2026.08-PP5182-Reading-List-DQ

PP5182 Course Readings (to be used in conjunction with the year’s NUS-formatted syllabus PP5182

📚 General Information and Quick Links

A number of the links below are specialised to NUS campus access. They will not be generally available to external users but many are, in any case, paywalled. NUS campus access allows the NUS library use license to apply to them.

• Course Syllabus: Link to Syllabus Page/PDF

• NUS Library NUSearch+
  • Library Reserves: Link to NUS JSTOR
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Foreign Policy

• Citation Guide: Link to NUS style and citation guide

• Event Monitoring. Data Repositories
• China Countermeasures
• Global Trade Alert

🗓️ Weekly Reading Schedule

(The latter parts of this have yet more to be added on.)

Week 1: No meeting
Glance through for a rough guide on where we might potentially end or seek to improve

• [Optional] ASEAN Geoeconomics Report 2025 – This Time It Is Different: ASEAN’s Agency in Shaping The New Global Agenda
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• [Optional] Esty, Dan, Pangestu Mari, Quah, Danny, et al. 2026. “A Constructive Path to Sustainable Trade Reform”, Brookings (Thu 12 Mar)
  • 🌐 View Web Resource

Week 2: Geoeconomics Just skim quickly to get a rough overarching idea; don’t spend a lot of time trying to get into details or ensuring you understand every loop in logic. We’ll come back to all these matters in due course.

• [Required] Posen, Adam. 2025. “The New Economic Geography”, Foreign Affairs (Sep) vol. 104, no. 5, pp. 26-43 . Who profits in a post-American world?
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• [Required] Quah, Danny. 2026. “Small States are the Best Bet for Keeping World at Peace”, CNA (Wed 01 July)
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• [Optional] Blackwill, Robert D. and Harris, Jennifer M. 2016. “The Lost Art of Economic Statecraft”, Foreign Affairs (Mar) v.95 no.2, pp. 99-110
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• [Optional] Quah, Danny. 2026. “Correlated Trade and Geopolitics Driving a Fractured World Order”, in Ing, Lili Yan and Rodrik, Dani (eds.) The New Global Economic Order, Ch. 5, pp. 54-66, New York: Routledge.
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• [Optional] Menon, Ravi. 2026. “The New Geoeconomics in a Quantum World”, Hinrich Foundation (Jul)
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• [Optional] Clayton, Christopher; Maggiori, Matteo; and Schreger, Jesse. 2026. “Two Insights from Geoeconomics Research”, Freedom Frequency Hoover Institution (14 Aug))
  • 🌐 View Web Resource

Week 3: Globalization to strategic interdependence. 3S

• Obstfeld, Maurice. 2020. “Globalization Cycles”, Italian Economic Journal vol. 6, pp. 1-12.
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• Prasad, Eswar. 2026. “How Geopolitics Overran Globalization”, Foreign Affairs (Mar) vol. 105, no. 2.
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• Quah, Danny. 2026. “The Evolving Development Landscape of Asia and Pacific: The International Economics of Strategic Interdependence”, Ch. 12, pp. 241-258 in Rahul Anand, Thomas Helbling, and Krishna Srinivasan (eds.) Shaping the Future of Asia. Washington DC: IMF
  • 🌐 View Web Resource

Reagan’s Radio Address on Canadian Elections and Free Trade on November 26, 1988 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp1T7kPEdDY

Week 4: Economic security

• Goto, Shihoko. 2026. “Beyond supply chains: Japan’s expanding economic security vision”, pp. 45-56 in Building Geoeconomic Toolkits: Asia-Pacific Middle Powers in an Era of Strategic Competition, Asia Policy vol. 21 no. 3 (July) https://www.nbr.org/publication/building-geoeconomic-toolkits-asia-pacific-middle-powers-in-an-era-of-strategic-competition/
• Benson, Emily, Mouradian, Catharine, and Palazzi, Andrea Leonard. 2024. “Toward a U.S. Economic Security Strategy”, Center for Strategic and International Studies (Jul) https://www.csis.org/analysis/toward-us-economic-security-strategy
• Bo CHEN, Yiqing XIE, and Yi ZHAO. 2026. “China’s Trade Investigation Instruments amid Increasingly Restrictive Trade Practices: Policy Context and Strategic Implications”. EAI Background Brief (Jun) no. 1893 https://research.nus.edu.sg/eai/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/EAI-Background-Brief-No.-1893-Chinas-Trade-Investigation-Instruments.pdf

