Renewal or Irrelevance: With Asia’s Rise, Global Governance Must Be Reformed

Existing global governance systems have foundations in the consequences of World War II and the Cold War, and Asia's recent emergence necessitates a shift in the power structure of these global institutions. Hitoshi Tanaka, former deputy minister of Japan and senior fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange, sees Asia's rise as a departure from the postwar recoveries of Germany and Japan, which developed under US security pledges. Asian power is complicated, suggests Tanaka, due to its unprecedented size, the big populations of China and India, its relatively early stage of development, lack of "unifying cultural and political values" among states and pervasive intraregional security concerns. Ultimately, Tanaka argues, the degree to which Asia's rise is smooth will "hinge on the extent to which Western leaders are willing to give the developing world a greater voice in decision-making." Because an EU-style bloc is unrealistic at present, multiple networks of regional institutions must address specific "functions," such as security and trade. Regional integration, argues Tanaka, is crucial to convincing Western powers to reform global governance to reflect the rise of Asian power. – YaleGlobal