Economic Integration and Sustainability
Cultivating Talented Individuals:Support Scheme:Investigative Research Assistance (for student)
Destination:Monterey and New Orleans, USA/Lee, Alice Park
2010.03.30
Destination
Monterey and New Orleans, USA
Research objectives
- To attend ISA 51st Annual Convention in New Orleans, where scholars of different discipline in International Relations get together from all over the world and make fruitful discussion on various topics.
- To visit Monterey Institute of International Studies, and attended one class about East Asian diplomacy. There I was able to practice how to present my topic effectively to professors and students in the institute.
- As a presenter for ISA, in order to share my research progress with experienced scholars who have the same research interest.
- As a researcher of environmental governance (which is often discussed in various disciplines) to meet and discuss with scholars who are doing the research from different disciplines.
Research project
Asian countries are reluctant to enforce environmental regulations to the region through Asian regional
environmental institutions. However, countries have high motivation to join such institutions from early
1990s. Motivation of Asian countries to participate in transnational networks can be an important factor to
support regional integration. Asian countries are motivated more than seeking merely to address
environmental issues. Rather, regional characteristics are an equally if not more important factor in
regional environmental cooperation.
The motivation to join in environmental institutions was studies from both neoclassical and institutional
perspective. Many different components in motivation were investigated, and the challenge for Asian
environmental institutions is to find collective interest in environmental improvement. This research
contrasts European and Asian cases to highlight the challenges in motivation that Asian institutions need
to overcome. A comprehensive set of background data of several European and Asian environmental
institutions was analyzed.
Achievement
There were two parts in the research activities: one was making presentation in Monterey Institutes of
International Study, and the other was making presentation in the panel of “Regional Cooperation in East
Asia: Theory and Practice in Traditional and Non-Traditional Security” in ISA 51st Annual Convention at
New Orleans from February 17th to 20th.
Discussing with students who are studying about Asian community in USA was an interesting experience.
Since it was before going to New Orleans for ISA Annual Convention, I could have improved the
presentation skills and the way of express my idea with PPT base on American style.
ISA Annual Convention was one of the biggest events for people who are studying about International
Relations. It was surprising for me to meet many young and senior scholars that I have discussed in 2009
Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change. Many of them
found this time that their comments at that time were very useful for my progress. Some of them
introduced me some other conferences that is related with our research interest, and others told me some
previous studies that they could not told me last time in Amsterdam. I noticed how important and valuable
asset to have stewardship with peoples in the same research field with me. I am expecting to have
discussion again with them when they visit Nagoya this year to participate COP10.
Throughout attending many other presentations on environmental cooperation and regional integration, I
could find where my research can make profess. Many researches on Asian regional environmental
cooperation were making the discussion from the common aspects of implementing international idea to
regional and national level as institutional effectiveness. On the other hands, western cases now were
focusing on national policy integration issues as well. It is obvious that western cases of concerning
national environmental policy integration (for example, integration between climate change policy and
biodiversity policy, etc.) is not exactly same case with Asian society, however, I could find one important
issues for future study that consider regional characteristics in the discussion of Asian regional
environmental cooperation: ‘policy integration of environment and development planning under national
level in Asian countries’.