Opportunities and Challenges for the Greater Mekong Subregion

The Mekong River is a vital and valuable resource, with huge development
potential for the six states through which it flows. Given the significant
asymmetry of power between those states, however, there is a real risk
that some might utilise it to the detriment of others.
Without a sense of regional belonging, it is difficult to imagine that
these states and their constituent communities will take regional
imperatives to heart, participate in joint regulatory frameworks, or adopt
behaviours for upstream-downstream and lateral cooperation over the
appropriation and use of their shared resources. How effectively has closer
interdependence of the Mekong countries accommodated the development
of a political-social-cultural space conducive to the growth of a regional
“we-ness” among not only political elites, but also the general public? The
contributors to this volume approach this question from a range of
directions, including the impacts of tourism, regional development
programmes, the Mekong Power Grid, and Sino-US rivalry.
This edited volume presents valuable insights for scholars of
international relations, Asian studies, development studies, environment
studies, policy studies, and human geography.
Charles Samuel Johnston has recently retired from the School of
Hospitality and Tourism at Auckland University of Technology, where he
had lectured from 1998 to 2018. His main research themes focus on
tourism in Asia and in cities, and on the relationship between tourism and
socio-economic development.
Xin Chen is Research Fellow and Program Officer at the New Zealand
Asia Institute of the University of Auckland. Her research interests focus
on East Asian regional integration, China-Asia relations, and Chinese
politics.