Multilateral Platforms Research Articles

Pakistan and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: Current and Future Perceptions

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad or QSD), a proposed multilateral platform consisting of the United States (US), India, Japan and Australia intended to underpin a future Asia-Pacific order, has the potential to significantly impact Pakistan‟s international standing. As an important regional actor, Pakistan‟s responses to such a platform will be influential. This article discusses possible ways Pakistan is likely to perceive the Quad and its consequences. It analyses the nature of the Quad, Pakistan‟s foreign policy and current geopolitical trends to provide a framework for discussion. It then outlines two potential forms the Quad may take, aggressive and cooperative, and explores Pakistan‟s likely perceptions and responses. It finds that in case of an aggressive Quad, Pakistan will resist pressure and seek external support which may trigger greater strategic competition, whereas it may be willing to adopt a balanced foreign policy in the case of a cooperative Quad. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering such long-term implications at a time when other concerns are driving international engagement with Pakistan.

Sustainable desalination technologies: Avenues for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific

ABSTRACTDesalination technologies using ocean thermal energy are a sustainable method of producing fresh water, especially for ecologically fragile regions and small island nations. India has tested this technology in the Lakshadweep Islands and has the capability to share it with its Indo-Pacific partners. This paper explores the benefits, market and prospects of sustainable desalination technologies in the Indo-Pacific region. It outlines the possible multilateral platforms that can be used to share this technology and the various challenges that this endeavour faces. The paper concludes that such technology sharing will have a positive impact on regional integration and will strengthen India’s position as a responsible regional power promoting the blue economy.

CROWDSOURCING E UBERIZAÇÃO: UM ESTUDO DE CASO SOBRE A STARTUP DOCWAY

O uso dos conceitos crowdsourcing e uberização é essencial para o modelo de negócio da Docway, uma startup brasileira da área de prestação de serviços em saúde, que utiliza o modelo de plataforma multilateral, conectando médicos e pacientes por meio de uma plataforma digital. O estudo de caso realizado, tendo a empresa como objeto de pesquisa, permitiu compreender o ambiente inovador em que a startup trabalha, usando tecnologia para aproximar clientes e provedores e crowdevaluation na avaliação da qualidade da prestação dos serviços ofertados. Após a coleta de dados, foi possível verificar similaridade entre os processos da empresa com o processo da empresa Uber, sendo a organização conhecida como Uber dos Médicos. Apesar da comparação não ser vista de forma positiva pelo CEO da Docway, existem semelhanças entre os processos das empresas e, mesmo não sendo legalmente permitido o ranqueamento dos médicos como a Uber faz com seus motoristas, as avaliações dos pacientes são utilizadas para formar a ordem de apresentação dos médicos aos clientes pela plataforma.

Cross-Border Insurance Groups: Towards a Comprehensive Supervision Under Solvency II*

This paper explores the Solvency II standards for EU supervision of insurance groups operating across borders as detailed by the guidelines issued by EIOPA. The EU legislator has preferred to reinforce the tool of the colleges of supervisors, which are multilateral platforms where national supervisors involved in the supervision of a single insurance group cooperate, instead of opting for a single EU supervisor. The paper analyses cooperation between supervisory authorities in the context of the colleges in order to clarify the fields covered by the colleges as well as those that are not. In this respect, the paper argues for including in the mandate of the colleges the task of defining and implementing a common principle of group interest to administer the governance system of cross-border insurance groups, and to extend the supervision of colleges to the distribution of insurance products.

Case studies on transport infrastructure projects in belt and road initiative: An actor network theory perspective

This article is a new attempt to apply the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a qualitative analytical framework for examining the possible roles played by multilateral platforms in facilitating cross-border transport infrastructural projects at regional/continental scale. Given its magnitude, diversity and uniqueness, the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, as a multi-country platform along the contemporary Eurasia trade routes, underpins our diagnoses. The Chinese government posited B&R Initiative as an economic prescription which is premised on the provision of infrastructural connectivity across the Eurasia continent. By treating human and non-human elements symmetrically, ANT possesses wide scope elasticity that helps describe the dynamic interrelationships among various actors/actants, including the ways how government and state-controlled actors rationalized cross-border infrastructure projects by anchoring discourses about the thriving B&R network. Based on the analyses of three case studies, we argue that B&R Initiative has been a catalyst and obligatory passage point (OPP) for facilitating transnational transport infrastructure projects in garnering required resources and supports, though its efficacy might be subdued by other factors such as political contentions.

