Politics and Governance

Across the world, wars, coups d’etats, and authoritarian regimes are destroying people’s peaceful lives, depriving them of opportunities to pursue the rich possibilities of life and even their very live. Furthermore, with competition among the major powers intensifying, it has become more important than ever for many developing countries to establish a diplomatic environment free from their influence and to build a fair and stable system for governing their own societies.

Aware of such circumstances, the Politics and Governance cluster seeks to understand what kind of conditions in both domestic and international politics, as well as social mechanisms, will allow every person to enjoy human security regardless of the country they live in. For instance, we will look at norms and institutions, including liberal democracy and the rule of law. And, although it is an urgent task to reverse the global trend of liberal-democratic recession, it is also important to bear in mind that values that are inflexibly defined carry the risk of being used as an excuse to attack other countries. In this context, redefining political and social values and the institutional foundations that support them has become a more critical challenge than ever before. Also, we will explore what kind of bilateral relationships developing countries are trying to build with great powers such as China, to secure their development and peace, in the face of intensifying competition between those powers.