SECURITY ISSUES AND NEW TRANSNATIONAL PEACE-RELATED MOVEMENTS IN EAST ASIA, THE 1990s AND 2000s

With the possible exception of the nuclear disarmament movement in Japan, East Asia has historically not been a region known for high levels of citizen activism in the area of peace and security. This has started to change since the 1990s with more NGOs and other societal groups in the region now working on peace-related issues at the local, national, regional and international levels. NGOs and activists in these movements have played diverse roles, at times providing solutions to security problems and at other times stimulating regional conflict. This article examines the domestic and international factors that have led to these changes and provides a guided tour of three relatively new movements in Northeast Asia.