East-WestCenter|www.eastwestcenter.org
Project
Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative (AGDI): Archived Project
2010 AGDI Workshop on Sustainability and Policymaking: Reconciling Short and Long-term Policy Needs in Democratic Governance

Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing economic region in the world. Yet effective democratic governance continues to be a serious challenge in many countries, particularly given the demands of a global economy plus pressure from citizens for increased transparency and participation. In many countries, governments struggle to implement and sustain effective policies and programs, and weak governance has constrained the achievement of development objectives.

As a whole, the region has made considerable progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for reducing poverty, achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education, and providing access to clean water in rural areas. Yet many countries have not met MDG targets for child mortality; maternal health; the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; and environmental sustainability.

In 2008, the East-West Center initiated a multi-year Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative (AGDI) that concentrated on bolstering national and regional institutional and leadership capacities by focusing on important dimensions of democratic governance. Over the years, the Initiative brought together government and civil-society leaders from countries in the region to discuss critical aspects of democratic governance. Many of these meetings resulted in books designed to share state-of-the-art thinking on governance issues with a wider audience within the region and around the world.

To complement the East-West Center’s resources and expertise, activities were designed and implemented in partnership with a wide range of regional, national, and global institutions. Over the years, these activities were funded by a consortium of multilateral and bilateral donors.

Project Activities

Urban governance for sustainable development in Asia
Asia’s urban population is growing by more than 45 million every year, and this rate of growth is projected to continue unabated. Today more than one-half—12 out of 21—of the world’s megacities are in Asia, and by 2020 Asia will account for 2.2 billion of the 4.2 billion city dwellers in the world. Asia’s intermediate and small-sized cities are growing even faster.

These Asian cities are on the forefront of economic, social, political, information, and technological modernization. Yet they are also characterized by poverty, inequality, enormous deficiencies in access to shelter and services, and deteriorating environmental quality.

The East-West Center conducted collaborative research and brought together policymakers, urban planners, civil-society and business leaders, and scholars from across Asia and the United States to share experiences and strategic visions for creating more livable cities in the future.

The Center launched a multi-year project on Urban Governance for Sustainable Development in September 2015 in partnership with a consortium of six leading national institutions in Asia. Support was provided by international development partners including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNHABITAT, and Cities Alliance. The primary objective was to address deficits in urban service delivery and access by strengthening the capacities of government entities, civil-society organizations, and training and research institutions through country studies, regional dialogue, trend analysis, and country-anchored city consultations. Participating national institutions were:

  • Department of Urban Planning, Tongji University, China
  • Regional and City Planning Department, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia
  • National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA), India
  • Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Urban Unit, Pakistan
  • Jesse M. Robredo Institute of Governance, De La Salle University, Philippines

The project promoted sustainable urban development in Asia by focusing on four sets of governance challenges:

  1. Service delivery and access
  2. Environment and climate-change adaptations
  3. Urban planning and land use
  4. Peri-urbanization

The project partners undertook analyses at the city, national, and regional levels leading to policy-relevant knowledge products. They also promoted dialogue and exchange among urban governance stakeholders, including mayors, urban planners, the private sector, civil-society organizations, and government officials. Another goal was to inform urban policy through national forums and policy briefs to bring about sustainable urban development. The project contributed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 of the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development—to make cities and towns inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

A workshop on Urban Governance and Access to Services in Asian Cities, held in Bangkok, Thailand, 28-29 September 2015, contributed to the design of this multi-year regional program. The first main activity of the project was a Regional Workshop on Urban Governance for Sustainable Development: Access to Services for Social Equity, held in July 2016  as one of the parallel events of the Third PrepCom for UN-HABITAT III in Surabaya, Indonesia. The regional workshop produced a book that will be published by Springer Publications in Singapore. Two project activities took place in 2017: A workshop on Internal Migrants to Cities in Asia, that was organized in partnership with the Pacific Basin Research Institute; and an Asian Conference on Peri-Urbanization, held in Shanghai in partnership with Tongji University, China.

As part of the focus on urban governance, a study on Political and Social Inclusion and Local Democracy in Asian Cities: Cases from Indonesia, India and Vietnam enhanced knowledge and understanding about structural and institutional barriers that impede inclusiveness, participation, and equity within urban communities. This project also looked at the potential role of the United Nations' Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) as a global platform to promote people-centered urban development.

