China, India, and other Asian nations are becoming regional and global powers, but security challenges — from competition over natural resources to tensions with North Korea — threaten peace and prosperity in the region. To help address these challenges, the MacArthur Foundation is committing $68 million to a new Asia Security Initiative to increase the effectiveness of international cooperation in fostering peace and security in Asia. The Initiative brings together 27 institutions from around the world.

“The growing economic and political power of Asia is transforming the globe,” said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton, who announced the initiative in Singapore. “Over the coming decades, the Asia-Pacific will be the world’s economic engine, helping millions in the region to find new prosperity. Yet, in this time of great opportunity, security challenges — from power conflicts to resource scarcity — threaten to undo the region’s many gains. As China, India, and other Asian nations become regional and global powers, Asia-Pacific nations must think anew about how our societies can work together to foster peace and prevent conflict.”

MacArthur’s initial grantmaking focuses on three particularly critical security issues: strengthening regional cooperation, preventing conflict in Northeast Asia, and building international cooperation to respond to internal challenges. In each area, a group of grantees will work together to conduct analysis and suggest new ways forward. A leading Asian institution will coordinate the work of each of the three groups.

• China’s Peking University Center for International and Strategic Studies will oversee the regional security cooperation group, advising policymakers on how to make better use of multilateral institutions, bilateral relationships, and alliances to prevent conflict, manage differences, and foster peace and security.
• Korea’s East Asia Institute will coordinate work on Northeast Asia, developing plans for international cooperation to decrease tensions over North Korea and Taiwan and among Northeast Asian nations.
• Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies will direct the internal challenges group, which will concentrate on the need for international cooperation to help manage emerging transnational challenges, from competition over energy sources to the cross-border effects of domestic political instability.

MacArthur will help build long-term capacity to conduct policy research by funding new research positions, improving communications among institutions, and assisting in the publication of research and analysis in print and online. In 2010, the Foundation also plans to start a program of year-long fellowships for mid-career leaders in academia, government, non-government organizations, the private sector, and media to conduct policy research on Asian security challenges.

The Asia Security Initiative comes out of MacArthur’s 25 years of grantmaking in peace and security, which has focused on investing in training, research, and policy engagement to reduce the danger posed by weapons of mass destruction. Read the press release