Research

CURRENT RESEARCH

Beginning 2004/2005, PBRC set out to re-examine concepts and approaches to human development in its social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions, examining ways in which changes in development policy can lead both in principle and in fact to a more peaceful society. Invited contributors explore the types of changes that have occurred in Asia as a result of development policies seeking to adjust to and capture the benefits of globalization, how adjustments were initiated and nurtured, and how changing development policies were implemented.

2004-2005: Globalization in Transition. This project explores the historic interplay of domestic and international political and economic forces in the region, asking whether and how mutually interactive forces, in a period of transition, are serving to alter the pace and characteristics of globalization in the Asian Pacific Rim and in the rest of the world. It seeks to understand how and why governments, social organizations, and private enterprises in Asian countries have attempted to respond to globalization.

2005-2006: Leadership for Development in a Globalizing Society. This research project on “leadership for development” explores how individuals and organizations in the Pacific Basin exercise effective leadership on economic, social and political issues of global or regional concern within and across national borders. It asks how global interdependence among organizations in Pacific Basin nations affects approaches to and practices of leadership that influence decisions on important development issues. Forthcoming in 2007, the project focuses on differences and similarities in leadership styles, approaches, concepts and methods across Pacific Basin cultures and societies and on how individuals and organizations influence development decisions.

2006-2007: Change and Persistence in an Era of Globalization. Pacific Basin Research Center currently sponsors a research project that examines how cultural groups and organizations in societies influenced by globalization respond to opportunities and pressures for cultural change. It addresses how these societies create new social values that allow individuals and groups to function effectively in an increasingly interdependent, international society, while protecting valued cultural traditions that give meaning to peoples’ lives. The research topic includes: exploration of the sources of cultural tensions arising from internationalization and “modernization” of societies in Asian and Latin American countries bordering the Pacific Basin, including:

assessment of opportunities for cultural advancement offered by globalization;
examination of ways in which groups and organizations value and/or assert control over cultural traditions in a changing world;
demonstration and empirical measurement of processes of cultural transition;
examination of how cultural and social institutions are reshaped to accommodate change;
illustration of tensions between local and global forces of change and persistence, identifying who or what determines change.