Political transitions and cross-border governance

In collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), AGDI conducted a Regional Workshop on Political Transitions and Cross-Border Governance, held in Mandalay, Myanmar, 17–20 February 2015. Driven by the recent uneven history of democratic deepening in the region, the workshop yielded valuable insights about the state of democratic institutions, norms, practices, and implications for a potential UNDP Regional Program. The workshop also produced three policy briefs based on the discussions that took place, current research, and papers commissioned for the project:

Featured Earlier Activity: Civil-Society Engagement in Democratic Change

Civil-society organizations in the Asia Pacific region play a vital role in promoting inclusive governance at the local, national, and global levels. At the local level, civil-society organizations have been particularly active in mobilizing against privatizations that they perceive serve business interests rather than the interest of the population at large. At the national level, civil-society organizations perform watchdog functions to improve the quality of electoral and parliamentary processes and the responsiveness of parliamentarians to the interests of minorities, the poor, and marginalized groups. At the global level, civil-society organizations advocate on issues such as debt relief, climate change, implementation of United Nations conventions and treaties on civil and political rights, transparency in global governance, and increased foreign assistance from the donor community.

AGDI held a Workshop on Civil Society Engagement in National and Global Governance on 14-16 June 2008. It was sponsored by the East-West Center, Harvard University's Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the United Nations University, and the Soka University of America. Discussion was based on a country-specific analysis framework for civil-society engagement that included the history and patterns of growth of civil-society organization, their legal framework, their capacity to fulfill their mission, and their upward and downward accountability. The workshop:

This project led to the publication of a book-length study, Engaging civil society: Emerging trends in democratic governance, edited by G. Shabbir Cheema and Vesselin Popovski and published in 2010 by the United Nations University Press in Tokyo. The book examines the changing roles of civil society in global and national governance and identifies factors that influence the effectiveness of civil society in promoting democratic governance. It asks: To what extent and how has global civil society influenced global governance and democratic change? What have been the patterns of growth of civil society in Asia and Africa including the legal frameworks under which civil-society organizations are established? What are the capacity gaps of the civil society vis-à-vis its assumed roles? What are the mechanisms for the horizontal and vertical accountability of civil society? And how and with what effect has civil society been engaged in promoting democratic change and inclusive governance?

In connection with the workshop, AGDI also produced a policy brief, Governance through civil society engagement in Asia, published by the United Nations University.  This short publication explores how the structures and functions of civil society have evolved at the global, regional, national, and local levels and recommends sustainable ways to build capacities and improve the quality of governance.

Other Earlier Project Components

1. Democratic local governance to address natural disasters

An important issue that has come to the fore in public discussion is governance in relation to natural disasters. The East-West Center and the United Nations University organized a Workshop on Natural Disasters and Governance: Enhancing Preparedness, Response, and Rebuilding on 2–3 July 2012 in Honolulu. Leading experts on governance and natural disasters came together to analyze and build on the successes and failures of the past to improve disaster mitigation and recovery in the future.

The second AGDI activity in this area was a Workshop on Governance Capacity and Natural Disasters, held on 26-29 August 2013 in Honolulu.  The purpose of this workshop was to bring together theoretical and practical expertise to address how governance mechanisms can be enhanced to address natural disasters.

As a follow-up, the Swedish International Center for Local Democracy (ICLD) commissioned research on the local governance and disaster nexus in China and Bangladesh. This research was presented at a Workshop on Local Governance for Disaster Response, held on 27-29 October 2014 in Huangshan City, China. The workshop provided a forum for sharing findings on the strengths and weaknesses of governance capacity to mitigate disasters and proposing strategies and practical approaches for improvements. Another objective was to create a network of institutions focused on local governance and disaster management.

2. Reforms and innovations for local democracy

The East-West Center's efforts to promote democratic governance in the Asia Pacific included a Workshop on Democratic Local Governance in Asia: Reforms and Innovations for Local Democracy, held on 13–14 May 2011, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a Regional Seminar on Democratic Local Governance in Asia: Impact of Reforms to Deepen Local Democracy, which took place on 23-25 May 2012 in Indonesia. These two events were cosponsored by the East-West Center and the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy.

Deliberations at these meetings provided the basis for a book, titled Democratic Local Governance: Reforms and Innovations in Asia, edited by G. Shabbir Cheema and published in 2013 by the United Nations University Press in Tokyo. This book examines emerging issues in democratic local governance and factors that have influenced the impetus for and the substance of reforms. It asks: What have been the challenges in designing and implementing decentralization policies and programs? What are the constraints on strengthening citizen participation? What is the impact of reforms to promote gender and rights perspectives in local governance? What is the role of local government in service delivery and access? How effective have the mechanisms been for ensuring accountability and transparency in local governance? What are the driving forces influencing democratic local governance reform? These questions are addressed through a discussion from theoretical and comparative perspectives on specific issues as well as numerous cases across Asia, many dealing with country-specific reforms.

3. Cross-border governance

Rapid globalization has led to increased flows of capital, services, ideas, information and people between countries. As a result, problems and challenges that face one nation often have a ripple effect throughout the region. The list of cross-border issues is long and growing, and includes water management, human trafficking, trade integration, illegal migration, and regional health risks. Each of these issues requires policy coordination among national governments as well as good institutional systems in place to enable collaboration and consultation with other stakeholders.

