In his research Issue-Based Cooperation on Conflict Resolution in the South China Sea: Exploring Roles for ASEAN Beyond the Code of Conduct, Edcel John A. Ibarra states that “the findings [of the study] can help foreign policy makers craft targeted strategies to enhance cooperation on conflict resolution in the South China Sea [West Philippine Sea].”

Ibarra is an assistant professor at the UP Diliman Department of Political Science.

The research, published in the Volume 9, Number 1 issue of Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies,provides an original framework for examining the part of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in conflict resolution in the South China Sea.

“I apply the framework. I examine ASEAN’s approach to cooperation on conflict resolution in the South China Sea and then explore how the association may improve on its handling of the disputes,” Ibarra says in his paper.

In the third section of the research, Ibarra discusses this original framework, which is the issue-based cooperation on conflict resolution.

“In sum, issue-based cooperation on conflict resolution accepts that often no single solution exists to deal with an international conflict. Instead, a conflict often consists of several distinct issues, and each component issue of a conflict requires a different type of conflict resolution and mode of cooperation. Cooperation on conflict resolution must therefore adapt to the requirements of the very issue under dispute,” Ibarra states in his research.

He explains further that scholars and policy makers can use the framework in three ways.

“First, it can be used to show the range of possibilities for cooperation on conflict resolution in the South China Sea available to states and international organizations. Second, it can be used to assess whether any given cooperative initiative in the South China Sea indeed helps move the conflict closer toward resolution. Finally, it can be used to analyze other multiparty conflicts similar to the South China Sea disputes,” Ibarra said.

For this research, Ibarra was recently named this year’s recipient of the Aileen San Pablo Baviera Prize of the Graduate Research and Development Network on Asian Security.