Since the end of the cold war, new, nontraditional security threats have risen in prominence. The challenges related to issues such as nuclear development, terrorism, peacebuilding, and piracy increasingly require regional cooperation due to their cross-border nature. While the countries in East Asia are embarking on the process of institutionalizing patterns of regional cooperation, more attention needs to be paid to creating institutions that are able to address these nontraditional security issues.

In this volume, the authors explore new challenges related to nontraditional security threats and analyze the capacity of existing regional mechanisms to deal with them. They offer recommendations on the necessary steps to create a more secure region in today's world.

Contributors include Joon Num Mak (Maritime Institute of Malaysia), A. Francisco J. Mier (National Security Council, the Philippines), Yuji Uesugi (Hiroshima University, Japan), Koji Watanabe (Japan Center for International Exchange), and Wu Chunsi (Shanghai Institutes of International Studies).