Promoting Public Value Through International Organization

Brendan Howe(Brendan Howe ) 한국공공가치학회 2023 공공가치연구 Vol.5 No.-

Purpose: This article explores the evolution of practical global governance measures aimed at promoting public values in an anarchic (in the sense of without government) international operating environment. The process of international organization has occupied a central position in the discourse, and the physical manifestations of various formal international organizations and informal institutions have provided practical experiments in policy implementation. From the starting point of the universal lowest common denominator of values generated by an overlapping consensus of competing epistemological traditions (that of avoiding interstate war), the process of international organization has gradually expanded to embrace non-traditional security public values. Middle powers have played a key role in the expansion of the global governance paradigm, and aspirations for more comprehensive public value generation. The centrality of multilateralism and the roles of middle powers have, however, increasingly come under pressure from the realities of great power contestation in the international operating environment. The relatively new “minilateral” manifestations of international organization are also demonstrated as coming up short when providing public value promotion. This article, therefore, asks and attempts to answer the central global governance question of how can public values be promoted in the international operating environment in the absence of a central governing authority? Method: This research project used a qualitative approach consisting of literature review and document analysis. The results of this study should be supplemented by quantitative and qualitative studies in the future. The literature review consists of a comprehensive assessment of scholarly academic publications from competing perspectives in the fields of political and moral philosophy, public administration, and international relations. The document survey is mainly related to the policy documentation output of national governments and international organizations, as well as media reports. Results: The research identifies how new practical challenges to established multilateral manifestations of international organization and the global normative aspirations of middle powers, as well as shortcomings of the more recent minilateral arrangements require radical out of the box thinking. Hence, new modalities and conceptualizations are proposed to address the challenges of public value provision through the process of international organization. These include non-traditional security minilaterals, regional international commissions, and a central role for the new conceptualization of “second-tier” powers. Conclusion: Global public values are generated at the international level, in the absence of global government, through the process of international organization. Various models of practical manifestation of the related theoretical concepts have been proposed, and have been implemented, with varying degrees of success. In a time of increased great power contestation, however, multilateral institutions and middle powers, their chief proponents, have been undermined. The proliferation of minilaterals and minilateralism has proven to be an inadequate procedural replacement. Hence the need to explore additional agencies of “disruptive innovation.”

Expanding the Normative Parameters of Public Value: ‘Good Samaritanism’ and Saving Strangers

Brendan Howe(Brendan Howe ) 한국공공가치학회 2022 공공가치연구 Vol.4 No.1

Divergent Interpretations of the R2P and Human Security: Implications for Governance Challenges in Myanmar

( Brendan Howe ) 국방대학교 안보문제연구소 2018 The Korean Journal of Security Affairs Vol.23 No.1

The differences between “Asian” and “Western” understandings of human security, the responsibility to protect, and the relationship between these concepts have led to radically different policy proposals for engaging “rogue” regimes. Essentially the “West” holds a narrow view of human security, but an interventionary interpretation of R2P, with the two being closely linked; whereas in Asia the linkage between the two is rejected, and a broad conceptualization of human security, along with a non-interventionary understanding of the R2P dominates. This paper first addresses evidence of competing epistemological frameworks upon policy-formation in Western and Asian champions of human security and the R2P. It then assesses the impact of these policy orientations in Myanmar (one of the most governance-challenged states in the world), followed by policy prescription for ongoing challenges in the country and wider region. The findings of this article are that the combination of Western interventionary pressures, with Asian non-judgmental engagement, creates the best conditions to facilitate governance transformation within a target state. Pressure from the West creates incentives not only for the target state to accept help, but also for Asian actors to offer it; while Asian offers of assistance are more readily accepted due to their anti-interventionary legacy.

Comprehensive Security and Sustainable Peacebuilding in East Asia: Reflections on a Post-COVID-19 Operating Environment

( Brendan Howe ) 국방대학교 안보문제연구소 2020 The Korean Journal of Security Affairs Vol.25 No.1

The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at all levels of Society has demonstrated that the old, state-centric models of security are insufficient to address the contemporary threat environment. Likewise, the roles played by the disease and by government responses to it in generating conflict, reveal that a sustainable peace requires far more than the management of conflict and preventing state from going to war with each other. The focus of the article is on the security and peacebuilding implications for East Asia (including the Northeast and Southeast Asian subregions), which has been considered the most westphalian region in the world (that is to say, the region most wedded to traditional, state-centric conceptualizations of security, threat, and peacebuilding). This article considers first, therefore, the traditional state and sysyem-centric approadches to security and peacebuilding which continue to dominate East Asian peace and security discourese and practice. It identifies the shortcomings of these conceptualizations in the contemporary operating environment, especially with regard to the rise of new security chaalenges, and with a particular focus on the current COVID-19 pandemic. It then offers policy prescription based on critical, reflectivist, and socailly constructed interpretations, and the opportunities. afforded new actors to contribute to the construction of comprehensive security and a sustainable peace in the region.