AGDI has examined four areas of cross-border relationships—institutions and structures, policies and policymaking, legal and equity frameworks, and the role of vital actors such as the civil society and the media. A Cross-Border Governance in the Asia-Pacific Region Project was conducted in 2008–2011 to enhance cross-border governance within the Asia Pacific region by strengthening regional  capacities to formulate and enforce appropriate regulatory policies, develop legal frameworks, clarify the roles of national and regional institutions, and protect the rights of marginalized groups through civil society and media watch-dogs. The project focused on four critical cross-border issues: regulation of the movement of people across borders with a focus on migrants; more effective use of trans-boundary water resources; trade integration for human development; and combating human trafficking. Project outputs were regional reviews of cross-border governance issues, a program design/stakeholders meeting, a full project document, and a publication on the state of the art of cross-border governance in Asia and the Pacific.

As part of this project, a Regional Stakeholders Conference on Cross-Border Governance in Asia and the Pacific took place on 18–20 May 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting examined key governance dimensions of cross-border issues in the region and identified critical issues for a possible UNDP-supported regional project on cross-border governance.

An important outcome of this project was a book, Cross-border governance in Asia: Regional issues and mechanisms, edited by G. Shabbir Cheema, Christopher A. McNally, and Vesselin Popovski and published in 2010 by the United Nations University Press in Tokyo. The book discusses regional governance mechanisms and institutional arrangements to respond to emerging cross-border issues and trends in Asia and the Pacific, such as the movement of people including refugees and illegal migrants, regional trade integration for human development, effective and efficient water management, human trafficking, and infectious-disease surveillance and response. It considers the following questions: What are the key cross-border governance issues in Asia? What regional governance mechanisms are available to address these issues? How effective are the regional mechanisms and national institutional capacities in responding to these issues? What is the impact of governance on cross-border issues in Asia? And what factors contribute to the success or failure of mechanisms for regional cooperation?

4. Electoral and parliamentary processes to sustain democracy

One component of AGDI was designed to promote an inclusive electoral and parliamentary process that will confer political legitimacy, increase representation and oversight, and provide mechanisms for participation and accountability. The focus has been on increasing the participation of women, minorities, and marginalized groups in democratic processes by strengthening national and local capacities to ensure free and fair elections and improving the accountability of parliaments and legislatures to their constituents. Specifically, this project promotes voter registration, electoral monitoring, and dialogue with parliamentarians. It also supports community-based organizations, gender-sensitive budgeting, use of media to promote inclusion, training of women local leaders, information sharing, and awareness raising.

5. Transparency and anti-corruption strategies to promote trust in government

Among those working to improve governance, stimulate economic growth, and reduce poverty, efforts to combat corruption have moved to the top of the agenda. Reforms in financial management, human resources, and audit—combined with structural improvements, strengthening public-education, regulatory, and oversight functions, and greater transparency—all set out to enhance public-sector effectiveness and reduce corruption. Adherence to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is critical, as well as appropriate national legislative and administrative measures. Many countries in the region have launched new and highly innovative transparency and anti-corruption initiatives.

To address these issues, the International Public Management Network's (IPMN) annual conference, Innovations in Public Management for Combating Corruption, was held in Honolulu on 27–29 June 2012, in partnership with the East-West Center. One key question for investigation and debate was whether innovations in public management are helping to reduce levels of corruption in the region.

On 28-30 January 2008, an earlier Workshop on Promoting Trust in Government through Innovations in Governance in Asia and the Pacific also examined many of these issues. The workshop was organized jointly by the United Nations Project Office on Governance in Seoul and the East-West Center in partnership with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). Participants:
  • Discussed four regional reviews (for Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Island) prepared by the United Nations Project Office on Governance and UNDESA
  • Examined papers on China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia
  • Identified critical dimensions of governance that promote or impede trust
  • Designed the second phase of the project, focusing on case studies of specific innovations in governance

Papers prepared for the workshop included:

An important outcome of this work was the publication of a book, Building Trust in Government:  Innovations in Governance Reform in Asia,  edited by G. Shabbir Cheema and Vesselin Popovski and published in 2010 by the United Nations University Press in Tokyo. Through analyses of trends within Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands, as well as specific innovations and reforms at the country level, this book provides perspectives on the causes of the decline in trust in some countries, seeks to explain how other countries and institutions have managed to maintain higher degrees of confidence, and describes governance innovations and practices that have played an important role in strengthening trust once it has faltered.

6. Civil-service reform and sustainability to foster economic development

The capacity of governments to design and implement programs that effectively manage human, physical, technological, and financial resources is essential to meeting the rapidly increasing expectations of citizens. Given current economic transitions in Asia Pacific countries, it is critical to restructure and strengthen institutions to govern and support market forces and capital accumulation. For example, adequate competencies at local, regional, and national levels to both raise and spend revenues must be assured by increasing the accountability for results of the civil service. This component of AGDI examines the impact of innovations in civil-service reform, resource management, and leadership in the public sector for the delivery of services to citizens.

