Governance Innovation and Democratic Challenges in the Asia-Pacific

East Asian politics is being reshaped by the interaction of domestic transformation, regional security, global governance, and new forms of international influence. China and South Korea illustrate how states are adapting to economic pressures, shifting geopolitical alignments, social change, and heightened competition over legitimacy and influence. Current research examines energy security, welfare governance, global health policy, relations with neighbouring states, cultural diplomacy, nation branding, and the internationalisation of popular culture. It also highlights the importance of political narratives, institutional arrangements, strategic priorities, and informal practices—including friendship, loyalty, hierarchy, and guanxi—in shaping policy outcomes and state behaviour. However, governance, foreign policy, social policy, and soft power are often studied separately, limiting understanding of how these domains mutually reinforce or constrain one another. Further investigation is needed into how East Asian states adapt power across domestic and international arenas, how different forms of authority and influence are combined, and how these strategies affect regional and global roles.This Research Topic aims to examine how East Asian states respond to domestic and international change by integrating governance, security, diplomacy, social policy, and soft power perspectives. It seeks to identify the institutions, narratives, practices, and policy instruments through which states manage uncertainty, construct legitimacy, pursue strategic interests, and project influence beyond their borders. Contributions may address how China and South Korea adapt their approaches to energy security, welfare reform, global health, regional relations, cultural diplomacy, nation branding, K-content, and multicultural governance. The Research Topic also welcomes comparative and theoretically informed studies examining whether state power is increasingly exercised through interconnected combinations of material capabilities, institutional governance, social policies, and cultural appeal.To gather further insights into the adaptation of state power in East Asia, this Research Topic focuses primarily on China and South Korea while welcoming comparative perspectives involving other East Asian states. It addresses the connections between domestic governance and external influence, without being limited to a single policy sector, method, or level of analysis. Themes include, but are not limited to:• Governance reform, political institutions, and state legitimacy• Energy security and strategic resource governance• Welfare reform, social policy, and political adaptation• Global health governance and international cooperation• China’s relations with neighbouring states• Political narratives, hierarchy, loyalty, friendship, and guanxi• Regional security and changing diplomatic strategies• South Korean soft power and cultural diplomacy• Nation branding and the global circulation of K-content• State support for creative and cultural industries• Multicultural policy, migration, and social change• The relationship between domestic governance and international influence• Comparative approaches to power adaptation in contemporary East Asia• Theoretical and methodological approaches to studying state power, influence, and legitimacy Topic editors: Youngmi Kim, Matteo Fumagalli, JIYONG ZHENG Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85862/governance-innovation-and-democratic-challenges-in-the-asia-pacific