Week 5: Industrial policy

• Irwin, D. 2023. “Should developing economies follow the United States and China by building national champions?” (June) https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2023/06/the-return-of-industrial-policy-douglas-irwin
• Adam Jakubik, Florence Jaumotte, Samuel Pienknagura, Michele Ruta. 2026. “Industrial Policy Is Adapting to Crises, but Remains Hard to Implement Effectively” IMF (28 May) https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2026/05/28/industrial-policy-is-adapting-to-crises-but-remains-hard-to-implement-effectively
• Simon Evenett, Adam Jakubik, Jaden Kim, Fernando Martín, Samuel Pienknagura, Michele Ruta, Sandra Baquie, Yueling Huang, and Rafael Machado Parente. 2025. “Industrial Policy Since the Great Financial Crisis”, IMF Working Paper 2025/2222 (Oct) https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2025/10/31/industrial-policy-since-the-great-financial-crisis-570816 (Reference for leading data source on industrial policy)
• Rockwell, Keith. 2023. “Say hello to industrial policy, but never goodbye”, Hinrich Foundation (Jun) https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/wp/economic-development/hello-to-industrial-policy
• Clausing, Kim and Obstfeld, Maurice. 2026. “‘Optimal Tariffs’ Are Far From Optimal”, parts 1 and 2, PIIE (July)
• https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2026/optimal-tariffs-are-far-optimal-part-1
• https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2026/who-pays-tariffs-insights-recent-research

Week 6: Multilateralism. Policy memo due by Fri COB

• Brown, Gordon. 2023. “A New Multilateralism”, Foreign Policy (Fall), pp. 51-57 NUS URL
• Herz, Monica and Ho, Selina. 2026. “How Multilateralism Can Survive”, Foreign Affairs (Jan) vol. 105, no. 1 NUS URL
• Quah, Danny. 2025. “Multilateralism Can Survive the Loss of Consensus”, IMF Finance and Development (Sep), pp. 14-15
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• Buzan, Barry. 2011. “A World Without Superpowers: Decentred Globalism”, LSE (May) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jVXh6b0ofM (the article itself https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117810396999 is paywalled but Buzan himself will say that more recent versions of these ideas have since been published. None of those, however, have the evocative title that this one does.)
• Acharya, Amitav. 2026. “Thinking Beyond a Polarized World: Why Multiplexity Matters”, International Affairs (Apr), vol. 102, no. 2, pp. 503-511 https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/102/2/503/8509074
• Carney, Mark and Alexander Stubb. 2026. “Ad Hoc Coalitions”, The Economist (11 July) vol. 460 issue 9507, p. 12 NUS URL
• Russell, Alec. 2025. “Middle powers face a new age of uncertainty. WORLD AFFAIRS.” Financial Times, (23 Dec) p. 21. Gale Academic OneFile NUS URL

Week 7: Economic diplomacy in a G-minus world. Superpowers optional

• Khong, Yuen Foong and Liow, Joseph. 2025. “Southeast Asia Is Starting to Choose”, Foreign Affairs (July), vol. 104. no. 4, pp. 151-161 NUS URL

• Rockefeller Foundation. 2026. “Seeking Security and Opportunity in a Stormy World: A 34-Country Survey”, The Rockefeller Foundation (16 Sep) URL

• The Rockefeller Foundation. 2026. “Amid Growing Pessimism, Security Tops Priorities for International Cooperation”, The Rockefeller Foundation Press Release (16 Sep) URL

• Quah, D. 2026. “Redesigning International Order for a G-Minus World”, The Diplomat (31 Jul) URL DQ-URL

• Trebesch, Christoph. 2026. “Globalization without a US Hegemon”, Freedom Frequency Hoover Institution (Sep) URL

• Buzan, Barry. 2011. “A World Without Superpowers: Decentred Globalism”, LSE (May) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jVXh6b0ofM (the article itself https://doi.org/10.1177/004711781039699 is paywalled but Buzan himself will say that more recent versions of these ideas have since been published. None of those, however, have the evocative title that this one does.)
• Acharya, Amitav. 2026. “Thinking Beyond a Polarized World: Why Multiplexity Matters”, International Affairs (Apr), vol. 102, no. 2, pp. 503-511 https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/102/2/503/8509074
• Quah, D. 2026. “The Rest of Us: Incentives, not Power, in Rebuilding World Order”, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Working Paper (May) https://www.DannyQuah.com/Storage/1776415301-Danny.Quah-Incentives-not-Power-World-Order.pdf

Week 8: Basic toolkit for economic diplomacy: 3A

• Huang, Chin-Hao, Xu, Scarlet, and Chow, Mae. 2026. “The Geoeconomic Statecraft of Small and Middle Powers amid Great-Power Rivalry: Singapore’s Leverage and Challenges”, pp. 95-107 in Building Geoeconomic Toolkits: Asia-Pacific Middle Powers in an Era of Strategic Competition, Asia Policy vol. 21 no. 3 (July) https://www.nbr.org/publication/building-geoeconomic-toolkits-asia-pacific-middle-powers-in-an-era-of-strategic-competition/

• Quah, D. 2026. “Redesigning International Order for a G-Minus World”, The Diplomat (30 Jul) NUS URL
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
  • 🌐 Alt Web Resource
• Nixon, Stewart. 2026. “Divided We Fall: ASEAN’s Response to Trump’s Illiberal Trade Agenda”, IDEAS and Friedrich Naumann Foundation (Jan) https://www.freiheit.org/asia/divided-we-fall-aseans-response-trumps-illiberal-trade-agenda
• Le, Dan, Jingting Liu, and Thi Hang Banh. 2026. “Resilience and Realignment: ASEAN’s Policy Responses to Renewed US Tariff Escalation”, ACI Research Paper (Aug) 12-2026 https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/default-source/aci/acirp202612.pdf

