Crossing borders in south and southeast Asia: Assessing existing problems through a new lens

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2020. This chapter states that the world is becoming more interconnected and interdependent with the technological advancements in transportation as well as communication. On the other hand, there is the ruthless reality of a widening gap in many societies where multiple layers of socioeconomic, ethnocultural and politico-ideological divisions exist. The threat of poverty and insufficient efforts toward poverty alleviation worsen inequality of all kinds, leading to different crises impacting humanity, peace, the environment and development, such as hunger, disparity and conflict. All these possible scenarios demand the need for prevention, preparedness, policy planning and priority setting to protect the weaker segment of each society, as well as to promote their participation in the development process. The chapter argues that such demands should be matched with a new approach: a social innovation-driven academic approach that can integrate any workable non-academic means into the academic agenda. Accordingly, the study proposes the academic diplomacy project and its nine functions to activate the sector’s deep engagements in action research projects focusing on targeted communities through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches of problem identification, transformation and policy analysis. The chapter conveys that academia shall take the lead in developing a variety of ‘preventive diplomacy’ as a means of soft intervention in the form of action research projects to prevent the occurrence, potential re-occurrence and spill-over of social ills, human rights abuses and atrocities before they escalate into a crisis situation. It predicts that cases from India, Myanmar and Thailand will provide an insightful knowledge extension through the illustration of methodological pluralism, flexible comparison, multidimensional approaches and awareness promotion.