Dealing with an Ambiguous World

Bilahari Kausikan

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9789813202023
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Diplomacy & Treaties
• Index: Politics & International Relations

One of Singapore's top diplomats, Bilahari Kausikan was the Institute of Policy Studies' (IPS) 2015/16 S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore. This book contains edited versions of the five public IPS-Nathan Lectures he gave between January and May 2016, and highlights of his dialogue with the audience.Kausikan gives a frank and dispassionate assessment of the international environment in the post-Cold War era and the geopolitical uncertainties that have emerged. In particular, he analyses the nature of US–China relations, the broad underlying factors in the South China Sea disputes and ASEAN's attempts to maintain order, and the role that human rights and democracy have played in international relations. He concludes by suggesting what Singapore needs to do to cope with the complexities that lie ahead, in this age without definition.The IPS-Nathan Lectures series was launched in 2014 as part of the S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore. The S R Nathan Fellow, who is appointed annually, delivers between four and six lectures each year to advance public understanding and discussion of issues of critical national interest.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title Page
• Copyright
• The S R Nathan Fellowship for the Study of Singapore and the Ips-Nathan Lectures
• Contents
• Foreword
• About the Moderators
• Lecture I An Age Without Definition (29 January 2016)
• Lecture II US-China Relations: Groping Towards a New Modus Vivendi (25 February 2016)
• Lecture III ASEAN & US-China Competition in Southeast Asia (30 March 2016)
• Lecture IV The Myth of Universality: The Geopolitics of Human Rights (29 April 2016)
• Lecture V Can Singapore Cope? (25 May 2016)
• Appendices