Building Growth Areas in Asia for Development and Peace

A new type of international cooperation has arisen in Asia—economic cooperation between provinces of adjacent countries. While the principal motivation is joint economic development, the peace dividend involves cooperation among the people across borders to establish and strength ties of friendship. Although much funding comes from private investment, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been instrumental in identifying many of the most feasible projects. This article identifies one proposed growth triangle, a few that are dormant, and some currently are in operation, providing their historical origins, organizational components, funding, and success in conducting operational projects or promoting peaceful relations among members. To determine which projects have been more successful, variables are identified from the viable projects, testing whether criteria from the rational choice paradigm give a better explanation of success than the community-building paradigm. Results indicate that the two paradigms explain quite different aspects of success. Consistent with the rational choice paradigm, success is more likely when ‘growth area’ organizations have more funding and support from the ADB. As predicted by the community building paradigm, successful ‘growth area’ organizations have support from the leaders of their respective countries and are composed of countries with rough equality in national income. One variable—whether countries involved are democracies—has little impact on either economic development or peace dividend success.