Challenges and Opportunities for South Korean Diplomacy in an Era of New Varieties of Power and Influence

( Brendan Howe ) 국방대학교 안보문제연구소 2017 The Korean Journal of Security Affairs Vol.22 No.1

This paper evaluates how, given its limited resources, the Republic of Korea (ROK) can best impact upon international affairs in an era of new varieties of power and influence. The ROK requires either the development of new power resources to compensate for its critical mass (population + territory) shortcomings, or a strategic refocusing and reallocation of political resources towards other roles and routes of influence, to maximize the efficacy of South Korean diplomacy. The paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges encountered by the ROK Government in the field of public diplomacy and related concepts. Korea has formally endorsed a soft power approach to public diplomacy which has experienced a degree of negative pushback. Cultural diplomacy has cultivated a good image of South Korea, but it is unclear how much this translates into the strategic challenges of enhancing security and influencing others on the international stage. Thus, the paper concludes, there are perhaps greater opportunities to be found in working with others and garnering a reputation as a good global citizen.

Human Security and Development: Divergent Approaches to Burma/Myanmar

Brendan M. Howe,장수연 인하대학교 국제관계연구소 2013 Pacific Focus Vol.28 No.1

This paper contends that the human security/development nexus lies at the heart of contemporary approaches to peace-building and development. The paper addresses not only the consequences of human security policy prioritization as a development objective by Canada and Japan, but also the hypothesis that different understandings or interpretations of human security are reflected differently in the policy domain. Burma/Myanmar, one of the least developed, and, in terms of human security, most vulnerable states in the world, is used as a case study to address these different policy implementations.

The Future Direction of South Korean Geopolynomic Positioning

Brendan M. Howe 제주평화연구원 2022 Jeju Forum Journal Vol.2022 No.1

South Korea has often been described as a ‘shrimp among whales,’ whereby a small weak state finds itself surrounded by regional and global behemoths, dramatically limiting the country’s strategic options. Within these narrow geostrategic constraints, different administrations in Seoul have tried to leverage Seoul’s competitive advantages through policy platforms which also consider the relative weakness of the Republic of Korea (ROK), especially when faced with the additional challenge of the hostile Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) regime to the North. These range from traditional balancing, band-wagoning, and hedging, through conceptualizations of South Korea as a ‘pivot’, ‘hub’, or ‘bridging’ state, to assorted incarnations of ‘middlepowerhood.’ This paper looks, however, on the one hand to expand geostrategic considerations to wider ‘geopolynomic’ ones, embracing the intersection of geostrategy, geopolitics, geoeconomics, geohistory, and geoculture; and on the other to reconceptualize South Korea as a second-tier power with far more resources than would generally be the case for a middle power, let alone a shrimp among whales. Instead of dwelling on the geostrategic challenges and limitations of the ROK, it highlights opportunities for South Korea, either acting unilaterally, or in conjunction with others, to get the most diplomatic bang for its buck.

East Asian ‘Econophoria’ in Theory and Practice

Brendan Howe 이화여자대학교 국제지역연구소 2016 Asian International Studies Review Vol.17 No.1

‘Econophoria’ is the hope that the solution of all governance challenges, whether international or domestic, can be sought through economic growth and development. It is prevalent in the East Asian region, where tremendous economic development success stories have gone hand-in-hand with lengthy periods without interstate war. This paper explores the theoretical underpinnings and antecedents for econophoria, and how it has manifest in practice in East Asia. It also raises, however, a number of questions which challenge the underlying assumptions of peace though trade and economic growth paradigms in East Asia. How does the skewed wealth distribution that is associated with macro-economic growth affect the internal stability and peace of the societies in East Asia? Does this have an impact on the propensity of the governments to contain the conflicts they have with their neighbours at a level of low tension? Is the pursuit of economic growth prior to, or at the expense of, human rights and the wellbeing of the most vulnerable sustainable in the contemporary international operating environment?

Lessons Learned for Promoting Human Security in North Korea

( Brendan Howe ) 한국국방연구원 2012 The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis Vol.24 No.4

North Korea is a conflict-affected state facing the inter-related challenges of underdevelopment and human insecurity, as well as poor governance structures and policies. The international community has a moral obligation to aid the most vulnerable in North Korea. not only because of the latter`s entitlement rights due to a shared humanity, but also because of the negative impact of some of the policies that have been adopted toward the DPRK by actors on the international stage. This moral obligation is linked to principles underlying the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) paradigm. In the case of North Korea, however, R2P faces serious obstacles. This paper, therefore, not only looks to how best strategically to engage with North Korea, but also to what lessons can be learned from the study of what can be seen, to a greater or lesser extent, as regional post-conflict development success studies; South Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Security Governance Norms and North Korea

( Brendan Howe ) 한국국방연구원 2012 The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis Vol.24 No.4

This paper addresses the complex relationship between security and development, with particular emphasis on regional governance concerns, and engagement with the Democratic People`s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Security, human security, and governance conversations are reformulated and portrayed as a continuum, with entitlement rights and an overlapping normative consensus placed at the heart of the discourse, and Asian exceptional ism challenged. Essentially, internal insecurity considerations are presented as both a normative and rational concern for external actors. The implications of such reformulation for dealing with North Korea are that universal entitlement rights impose obligations on all those who govern, even in East Asia; and that internal human insecurity in North Korea should be as great a concern for regional international security governance as North Korean nuclear weapons and brinksmanship. Indeed, underdevelopment and insecurity in the DPRK constitute major drivers for Pyongyang`s hostile foreign and security policies.