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Who We Are

The Asia Pacific Dispute Resolution Project, which was previously based in the Institute of Asian Research from April 2009 – March 2012, is currently based at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. The Project involves a network of colleagues from UBC and from partner institutions in North America and Asia. This Project supports research, analysis and policy proposals on cross-cultural dispute resolution in the areas of trade and human rights, with particular attention to Canada, China, India, Indonesia and Japan.

Globalization in its most recent forms has brought on more frequent and intimate interactions among states and societies of the Asia-Pacific region. These increase the potential for disputes. Preventing where possible and managing where necessary these kinds of disputes requires approaches to dispute resolution that accommodate the needs and expectations of different cultures. The objective of the APDR Project is to propose innovative approaches to dispute resolution that Canadian and international communities of scholars and policy-makers may apply to pursue new opportunities for inter-cultural communication and reconciliation.

During Phase I, APDR Project collaborators undertook empirical data gathering activities, as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis to generate and test hypothesis about “selective adaptation” and related concepts that inform the exchange of practices and norms tied to trade and human rights. The results of this research have been published in a variety of books and papers (for details of Project-related publications click here).

This site is a forum for scholarly exchange, to act as a communications hub for the project’s research collaborators and as a reference resource for those interested in the various issues covered – including cross-cultural studies, law and society, as well as emerging developments in the dialogue about trade, human rights and civil society in, but not limited to, Canada, China, India, Indonesia and Japan.

We hope you will find this site useful, and that you will participate in the project through the use of our research blogs or feel free to contact us directly at our project office by writing to Rozalia Mate, Project Manager at mate@allard.ubc.ca.

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Asia Pacific Dispute Resolution

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