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Themes

Join us either as a presenter of a conference paper or as a participant to debate what is happening in the Asian region and its impact on the rest of the world. In some fields, trends in Asia are driving world affairs but in other areas Asia lags behind. What is the case in your field? Will this be the Asian century? How is the rest of the world reacting to the change in global affairs?

For some the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s was a sign that 'Asia is back' - in this view, what happened in the Asian region was less significant than the fact that it made the rest of the world sit up and assess Asian growth. Whether the assessments were negative or positive, the Asian Financial Crisis had global consequences. Others say that mass poverty and HIV/AIDS in Asia is destabilising not only Asia but the rest of the world. Another group says that the creeping arms race in Asia will destroy all the achievements of the last one hundred years, and that the religious ethics of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity cannot help. Many more insist that Asia is developing but in turmoil over environmental, social, political and gender issues. And this turmoil is flooding Europe and the US as much as the talented labour pool of IT workers, engineers and others. Another contentious area is the impact of unskilled Asian labour migration into other parts of Asia and beyond. The evolving nature of the modern state in Asia is also controversial, in particular the relationship between secular and non-secular tendencies. Will the Asian century bring more happiness, more freedom and less poverty? What role is technology and science playing, and how will the compulsions of consumerism be reconciled with a healthier, more tolerant, more stable environment?

In all these debates, we are all assessing not only the evolving relationship between Asia and the world, but the legacy of the past - in particular the long term impact of colonialism. So much change on so many fronts is giving rise to new concerns about regional and human security, and in particular the architecture of power in the Asia Pacific and globally. The questions and inter-relationships are endless. We invite you to tell us what is important and cannot be ignored in responding to our conference theme: Will this be the Asian century?

If you think this is the wrong question to pose, YOU tell us what the right questions are.