This report addresses the new challenges that face the Trilateral Commission (for which the Japan Center for International Exchange acts as Japanese secretariat) in the post-cold-war era. The decline of Soviet power and the diminished appeal of communist ideology have removed an overarching common threat to Trilateral democracies. The conditions of the 1990s can make broad multilateral cooperation impossible, and we may see the world divide into self-sustained blocs increasingly preoccupied with internal or regional issues, rather than global cooperation. But there will actually be a stronger incentive to develop international cooperation than ever before as the world sees a growth of economic interdependence, proliferation of transnational actors, nationalism in weak states, spread of technology, and increasing numbers of issues that are both domestic and international.
The authors set forth a new agenda on which to concentrate Trilateral efforts in the 1990s: it ranges from global problems (e.g., sustainable global economic growth and development, nonproliferation of advanced weapons technology) to strengthening global roles of Japan and a more integrated European Community, to key aspects of international institutions and greater decision-sharing and burden-sharing. Includes an appendix of seven tables on the contributions of the Trilateral partners.
Chapters
- Summary of the Report
- Introduction
- North American and Trilateral Cooperation
- Japan and Trilateral Cooperation
- A Changing Europe and Trilateral Cooperation
- A Reshaped Trilateral Agenda
Authors
- Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affiars and Director of the Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Kurt Biedenkopf, Minister-President of the Free State of Saxony, Germany
- Motoo Shiina, President of the Policy Study Group; former Member of the Japanese Diet
New York, Tokyo, and Paris: The Trilateral Commission, 1991
ISBN 0-930503-67-8; 80 pages; paper; $6.00