The government and ruling parties proactively worked towards revisions of the three key defense documents, including the National Security Strategy, and these have recently received Cabinet approval. At the time of writing of this paper, Russian aggression against Ukraine, China’s military actions, and North Korea’s intermittent missile launches have had a major impact on the general public’s awareness of national security. Given the current situation, it is reasonable to assume that the security environment around Japan will continue to deteriorate. Japan has long maintained an exclusively defense-oriented policy. Thus, in the event of an armed attack, Japan is constrained to using force to the “minimum extent necessary” beyond proportionality.
KAS Japan would like to explore the interplay between education and technology and how this impacts the future of work for young people in Asia.
The second paper traces the evolution of education policy and strategy for mainstreaming education technology in Philippine schools since the K-12 reform. It looks at the main initiatives undertaken by the Department of Education (DepEd) in increasing the access and use of technology in learning and teaching. The first five sections of the paper will present an analysis of (1) DepEd’s edtech vision and plans, (2) its infrastructure and connectivity roadmap, (3) quality of content, availability, and access to learning resources, (4) digital literacy, skills and competencies, and (5) organizational capacity and governance. The paper attempts to point out gaps between policy rhetoric and policy implementation. These policy implications are discussed in the final sections to help inform the development of more relevant and impactful education technology policies in the future.
KAS Japan would like to explore the interplay between education and technology and how this impacts the future of work for young people in Asia.The first paper in the series aims to discuss and describe the challenges of information communication technology (ICT) adoption in Cambodia’s education. Before the challenges are pointed out, the paper provides information on Cambodia’s educational context, which includes the need for ICT integration and the existing policies and activities that have been done as well as their progress.
A lot of the issues concerning gender equality in Japan are strongly influenced by the Japanese style of employment. This paper explains the impact that the Japanese-style employment has had on women and outlines proposals how to reform the system.
It is divided into three sections. The first section describes the defining characteristics of the Japanese-style employment, while the second section links common gender issues such as the employment rate, insecurity of tenure, gender pay gap, and the low number of women in leadership roles to this system. The third and last section identifies policy implications and proposals to address these.
Major recent events have amplified globalisation’s failures: broken supply chains, food and energy inflation, and vaccine inequity due to intellectual property rights that serve to funnel pandemic profits to a few multinational companies. Proposed responses to these problems have ranged from “reshoring” or “friend-shoring” production to enacting “industrial policies to increase country capacities to produce” (Stiglitz, 2022). It seems that the unfettered endorsement of globalisation has given way to the recognition that at least some national borders are necessary for economic development and security.
Has globalisation reached its zenith? How can we better manage its decline? In this vein, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s (KAS) Regional Economic Programme Asia (SOPAS) has published a five-paper “Deglobalisation Essay series” which focuses on the following topic: How has deglobalisation impacted economies and economic policy?
The fifth and final paper of the Deglobalisation Essay Series titled ‘Trajectory of Deglobalizing Forces: How Resilient Is Germany?’ looks into the two key drivers for current discussions on international economic policy-making in Germany: the Russian war against Ukraine and the strategic competition with China.
The fourth paper of the Deglobalisation Essay Series looks into developments of trade relations in South Asia and shows the way forward for South Asian countries to capitalise on the region’s strong upside potential.
The third in the Deglobalisation Essay Series paper, “Reducing U.S. Trade Imbalances and Fighting Protectionism” looks into why there is a need for the US and its trading partners to promote freer trade and fight against the pressures that generate protectionism.
The second in the Deglobalisation Essay Series paper, “Deglobalisation May Slow Down Economic Growth and Institutional Changes” explains that since the world economy is highly interlinked, deglobalisation will further deepen the gap between countries that are major economies and developing economies. In addition, the paper also looks into the challenges that countries, and the world as a whole will face due to the effects of deglobalisation.
Has globalisation reached its zenith? How can we better manage its decline? In this vein, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s (KAS) Regional Economic Programme Asia (SOPAS) has published a five-paper “Deglobalisation Essay series” which focus on the following topic: How has deglobalisation impacted economies and economic policy?
The first paper, “Open Strategic Autonomy: The European Approach for Stable Supply Chains” looks into how the European Union has used the concept of open strategic autonomy to address the risks of political and economic dependencies and ensure stable supply chains.
The Upper House election, held on 10 July 2022, ended in a landslide victory for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The election took place in a sombre mood of national mourning following the tragic death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, shot while campaigning just two days before polling. This paper describes the implications of this election for the major political parties.