Китайская инициатива "Пояс и Путь" и Евразийский экономический союз: "Интеграция интеграций”

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officially unveiled in 2013, has been promptly placed among the top priorities of China’s foreign policy. One of the BRI’s cooperation priorities is unimpeded trade, which implies the improvement of the investment and trade facilitation and removal of the recurrent investment and trade barriers. Despite its apparent flexibility and openness to embracing existing regional and multilateral platforms, there has been little debate on the compatibility of the BRI objectives with the existing economic integration projects. The paper is aimed at enriching this debate by addressing the relationship of the BRI with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a regional economic grouping bringing together several of China’s important BRI partners including Russia and Central Asian countries. The paper addresses the current progress in bridging the two grand economic projects and outlines the priority directions for further coordination between them.

Multilateral Engagement of North Korea: An Assessment of the Six-Party Talks and the ASEAN Regional Forum

North Korea’s unchecked missile and nuclear program is one of the most pressing global security concerns. This article evaluates the multilateral engagement efforts that have been pursued by regional stakeholders, specifically assessing the Six-Party Talks vis-a-vis the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and explaining why these multilateral efforts have failed to resolve the nuclear crisis. Given the poor performances of these two multilateral platforms, this article seeks to assess the feasibility and policy implications of defusing the longstanding nuclear crisis through multilateral engagement. Despite stalling and a myriad of obstacles, the Six-Party Talks has a better chance than the ARF at curbing the nuclear crisis. At best, the ARF can contribute by playing a complementary role by helping deescalate tensions or cultivating better diplomatic ties.

Leveraging HIV Research and Implementation for Cancer and Noncommunicable Diseases in Malawi

Abstract 33 Background: Enabled by collaboration and political stability, Malawi is a global leader for HIV research and implementation. We undertook this work to identify ways to leverage successes in HIV treatment and research for cancer and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Methods: Over more than two decades, investment from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funders has allowed Malawi participation in international HIV networks. As these sought to address HIV-positive cancer, investment occurred to increase pathology, improve cancer registration, scale up cervical cancer screening, and improve nursing and pharmacy skills for chemotherapy administration. This allowed Malawi to participate in multinational clinical trials for HIV-positive Kaposi sarcoma treatment and cervical cancer prevention. Building on this, Malawi was one of six countries in 2014 to receive an NIH U54 consortium award for HIV-positive malignancies and was one of six countries added to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) AIDS Malignancy Consortium. In 2016, expanding beyond HIV-positive cancer, Malawi was one of three countries invited to join a new NCI–International Agency for Research on Cancer esophageal cancer consortium, one of five recipients of a new NCI Burkitt lymphoma award, and one of six recipients of a new NCI P20 grant for a regional center of research excellence for NCDs. Malawi is also one of 11 countries to convene a Lancet noncommunicable diseases and injury poverty commission for NCDs and injury. Finally, partners have improved surveillance and treatment for hypertension, diabetes, injury, and sickle cell anemia, in part, through a national Knowledge Translation Platform for HIV-NCD integration. With this support and funding, career development opportunities are embedded for Malawian NCD researchers. Results: Building on successes in HIV treatment and research, Malawi has become a global leader for cancer and NCD research and implementation. Conclusion: Continue developing a multilateral national platform for NCD research and implementation that is globally impactful and can lead to measurable outputs for individual cancer and NCD focus areas. Funding: National Institutes of Health. AUTHORS' DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST No COIs from the authors.

The Liquidity of Credit Default Index Swap Networks

Recent regulatory reforms like the mandatory clearing of standardized swap contracts and mandatory trading on centralized execution platforms have significantly changed the derivatives landscape. These reforms have, in certain cases, led the market to increasingly trade on multilateral platforms, potentially affecting the average cost of execution. Prior research has examined the effects of centralized trading on execution costs and has generally found reduced costs, especially for entities with higher transaction volumes or greater execution flexibility. We use detailed information on the trading of credit index swaps, the most actively traded credit derivatives instrument, between May 2014 and Sep 2016. We find that the customers who trade with a higher number of dealers (high network degree) and those who trade with the most active dealers (high network centrality) incur lower trading costs; for at least the less liquid indices, this cost improvement increases as trade size increases. We also identify a few liquidity trends: measures like average daily volumes, average price impact, and price dispersion have remained steady or have improved. However, during the same period, trade sizes for certain indices may have declined slightly.

Sovereignty and Jus Cogens Laws

This paper attempts to address the conflict that arises from the simultaneous implementation of state sovereignty laws and universal Jus Cogens laws within the framework of the United Nations Security Council. As a multilateral platform with membership from 193 of 196 world nations, the rules of non-intervention and sovereign equality are paramount to within the framework of the UN Security Council. However, the Security Council also espouses the sovereignty limiting rules that give it the prerogative to prohibit human rights violations such as genocide and crimes against humanity. Using the 1994 UN Resolutions 929, 933 and 934, this paper attempts to establish how the interests of the permanent members of the Security Council played a role in the decision making process, due to the ambiguity arising from the simultaneous application of two fundamentally conflicting international laws.

