Hawaii, USA
East-West Center
By the year 2000, Asia and the Pacific will be home to 3.5 billion people, more than 60 percent of
the world's population. The region will lead the world in production and consumption of goods and
services. It will be the world's leading market for telecommunications. It is already the world's fastest
growing market for air travel. By the year 2000, Asia will surpass the United States as the world's
largest consumer of petroleum. It will also lead the world in emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief
cause of global warming. At that time, Asia will have the world's largest elderly population, and
more new AIDS cases than in the rest of the world combined.
The immense promise of Asia and the Pacific and the enormous challenges it presents shape the
research agenda of the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the Center, which is located next
to the University of Hawaii, researchers, students and participants in the Center's dialogue programs
explore the significance of Asia's rapid rise, the region's enduring and new challenges, and the
formation of an Asia-Pacific consciousness, and identify the key policy issues and choices they present
to governments.
The Center's involvement in these issues has developed along with the region, according to Center
Interim President Kenji Sumida. The United States Congress established the East-West Center in
1960, charging it to promote better relations and understanding between the United States and the
nations of Asia and the Pacific. Since its founding, the Center has evolved from an institution devoted
mainly to student interchange to one that also serves as a major center for research and dialogue.
Today, a staff of more than 60 senior fellows and fellows and a steady stream of visiting fellows
work out of programs focusing on international economics and politics, environment, cultural studies,
population, resources (energy and minerals), Pacific Islands development, education and training, and
media. The Center's research programs are under the direction of Bruce M. Koppel, vice president
for research and education.
Center research is wide ranging and its hallmark is collaboration with colleagues throughout the
region (in a recent year Center fellows cooperated with more than 100 governments and private
institutions and thousands of individuals throughout Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The
Center has also recently begun to expand its contacts with scholars and institutions in Europe). Major
areas of work include the following:
--The need to foster regional institutions that promote cooperation and political stability is a primary
focus of Center research. Center international relations experts are investigating how new multilateral
arrangements can enhance regional prospects for security and prosperity.
--Asia-Pacific economies have grown at rate unparalleled in the world
-- and so has their thirst for energy. Center energy experts predict that Asia's appetite for oil will
soon be a major force driving energy policies and economic issues worldwide.
--Population growth and economic modernization are producing massive demographic and social
change. The changing role of women, an aging population, and resulting new demands on the family
are among trends being analyzed for their affect on societies.
--Increasing demands on the environment resulting from industrialization, energy use, growing
urbanization, and other forces present governments with difficult choices. Researchers are working
to illuminate the trade offs and present options.
--Rapid changes in virtually every aspect of life are undermining many traditional cultural values
while at the same time presenting new opportunities to some. Issues of cultural identity and of
communication are among many that emerge from the tension.
--Health issues such as AIDS cast a darkening shadow across Asia. Center researchers are working
to reduce the impact of this disease in Asia.
In addition to research, Center educational programs annually help sponsor students from 30
countries, who pursue graduate and post-graduate degrees at the University of Hawaii. In the Center's
international residence halls, students live and study together. All benefit from the distinctive
educational and cultural experience that the Center offers.
The Center also serves as a major international center for dialogue. Each year more than 2,000 people
take part in Center conferences and workshops. The Center provides a neutral meeting ground where
the region's diverse people seek practical solutions to problems of mutual concern.
As a forum for the voices of East and West, the Center welcomes prominent scholars and statesmen
from throughout the region. Publications and briefings are an important product of Center conferences
and workshops and help ensure that the complex issues facing the region are conveyed to the scholarly
community and to the wider public, including decisionmakers in government, education, industry, and
the media.
Building relationships in the region is as central to the Center's goals as is building knowledge. Many
former students and professional colleagues have moved into positions in government, education,
business, and journalism. They form a distinguished international network of nearly 50,000 people.
With thirty-five years of experience behind it, the East-West Center looks forward to continuing,
through research, education, and dialogue, to help build an Asia-Pacific community reaching from
South Asia to the United States.
For more information:
Ms Karen Knudsen
Director, Office of Public Affairs
East-West Center
1777 East-West Road
Honolulu, Hawaii 96848
USA
Fax: +1-808-9447376
An invitation to authors...
Contemporary Issues in Asia and the Pacific
Stanford University Press and the East-West Center have launched a new series that addresses
contemporary issues of policy and scholarly concern in Asia and the Pacific. The series will focus
on social, economic, cultural, demographic, environmental, and technological change and the
problems related to such change.
Preference will be given to comparative or regional studies that are conceptual in orientation and
emphasize underlying processes. Works on a single country that address issues in a comparative or
regional context are encouraged. Although concerned with policy relevant issues and written to be
accessible to a relatively broad audience, works in the series will be scholarly in character and will
meet the high standards for which Stanford University Press is internationally renowned.
Interested authors should submit a prospectus and one or more sample chapters to:
Bruce M. Koppel, Series Editor
Contemporary Issues in Asia and the Pacific
Office of the Vice President for Research and Education
East-West Center
1777 East-West Road
Honolulu, Hawaii 96848
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