IGCC's early research focused largely on averting nuclear
war through arms control and confidence-building measures between the superpowers.
Since then, the research program has diversified. IGCC researchers study
a wide range of topics involving security, environmental, and economic policies
that shape our ability to prevent conflict
and promote cooperation across the globe. Under the leadership of Director
Susan Shirk, IGCC’s ongoing work in its core areas is complemented
by the recognition that evolving threats to global stability require exploration
of nontraditional connections between and across disciplines and institutions.
IGCC remains highly committed to its
original field of study, and security policy implications
cross-cut all of IGCC's programs. Beyond preventive diplomacy and "track-two" initiatives,
for many years IGCC conducted teaching seminars for the academic and policy
communities on nonproliferation issues. IGCC training programs
such as "Public Policy and Nuclear
Threats" and "Public
Policy and Biological Threats" continue the IGCC tradition of
informing and instructing potential future decision makers.
As understanding of global environmental degradation and the transboundary
effects of environmental pollution grew throughout the 1990s, IGCC initiated
a research program in international environmental policy to respond to the
need for greater scholarly and policy attention to these issues.
The IGCC research program on the environment generally falls into four main
categories:
Global environment issues such as biodiversity, ozone depletion, and
protection of rainforests. IGCC helped create a UC-systemwide program on
global climate change to bring objective scientific and technical expertise
to the United Nations climate change negotiations.
Transboundary environmental issues such as pollution control, water
allocation, control of straddling oil fields, wildlife conservation, and
restoration of basic agricultural, environmental, and health services after
a military conflict.
International fisheries and the Pacific Commons issues such as overfishing,
cooperative management of fish stocks, sharing of scientific information,
and prevention of foreign species introduction.
Issues involving the interplay between environmental/health concerns
and trade agreements and the role of these concerns in determining international
lending practices.
Current projects focus on coastal water quality management
in Southeast Asia, conservation of biological diversity through forest
management in Malaysia, illegal harvest and trade in tropical timber,
and the effects of atmospheric brown clouds on agriculture in SE Asia.
Since its inception, IGCC and its partners have been committed to conflict
resolution through international cooperation. By supporting research from a
multi-disciplinary platform, IGCC has been on the frontline of innovative approaches
to international problem solving. This includes research
programs designed to examine how emerging communications technologies and the Internet have affected global and regional
governance and cooperation systems.
IGCC's work on the international
implications of nuclear proliferation and ethnic conflict has focused attention
on concrete aspects of the interrelationships
between domestic and foreign policies. Particularly fruitful in cases with
high potential for international repercussions are its investigations of
effective regulatory policies for managing international refugee and labor
migration,
and assessments of global economic restructuring impacts on internal institutional
reforms.
Ethnic conflict, traditionally regarded as a domestic problem, rapidly became
a serious international security issue in the aftermath of the Cold War.
As a bipolar world devolved into a multi-polar one, five particular regions
displayed
heightened ethnic schisms and transnational conflicts: Eastern Europe, Africa,
the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and South Asia. IGCC's research
program examines the impact of global development on domestic security, the
potential
for inter-ethnic violence to spread across national boundaries, and mechanisms
for promoting lasting resolutions to civil wars.
After the end of the Cold War, international politics became more regionalized: conflict and cooperation still engage major powers,
but regions must be
treated on their own terms. To remedy the ad hoc nature of most regional
analysis and to strengthen its own projects, IGCC initiated "Reconceptualizing
Regional
Relations."
The project, directed by Profs. David Lake (IGCC) and Patrick Morgan
(UC Irvine), published its results in Regional Orders: Building Security
in a
New
World (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). This work complements and
advances IGCC's research
agenda on the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa.
In the context of regional relations, IGCC
conducts and supports work on regional economic relations, including regional
integration in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America and economic management
of environmental, security, and governance issues.
IGCC
is a non-profit, nonpartisan institute with official 501(c)(3) status. We welcome
your tax-deductible donations to help support our work, and encourage you
to contact
us about our programs and activities.
Copyright 2001–2008 by the Regents of the University of California on
behalf of IGCC.