Common but Differentiated Commitments: China's Engagement with the 2030 Agenda Global Partnership

Since the basic framework of the United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals (SDGs) was created, the focal point of relevant discussions has been shifted to global partnership and implementation. As a key component of this development initiative, global partnership has the potential to determine the means of implementation and follow-up implementation of the 2030 agenda, to which China is expected to make greater contributions. China's participation in global partnership will definitely generate benefits and incur costs. On one hand, the continuing rise of China could lead to future shrinkage of physical gains, leaving enormous potential for augmenting non-physical gains. On the other hand, the rest of the world expects China to contribute more global public goods in physical terms but not necessarily intellectual ones. With regard to cost-benefit balance, the costs of China's involvement in global partnership will be greater than the benefits it generates, while its non-physical gains will be hard to assess due to many uncertainties. For China, as a developing country, to contribute further to global partnership for the 2030 agenda, it should make clear strategic commitments on multilateral platforms, promise concrete material assistance at bilateral (collective) forums, and deepen its comprehensive domestic reforms.

AU-China peace and security co-operation: RECs, CSOs, and think tanks for the win

Extant literature points at peacekeeping troops, financial support of the African Peace and Security Architecture, and promoting development to be the backbone of China-Africa security engagements. However, despite notable growth in each one of these aspects over the past few years, there are concerns over Chinese ambitions and African agency in conflict resolution and stability maintenance. This article addresses the role that the African Union (AU) can play in enhancing, guiding, and evaluating China-Africa security co-operation. By taking security to encapsulate not only military but economic, human, and environmental dimensions, it becomes more evident that negotiations that are based on project evaluation and follow-up mechanisms lead to a sustainable development-security nexus. However, AU officials have expressed structural challenges within the AU Commission that hinder an efficient participation at China-Africa summits and other multi-lateral platforms. Consensus-building which is vital for a unified agenda as well as lack of means to set up follow-up mechanisms for development projects across over 50 member states are the big roadblocks. In brief, as a way to go around these two challenges, this study identifies the regional economic communities (RECs), Civil Socicety Organisations (CSOs) and think tanks as the key allies of the AU to maximise its potential at the negotiations table.

Analysis on the Potential of Strategic Cooperation between China and OIC under the “Silk Road Strategy” Framework

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has a unique influence in the global governance, such as Middle East issues and International Islamic development, and has become the most active international multilateral platform for Islam. Based on the context of the establishment of the organization and its development process, particularly, the agenda items and resolutions of the organization since 2000, this study clarifies the path of the OIC to advance agenda items and exert political influence on Islamic countries; this study also tracks the history of both official and civil exchanges between

China's Financial Contribution to International Environmental Cooperation and Preliminary Design of Future Environmental Financial Governance

China has always been making contributions and sharing experiences, within its capacity, to promote international environmental cooperation, however, being questioned for its role as a recipient country by the rest of the world has caused huge obstacles in the way of international cooperation. This paper will test out China's historical financial contribution to main multilateral cooperation platforms and will eliminate the misunderstanding about China's role in international environmental and climate change cooperation in recent years through comparing with cases of other countries. Also, Principal Component Analysis is conducted using the UN Millennium Development Goals as evaluation criteria to assess sample countries' comprehensive development level. Based on this analysis, combining the result with historical per capita CO 2 emission level of these countries, with the aid of K-means clustering, this paper sorts these sample countries into groups, with a view to designing a preliminary environmental financial governance mechanism for international cooperation under the principal of "common but differentiated responsibility", providing reference for finance-related negotiations and consultations under Durban Platform of UNFCCC which is working on boosting a new protocol and legislations. These legal documents will be completed by 2015 and will come into effect in 2020.

China's Military Operations Other than War

Although political friction and ideological differences between China and the West can hamper co-operation on missions known as ‘Military Operations Other than War’, the UK and China have achieved a certain level of success in this regard, particularly in relation to UN peacekeeping and counter-piracy operations. In this article, Miwa Hirono and Manshu Xu argue that the key has been to use multilateral platforms to frame bilateral collaboration, thereby diminishing Chinese perceptions of the associated political risks. Thus it is useful for Western militaries to exploit multilateralism to make military co-operation more attractive to China.

