The complexity of cooperative governance and optimization of institutional arrangements in the Greater Mekong Subregion

This study's focus is on the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). The study's approach is to find, analyse and solve problems, and the method used is the mixed application of theoretical and empirical analysis based on rich materials and data. The study goal is to design an optimized framework of institutional arrangements through the complexity analysis of intricate causes that have hindered cooperative governance in the GMS. Concretely, we first summarize the changes in the GMS in the past 20 years to understand the development background. Second, we classify marked issues into three aspects: (1) the contradiction between livelihood development and environmental protection, (2) the imbalance between the principle of “common but different” and the guideline of maximizing national interests and (3) the conflict between the support and opposition for hydropower development in the Mekong between upstream and downstream countries. Third, based on an in-depth analysis of the complicated causes of these issues, we design four interactive solutions to optimize institutional arrangements for future cooperative governance: (1) breaking the inner connection of poverty, drugs and crime; (2) promoting the strategic shift from blood transfusions to haematopoiesis in socioeconomic development; (3) establishing mechanisms of interest sharing; and (4) building a diverse and polycentric regional coordination system. Finally, we systematically analyse the complicated relationship among the different solutions and additional challenges for the future.