A pilot research network and hold a collaborative workshop on the political economy of state transformation and emerging transnational governance in Asia. We identify prima facie evidence of state transformation – the fragmentation, decentralisation and uneven internationalisation of state apparatuses – and the networking of state, non-state and hybrid actors to form transboundary governance regimes across this dynamic and important region. This is driven by economic globalisation and in turn reshapes how globalisation is governed and proceeds. We seek to overturn the stereotypical view in International Relations (IR) of Asian states as monolithic, ‘Westphalian’ entities by studying these phenomena comparatively.

The funding will be used primarily to bring together scholars working on these issues across sub-regions and disciplines, who ordinarily do not/ cannot interact. Participants’ expertise spans Central, Southeast and East Asia and disciplines including Politics and IR, Political Economy, Anthropology, Geography, Ethnology and Comparative Sociology. This cross-disciplinary engagement is necessary to correct the excessive statism of mainstream IR theory. Our team is gender-balanced and includes scholars at all career stages.

By using a common set of research questions and drawing on our different disciplinary backgrounds to develop a shared, novel theoretical framework, we seek to understand the politico-economic drivers and outcomes of state transformation and transnational governance. This will pioneer a new research agenda, and generate knowledge useful to policymakers, journalists, businesses, civil society and political activist groups, and ordinary citizens interested in how power is institutionalised and organised, and to whose benefit. The outputs will be a special issue in a leading journal, and hopefully the formation of a longer-term research network on this topic.