Assessing and Improving APEC's Performance
This independent project is a collaborative
effort among participating APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) study
centers to track and assess the design and execution of select APEC initiatives.
APIAN's goal is to enhance knowledge among government officials and the
general public with regard to APEC activities as a way to identify ways
to improve its performance.
Project Reports
Project Summary
Project Purpose: Moving APEC From Pledges to Reality
Methodology
APIAN Executive Committee and Participants
Project Reports
Reports are available in pdf format. Clicking on the link will open the report
in a new window.
Report 1: Learning from Experience,
November 2000
Report 2: APIAN Update:
Shanghai, Los Cabos, and Beyond, October 2001
Report 3: Remaking APEC as an Institution, August 2002
Project Summary
APEC Study Centers (ASC) from throughout the APEC member
economies decided in 1999 to collaborate in the APEC International Assessment
Network (APIAN)
to track and assess APEC performance. Under the leadership of ASCs from Japan
and the United States, APIAN's goal was to enhance knowledge among government
officials and the general public with regard to APEC activities, to encourage
the fulfillment of APEC objectives and commitments, and to identify ways
for APEC to improve its performance. APIAN will enhance knowledge of the
region's most ambitious multilateral enterprise, and thereby increase understanding
of the strengths and weaknesses of multilateralism in the Asia Pacific. Japan
and the United States have played leadership roles in APEC's major trade
and investment initiatives, and Japan has been especially active in the technical
assistance
area. APEC presents a major challenge to the capacity of Japan and the United
States to cooperate in this important multilateral forum.
Dr. Richard Feinberg, APIAN Project Director, and Dr. Peter Cowhey, Director
of the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
(IGCC) partnered with the University of Tsukuba, the Otaru University of
Commerce, and the Kobe University Graduate School of International Cooperation,
among other regional institutions, to make this project possible.
APIAN served as an important test case of the theory that expert non-governmental
organizations can augment the effectiveness of multilateral organizations
through processes of tracking and evaluating their activities and offering
constructive suggestions for enhancing their performance. APIAN offers
a testable hypothesis that informal partnerships between private and public
actors can enhance the objectives of both spheres in fostering effective
international action. Project Purpose: Moving APEC From Pledges to Reality
The
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum represents an ambitious first
effort to build a regional, multilateral institution that pulls together
the nations of the Asia Pacific. APEC was created in 1989 to help construct
a Pacific "community of nations," to enhance dialogue and understanding
among the nations and peoples of the region, to increase commercial exchange,
and to encourage cooperation on a range of common problems.
Since APEC's founding in 1989, and especially since leaders began holding
annual summits in 1993, APEC leaders and ministers have reached agreement
on a large number of initiatives. These initiatives cover critically important
matters, including trade integration, financial stability, environmental
protection, technical cooperation and such social matters as labor rights
and educational training.
Despite the importance of APEC, there had been no comprehensive effort,
independent of governments, to track and evaluate the implementation of APEC
initiatives,
to determine the degree of progress from words to deeds, from pledges to
action. The absence of such an independent evaluation effort had several
deleterious effects. First, without transparency and public debate, APEC
officials are not held accountable, and may not feel obliged to act upon
official promises. Well-intended officials within APEC governments are deprived
of the external pressures that could help them in building momentum for action
on APEC pledges. Second, without independent, scholarly input, APEC is deprived
of valuable sources of expert information and critical feedback. In particular,
the APEC Study Centers represent a potentially rich assembly of expertise
that could be mobilized to do much more to help APEC monitor and assess its
contributions and shortcomings. Third, without effective information, the
scholarly community and civil society more generally are largely ignorant
of and skeptical toward APEC. The media lacks an objective, comprehensive
assessment of APEC implementation.
To fulfill this need for independent evaluation, APEC Study Centers (ASC)
from around the Pacific Rim joined forces to form the APEC International
Assessment Network (APIAN). ASC are research centers typically based in leading
universities or public policy institutes and were established after 1993
to enhance public awareness of APEC, to assist member economies participate
in APEC, and to foster cooperation in the Asia Pacific.
Project Methodology
To track and assess APEC initiatives, APIAN established a network of
Issue Coordinators, who were associated with
APEC Study Centers, coordinated work on specific initiatives. Issue
Coordinators in turn established Issue Expert Teams, whose members provided
periodic reports to their respective Issue Coordinators and evaluated compliance
with APEC commitments in their home country as well as APEC-wide.
Issue Coordinators and Issue Expert Team members also drew upon
the work of related efforts, particularly those of the Pacific Economic Cooperation
Council (PECC), the
Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD), the APEC Business Advisory
Council (ABAC), and the APEC Secretariat in Singapore.
APIAN Executive Committee
|
Dr. John McKay
Director, ASC
Australia
Dr. Christopher Reynolds
Senior Lecturer
Brunei
Dr. Yuan Pau Woo
Director, ASC
Canada
Dr. Manfred Wilhemy
Director
Chile
Dr. Jianren Lu
Deputy Director
China
Dr. Rong-I Wu
President, TIER Chinese Taipei
Chen Sheng Ho
Director, ASC
Chinese Taipei
Dr. Neantro Saavedra-Rivano
Director, ASC
Japan
Dr. Hideki Funatsu
Dean of International Exchange
Japan
Dr. ToshihisaToyoda
Professor
Japan
Dr. Mohd Yusuf Kasim
Acting Director
Malaysia
Dr. Robert Scollay
Director, ASC
New Zealand
Dr. Myma Austria
Director, ASC
Philippines
|
Dr. Siow Yue Chia
Director
Singapore
Dr. Hyungdo Ahn
Executive Director
South Korea
Dr. Medhi Krongkaew
Director, ASC
Thailand
Dr. Vinod Aggarwal
Director, ASC
US
Dr. Richard Feinberg
Director, ASC
US
Dr. Donald Hellmann
Director, ASC
US
Dr. David McClain
Coordinator
US
Dr. Charles Morrison
President
US
Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda
Director
US
Dr. Hugh Patrick
Co-Director, ASC
US
Dr. Merit E. Janow
Co-Director
US
Dr. Peter Petri
Dean
US
Dr. Thomas I. Wahl
Interim Director & Assoc. Professor
US |
