Multilateral Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region: Prospects and Possibilities

This paper seeks to (i) describe thc achievements with respect to the institutionalisation of multilateralism in thc Asia-Pacific since 1992; (ii) provide a critical assessment of this progress; (iii) consider some of the principal problems affecting the process; (iv) provide some net assessment of the achievements to date and what this suggests for the future; and (v) outline an agenda for action. It acknowledges the extraordinary progress of the institutionalisation of multilateral security cooperation between 1992-97 but it also sees this process as losing momentum by 1997. Establishing mechanisms for dialogue and institutionalising a region-wide confidencebuilding process were fundamentally important achievements of the first five-year period, but they were relatively easy undertakings when compared to more substantive activities such as preventive diplomacy, conflict resolution or arms control. ************************** Desmond Ball is Professor in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra. He was head of the Centre from 1984 to 1991. He is the author or editor of some 40 books on nuclear strategy, defence decision-making, Australian defence, and security in the Asia-Pacific region. His recent publications include Building Blocks for Regional Security: An Australian Perspective on Confidence and Security Building Measures (SCBMs) in the Asia-Pacific Region; Signals Intelligence in the Post-Cold War E ra: Developments in the Asia-Pacific Region; and Presumptive Engagement: Australia’s Asia-Pacific Security Policy in the 1990s; and articles on issues such as the strategic culture in the Asia-Pacific region and defence acquisition programs in the region. Professor Ball is a founding member of the Steering Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP). ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library