Governments in the region are employing incentive-based strategies that reward public-sector employees who successfully introduce innovations that improve public services or contribute to capital accumulation (e.g., in the education sector). Countries are also stressing the importance of leadership for instilling public-sector ethics, ensuring the full participation of women in the public sector, reinforcing shared values, and motivating staff to produce positive change and results for their organizations and society.

A key consideration is that political decision-making within a democratic structure tends to be inherently short-sighted, as the pursuit of electoral office and the immediate demands of constituents are of central concern to elected officials and bureaucrats. Yet policies designed to meet these short-term needs can often fail to address, or even actively work against, the needs of future generations.

An AGDI project on Sustainability and Policy-making: Reconciling Short-Term and Long-Term Needs in Democratic Governance examined factors that influence the formation of sustainable or unsustainable policies in the public and private sectors.The first project activity was a workshop on Governance for Sustainable Development: Global Practices and the Chinese Experience, which examined emerging regional and global issues in governance for sustainable development, addressed governance reform and innovations for sustainable development in China, and provided a forum to exchange experience and practices among training and research institutions and government officials. The workshop, which was held on 25-26 May 2009 in Beijing, brought together participants from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, the United Nations University, the Soka University of America, and national institutions in six Asian countries.

A second activity was a Workshop on Sustainability and Policy-Making: Reconciling Short- and Long-Term Policy Needs in Democratic Governance, held on 30 June to 1 July 2010 in Honolulu. This workshop was sponsored by the United Nations University’s Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) and the East-West Center. Workshop discussions were framed around case studies that examined the following questions:

  • How do internal and external factors involved in the policy-making process influence sustainable outcomes, including time pressures, conflicting values, imprecise or contested data, and structural complexities?
  • What can induce governments to look beyond their short-term re-election agendas and address issues that require long-term vision (such as health, climate change, renewable energy, population growth, and food security)?
  • What are the optimal structures within a government to ensure the formulation of sustainable policies?
  • What can the public and private sectors learn from each other?

The workshop included 18 presentations.

7. Central Asia's transformations

The breakup of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991 triggered a significant transformation of the geopoltics, economics, and political entities of the Central Asian states (usually defined as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). This region has historically been a commercial and cultural bridge between Europe and the countries of Asia Pacific, and the natural resources of Central Asia are increasingly attracting Asia Pacific countries, such as China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and India. The uncertainties of the political transformation in these countries and the heightened rivalry for their resources challenge regional cooperation and institution-building. In response to this situation, the East-West Center conducted a Roundtable on Central Asia's Transformation: Geopolitics, Democracy, and Security on 22 March 2010. Participants discussed emerging trends and issues in Central Asia related to democratization and security in the new geopolitics of the region.

Lead Scholar

Shabbir Cheema is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Previously, he was the Director of Democratic Governance Division of U.N. Development Program (UNDP) in New York and the Director of Asia-Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative at the East-West Center.

Selected Publications

William Ascher, Garry D. Brewer, G. Shabbir Cheema, and John M. Heffron (2016). The evolution of development thinking: Governance, economics, assistance, and scurity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative (AGDI). 2015. Building democratic institutions, norms, and practices. Regional Workshop on Political Transitions and Cross‐Border Governance Policy Brief 1. Honolulu: East-West Center.

Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative (AGDI). 2015. Realizing expectations for social and economic opportunities. Regional Workshop on Political Transitions and Cross‐Border Governance Policy Brief 2. Honolulu: East-West Center.

Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative (AGDI). 2015. Addressing internal conflicts and cross-border governance. Regional Workshop on Political Transitions and Cross‐Border Governance Policy Brief 3. Honolulu: East-West Center.

Cheema, G. Shabbir, ed. 2013. Democratic local governance: Reforms and innovations in Asia. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

Cheema, G. Shabbir, and Popovski, Vesselin, eds. 2010. Engaging civil society: Emerging trends in democratic governance. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

Cheema, G. Shabbir, and Popovski, Vesselin, eds. 2010.  Building trust in government:  Innovations in governance reform in Asia.  Tokyo:  United Nations University Press.

Cheema, G. Shabbir, McNally, Christopher A., and Popovski, Vesselin, eds. 2010. Cross-border governance in Asia: Regional issues and mechanisms. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

Clark, Allen. 2010. The changing nature of urban risk. In Workshop on urban risk. Taipei: Tapei Disaster Management Center.

Popovski, Vesselin, Cheema, G. Shabbir, Lowry, Cameron, and Notaras, Mark. 2008. Governance through civil society engagement in Asia. Policy Brief No. 7. Tokyo: United Nations University.