Next Generation Perspectives on the Future of Asian Security

Despite the rapid, sometimes dizzying pace of change, for the past 25 years, Asia has enjoyed a period of general peace and burgeoning material prosperity. The continuation of these favorable developments, however, is by no means assured and there is some reason to fear that the region’s recent “golden age” may be coming to a close. The next generation of analysts and policymakers thus faces an enormous challenge.

 

GMF invited a group of young analysts to write papers offering their assessment of Asia’s rapidly evolving strategic environment and of the dangers and opportunities that it may present to their countries. The results, collected here, cover a range of topics but circle around certain recurrent themes: the rise of China, shifting patterns of trade and investment, expanding military capabilities, the changing role of alliances and international institutions, the prospects for peace, and the danger of war. While they differ in emphasis and approach, these papers are uniformly insightful and generally hopeful in tone. The fact that they are written by young people who, in the next several decades, will help to shape the future of Asia is cause for real, albeit cautious, optimism.