for professional interaction among all 41 participants. The Seminar featured workshops on three topics: Population, Development, and Policy: The Economic Payoffs of Population Change; Use of Discrete-Time Survival Models to Draw out the Policy Implications of Demographic and Health Surveys; and Communicating with Policymakers about Population and Health. Information on the 40th Summer Seminar on Population will be available shortly. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Integrated Data and Environmental Applications (NOAA IDEA) Center has been launched and is yet another example of the EWC’s important role in supporting new regional activities. The NOAA IDEA Center will advance NOAA’s mission to meet critical regional needs for ocean, climate, and ecosystem information to protect lives and property, support economic development and enhance the resilience of Pacific Island communities in the face of changing environmental conditions.  Initial program elements include: support for regional and global observing systems and programs; development of new integrated data products and environmental applications; and user engagement, education and operation. Eileen Shea is the director of the IDEA Center and she continues her association with the Center as an Adjunct Fellow. 

About Research Projects

East-West Center research projects are multinational and collaborative in nature, involving participants and institutions from the U.S. and the Asia Pacific region. The Center fosters partnerships that address significant, real world problems and disseminates information and analysis to policymakers and the public. It strives to develop innovative collaboration between scholars, scientists and decision makers in addressing the political, economic, demographic, resource and environmental challenges facing the region.

Please continue on to see the complete list of research projects.