Call for Papers

A Special Issue of Asia and the Global Economy on Existential Global Threats: Challenges to Asia and the Global Economy

  The world is at a tipping point. Humanity is in dire need of a new path toward a sustainable future. Growing competition among the major powers, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) terrorism all pose urgent threats to the security and welfare of the entire international community and thus require its immediate and undivided attention. Taejae Academy, the Future Consensus Institute, one of the co-sponsors of AGE, seeks to bring attention to these three issue areas.





  First, the likelihood of a terrorist group acquiring WMD capabilities is markedly increasing with rapid technological advancement. While many consider WMD terrorism to be an urgent and clear danger, few concrete steps have been taken since the close of the Nuclear Security Summit to deal with this threat. We need to galvanize multilateral endeavors among like-minded countries to prevent and counter WMD terrorism. Thus we seek papers that identify the likeliest risks or that suggest ways of better securing weapons of mass destruction at the national and international levels.




  Second, just like WMD terrorism, climate change is a grave existential threat. While many governments are aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050, we are far from the swift and binding solutions that are necessary.  The voluntary pledges by governments are not sufficient to turn the tide in time. A global consensus is needed on new, more urgent implementation goals and measures. The design of more binding regional or international regimes for governing emissions and for equitably sharing the costs of pollution abatement among rich and poor countries may be one way of combatting climate change.




  Third, tensions along the world¡¯s geopolitical fault lines are on the rise. While many of the potential flashpoints across the globe carry the risk of escalation, few resolutions of past crises have produced workable models of conflict resolution. The invasion of Ukraine and its broader ramifications for Europe as well as Asia and globally show how local flashpoints can have unexpected worldwide aftershocks. In the long term, efforts must be directed toward building trust and expanding common ground between contending major powers, but, in the interim, it will be necessary to develop new mechanisms to localize the economic fallout as well as to prevent wars from spreading from regional to global scale.




  The editors of the Special Issue will consider empirical and conceptual studies of these problems as well as case studies that illustrate these threats and suggest how they can be addressed by the global community. Publication fees for accepted papers will be waived, and papers accepted for presentation at the Asia Economic Community Forum in November 2022 will receive a stipend of US$1000. Deadline for submissions in March 31, 2023. Authors should submit their papers to https://www.journals.elsevier.com/asia-and-the-global-economy and indicate that their paper is intended for the special issue on existential crises.