Recent Developments in International Relations: Implications for Diplomatic Training and International Studies

2 addition to the teaching of the arts, crafts, and toolkits of diplomacy, diplomatic academies may also seek to familiarise their students with the latest concepts, trends, and events in international affairs facing today’s conduct of diplomacy that may influence current and future diplomatic training and studies. [...] In recent times, watchers of international relations have witnessed numerous new trends and developments in geo-politics that potentially affect the nature and future of regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific in general, and Southeast Asia in particular, and give rise to several new themes dominating international diplomacy and occupying diplomatic resources. [...] Topics like the green and digital transitions and their regulatory implications, climate change and energy security, public health and management of pandemics, and supply chain resilience have become integral parts of the geo-political considerations along with the conventional focus on national security, economic cooperation, and trade and investment relations. [...] Discussions may touch upon how Southeast Asia in particular, and the Asia-Pacific region in general, should seek assurances from friends and partners in the context of recent security and geo- political developments: the European Union and the United States’ strategies for the Indo-Pacific, the AUKUS trilateral pact and the implications on existing international legal frameworks. [...] The combined effects of green and digital transition, the impacts from the war in Ukraine and the lingering impacts from the COVID pandemic, are shining the spotlight on the fast evolution of international standards and regulatory aspects of highly technical matters, and the power of diplomatic persuasion based on rules-setting capability.