The North’s Growing Role in South–South Cooperation: keeping the foothold

Over the past 10 years Northern aid agencies have made a concerted effort to participate in South–South cooperation. This article analyses the key modes and motivations behind this growing engagement, looking specifically at three areas: multilateral platforms, triangular cooperation and knowledge production about South–South cooperation. Across all these efforts we perceive a concerted attempt to gain legitimacy by emphasising horizontality in the co-construction of knowledge about development. We argue that, within a context of shrinking Northern aid, this engagement is a way to harness South–South cooperation in order to preserve and expand Northern influence, both within and outside the field of development cooperation. This interpretation suggests the need to further examine the ‘bridging’ initiatives and mutual impact of intersection points between Northern aid and South–South cooperation.

Key challenges in tackling economic and cyber crimes

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the key challenges in tackling modern economic and cyber crimes, evaluate the existing legal and enforcement mechanisms in place, and propose a way forward to address these challenges.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyses the main difficulties posed by the borderless, complex and rapidly evolving nature of modern economic and cyber crimes. This allows the key shortcomings of the present legal and enforcement infrastructure to be identified. By examining different models, ranging from vertical supranational structures such as the International Criminal Court and the proposed European Public Prosecutor, to soft‐law regimes such as the intergovernmental network the Financial Action Task Force, as well as intermediate approaches like Eurojust, a hybrid model incorporating elements from these various regimes is proposed.FindingsA transnational approach must be adopted to address the phenomenon of modern economic and cyber crimes which are cross‐border, complex, profit‐driven and rapidly evolving. A suitable multilateral platform needs to be created to facilitate international co‐operation in a more coordinated and sustained fashion, and for the development of a set of common standards and principles to be enforced through a process of mutual assessments and periodic peer review.Originality/valueThe paper advocates the establishment of a hybrid multilateral regime which incorporates both elements of a “vertical” supranational structure as well as a “horizontal” state‐centric framework. This will inject the institutional focus to facilitate international co‐operation and also provide the platform for the promulgation of common standards and principles in fighting cross‐border economic and cyber crimes. The paper will be of interest to law enforcement agencies, prosecutorial authorities and national policy makers.

A Study on Canada’s Human Security Policy : International Contributions, Strategies and Domestic Institutions

This study examines the experience of Canada in mainstreaming human security concept. It was not a smooth and easy journey for Canada accepting the human security concept and applying it to her foreign policy. Since the inception of the concept by foreign policy circle there was an intense debate whether the concept should be the major principle of Canada’s foreign policy. Internationally, human security policy faced lukewarm responses from international community. Canada needed to have sophisticated strategies to mainstream this new concept. The aim of this paper is to show the importance of careful strategies in promoting new concept as a policy guideline and the role of domestic institutions in that task. In terms of strategies, Canada has promoted human security agenda through multilateral framework. Although U.N. has been a favorite multilateral platform Canada often acted outside existing multilateral fora. Norm making and creating international network with like-minded countries were also major strategies of Canada as shown in landmine ban campaign case in promoting human security agenda. Finally, the partnership with NGO is the most striking feature of Canadian human security policy. Domestic institutions have been instrumental to mainstream human security policy. DFAIT has been a major organizational platform for promoting human security. Other government organizations such as CIDA also played important roles. Also, CCHS as research network funded by DFAIT, has contributed to facilitate the exchange of information on human security issue and to help build a human security community in Canada and internationally.

Great Media and Communication Debates: WSIS and the MacBride Report

In 1980 UNESCO published Many Voices, One World, the report of its International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems, also known as the MacBride Report, after the commission’s chair, Sean MacBride, the Irish statesman and peace and human rights activist.1 In 2004, in an acknowledgment of its importance in current debates about the evolution of information societies, Rowman & Littleaeld republished it. Many Voices, One World was a groundbreaking report and became a milestone in the discussions that had been ongoing since the 1970s. We examine its insights in the light of debates leading up and subsequent to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. We argue that many of the issues and dilemmas highlighted by the MacBride Report’s authors exist today. The record of WSIS participants in tackling these issues is unfortunately little better than that of those who sought to inouence debates about media and communication some twenty-ave years ago. Although there has been much talk in the intervening years, there are few signs that international debates and diplomatic mechanisms are fostering the equitable development of the media and communication environment that is so crucial for the emergence of information societies in the twenty-arst century. There is a profusion of smaller and larger initiatives aimed at reducing various social and economic inequalities including those associated with the media and communication industries. In our view, however, it is unlikely that the new institutional forums that have emerged since the WSIS will be equal to addressing sources of inequality in areas such as governance, anancing, media diversity, freedom of speech, and human rights. Nevertheless, and partly as a result of the WSIS dialogue, participants in civil society are becoming better informed about the issues involved. Whereas the WSIS, as the MacBride Commission before it, failed to galvanize private and public sector participants into action to promote the massive investment that is needed, the WSIS process did heighten the proale of core international media and communication issues in many key international forums. It also conarmed the need to address these issues through multilateral platforms that encompass all stakeholders, including civil society actors.