Week 9: Making cooperation ordinary. Strategic competition

• Quah, Danny. 2026. “A Cooperative Advantage”, IMF Finance and Development (Sep) pp. 24-27 https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2026/09/a-cooperative-advantage-danny-quah https://www.DannyQuah.com/publications/2026-09-Danny.Quah-Cooperative-Advantage-IMFFD/

• Quah, Danny. 2026. “Trade Builds Order”, Freedom Frequency Hoover Institution (Sep) https://www.thefreedomfrequency.org/p/trade-builds-order
• Mellsop, Jane. 2026. “‘Trade is in our Blood’: Momentum Builds in Asia for Expanding Rules-based Economic Cooperation”, New York: Asia Society (Jan) https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/trade-our-blood-momentum-builds-asia-expanding-rules-based-economic-cooperation
• NPR podcast. 2024. “Octopuses and fish share leadership — and enforcement — in group hunting” (Sep) https://www.npr.org/2024/09/23/nx-s1-5120912/octopuses-and-fish-hunt-enforce

Week 10: New international institutions. Flexible topology. Country strategy presentations 1.

• Rockwell, Keith. 2026. “Trouble at the WTO Was a Long Time Coming”, Freedom Frequency Hoover Institution (18 Jul)
  • 🌐 View Web Resource
• Bruegel Podcast. 2026. “BRICs at 25” (07 Oct) https://www.bruegel.org/podcast/brics-25
• IMF Exhibit - The Importance of Global Cooperation https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/center/mm/eng/mm_cc_01.htm

Week 11: Building actionable economic diplomacy. Country strategy presentations 2.

• Quah, Danny. 2026. “US Economic Statecraft, Asian Economic Diplomacy: Geoeconomic Theory and Empirics”, LKYSPP Working Paper (Oct) https://www.DannyQuah.com/working-papers/2026-11-Danny.Quah-US-Economic-Statecraft/

Week 12: Asia 2035 Policy Summit. Negotiation performance.

• Mari Pangestu Keynote Lecture “ASEAN in an Age of Geoeconomic Fragmentation” (Zoom)

Week 13: (Public holiday) No class meeting. White paper due by Fri COB

Supplementary materials in case studies

The LKYSPP Case Insights Unit publishes case studies that might be helpful for specific interests in this course. The entire collection is available:

https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/research/case-insights-unit/all-case-studies

A roughly-curated sample that explicitly touches on the points in the course would include:

Trump Tariffs and the ASEAN Way: Road to Integration or Fragmentation (2026) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/trumptariffsaseanway_econdev-intlrel_noc_nil_en_202608.pdf

Powering ASEAN: Integration Through the Grid (2026) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/aseanpowergrid_econdev_noc_nil_en_202608.pdf

South Korea’s Import Source Diversification Policy (1978-1999) (2026) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/koreaimportsource_econdev-intlrel_kor-jpn_nil_en_202604.pdf

AI Governance (2026) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/aigovernance_pubmgt-scitec_noc_govexp_en_202603.pdf

Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute 2010–2012 (2026) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/senkakudiaoyudispute_intlrel_jpn-chn_nil_en_202602.pdf

DEFA – A Catalyst for ASEAN Economic Regionalism (2026) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/defacatalystaseanregion_econdev-scitec_noc_nil_en_202601.pdf

The Indus Waters Treaty: Is Transboundary Water Governance a Geopolitical Tool? (2025) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/induswatertreatygeopol_intlrel-envsus_ind-pak_nil_en_202511.pdf

Protecting A Nation Under Digital Siege (2025) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/protectnationdigitalsiege_scitec_sgp_nil_en_202510.pdf

Leading with Soft Power: Lessons from the Mekong River Commission (2025) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/softpowermekongrivercomm_pubmgt-envsus_noc_nil_en_202508.pdf

Singapore’s Quest for Food Security – 30 by 30 (2025) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/sgpfoodsecurity30by30_econdev-envsus_sgp_nil_en_202502.pdf

Critical Minerals and Geopolitics: The Quest for Global Supremacy (2024) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/criticalmingeopolitics_intlrel-envsus_chn-usa_nil_en_202410.pdf

ASEAN regionalism in the context of RCEP (2024) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/aseanregionalismrcep_intlrel-envsus_noc_nil_en_202408.pdf

The Impacts of Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA): Akara Mining Dispute between the Thai Government and Kingsgate Consolidated Limited (2024) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/taftaakarathaikingsgate_intlrel-envsus_tha_nil_en_202404.pdf

New Zealand and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (2022) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/newzealandtpp_intlrel-econdev_nzl_nil_en_202211.pdf

Indonesia’s Untapped Potential in Renewable Energy (2022) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/indonesiapotentialrenewables_envsus_idn_nil_en_202205.pdf

DEFA – A Catalyst for ASEAN Economic Regionalism (2026) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/defacatalystaseanregion_econdev-scitec_noc_nil_en_202601.pdf

The Rise of a “Middle Power”? Japan’s Role in Preserving TPP11 (2022) https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/docs/cases/middlepowerjapantpp_intlrel_jpn_nil_en_202204.pdf