Transnational Flows of Contemporary Asia: Trends and Futures

Abstract

Asia is a major hub of impressive flows in many ways. Half of the twelve biggest rivers in the world flow through this region and provide resources and infrastructures that affect more than 50 percent of the world’s population. As the home to some of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world, this region witnesses and houses not only massive flows of economies and trading activities but also vivid flows of information, industries, and innovation. Moreover, Asia is either the home or the transit center for colossal streams of migration (both in terms of internal and transnational migration) and tourism. According to the International Organization for Migration, around 40 percent of the world’s international migrants originate from Asia and it is also the region with the fastest growing numbers of emigrants and immigrants (Mcauliffe and Triandafyllidou 2021). As a result, global cross-border flows have been shifting toward this region in several dimensions including trade, capital, people, knowledge, transport, culture, resources, and the environment (Tonby et al. 2019), and what is happening in Asia and the future of this area cannot be comprehended without contemplating these flows. Globalization and the expansion of international/internal migration have opened new “spaces of flows” (Castles and Miller 2003) where subjects, objects, commodities, capital, discourses, and ideas move and circulate. Taking this context into consideration, this special issue attempts to trace, investigate, and make sense of the transnational flows that have been happening within and beyond Asia. Subsequently, it seeks to provide a closer look into the different transnational flows that are shaping Asia’s dynamic characteristics, realities, and possible future.