Proceedings for the Asan Plenum 2012

Asan Plenum 2012: “Leadership”
From the uprisings across the Arab world to the seismic tremors in the European Union, and from the ravaged economy of the United States to the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the world is beset with crises, many of which resonate far beyond national borders. Such crises can unmake—or forge—political leaders.

2012 marks a particularly significant year for political leadership, with an unusually large number of elections and other political transitions taking place around the world.
The Asan Plenum 2012 convened policymakers, analysts, scholars and members of the media in Seoul for three days of intensive discussion about the role of leadership in responding to a wide range of political and economic crises around the globe. How are leaders responding to crises? Where have they been effective or ineffective and why? And how should new leaders prepare to face the challenges confrontingthem as they take office?

This year’s Asan Plenum featured 23 regional panels and four additional panels covering a range of cross-regional issues. Four plenary sessions brought the heads of some of the world’s leading think tanks together with renowned public intellectuals and journalists to discuss the crises and broad trends defining today’s global political landscape.