Mission
The Asia Program is a main part of the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) together with the Silk Road Studies Program.
The Program conducts research designed to guide and inform about the current issues of various conflicts, complex security and development challenges in the Asian region focusing on Northeast, Southeast and South Asia. As such, it implements policy-oriented and practical research. The main objectives are not only to be a bridge between academia and policy but also to provide strategic insights and policy recommendations to decision-makers in governments, international institutions and the private sector through five main channels: Impartial research; publications and newsletters; workshops and conferences; teaching and training; and formal and informal discussions.
The Asia Program has a well-established and formalized cooperation with leading research and/or policy institutes in Asia. These collaborations do not only contribute to a more dynamic research environment but they also facilitate in distributing our research in the region.
It is led by Dr. Niklas Swanström (ISDP Director) and Dr. Sangsoo Lee (Research Fellow).
Origin
The Asia Program was established in July 2007. With the initiation of the ISDP, the Asia Program was created to cover geographic research areas focusing on Northeast, Southeast and South Asia as a key pillar of ISDP's research.
The ambition of this program is to examine how the Eastern part of Asia and its sub-regional blocs interrelate in the fields of security, conflict, and development and to highlight the strategic significance of the greater Asian region, the security interdependence that all states share, and how regional and bilateral cooperation are the only ways to promote a more peaceful continent.
