Dr. Kaewkamol “Karen” Pitakdumrongkit is Head and Assistant Professor at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), U.S.A.

Her research interests include international economic negotiation, Indo-Pacific economic governance and integration, regional-global economic governance dynamics, ASEAN Economic Community, and ASEAN’s external relations (ASEAN-Plus frameworks). She has published in various outlets such as The Singapore Economic Review, The International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, The Pacific Review, Australian Outlook, Review of International Political Economy, The Diplomat, and East Asia Forum. Her media interviews include Bangkok Post, Bloomberg, Business Times, Channel News Asia, CNBC Asia-Pacific, New Straits Times, The Strait Times, South China Morning Post, and Xinhua.

Besides publications and media engagement, Dr. Karen organized several capacity-building programmes such as the Annual RSIS-World Trade Organization (WTO) Parliamentarian Workshops in Singapore, and In-Country Workshops on Technical Trade Issues which are tailored to the specific needs of the trade officials in Asian countries. She was also part of the team involved in composing the elements of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025. In addition, Dr. Karen teaches modules at the RSIS MSc International Political Economy programme, and occasionally provides briefings to international diplomats and military students at Singapore’s Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College.

• International Negotiations
• International Economic Governance (e.g. WTO, IMF, AIIB, CPTPP, RCEP)
• Regional-Global Economic Governance Dynamics
• Free and Open Indo-Pacific
• Economic Development
• ASEAN+3 Financial Cooperation
• ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN’s External Economic Relations
• Mekong subregion

Referee for the following journals:  Global Studies Quarterly, Journal of Southeast Asian Economies, Journal of Asian and African Studies, International Journal of East Asian Studies, International Relations of Asia-Pacific, International Theory, Pacific Affairs, Pacific Review, and Singapore Economic Review.

Working Papers

• WP280 | Assessing the Progress of AEC Projects: A New Approach

  05 September, 2014

Policy Reports

• Co-chairing the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus: The Case of the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM)

  09 March, 2020

• “A Competitive Development Bazaar?”: ASEAN Dialogue Partners’ Policies and Their Implications for the Mekong Subregion

  14 March, 2019

• Addressing Digital Protectionism in ASEAN: Towards Better Regional Governance in the Digital Age

  21 March, 2018

• Participatory Policymaking: The Crafting of Thailand’s Medical Hub Policy

  24 March, 2017

• Managing ASEAN's External Relations via the Country Coordinator: Lessons Learned from Thailand

  22 February, 2016

• Governance of East Asian Regional Economic Architectures

  01 November, 2013

Commentaries

• Digitalization, Disruption, and Divisions: Is Multilateral Cooperation Ready for the Next Wave of Globalization?

  20 January, 2023

• Timor-Leste’s Road to ASEAN Membership Will be Challenging: An Economic Integration Perspective

  18 November, 2022

• The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework: Can the US Pull It Off?

  01 June, 2022

• RCEP: What to Expect in 2022

  28 January, 2022

• Thailand as 2022 APEC Chair: What to Expect

  19 November, 2021

• WTO in Limbo: Urgent Need for New Director-General

  26 November, 2020

• Global Health Security: COVID-19 and Its Impacts - Financing Thai SMEs in the Pandemic Era

  21 October, 2020

• Global Health Security: COVID-19 and Its Impacts - Managing Economic Fallout: ASEAN+3’s Incomplete Effort

  06 August, 2020

• Global Health Security: COVID-19 and Its Impacts - Regional Finance Cooperation: Can It Weather the Storm?

  26 May, 2020

• Global Health Security - COVID-19’s Economic Fallout: The Logic of Pump Priming

  03 March, 2020

• The Post-Brexit World: Closer UK-ASEAN Economic Ties?

  11 November, 2019

• RCEP: The Deal That Cannot Fail

  07 November, 2019

• 34th ASEAN Summit and Thailand: Headway or Uncertainty?

  02 July, 2019

• RSIS-WTO Parliamentarian Workshop - Trade and Sustainable Development: Achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda

  10 June, 2019

• Economic Headwinds in 2019: Navigating Priorities for ASEAN

  07 January, 2019

• RCEP: Another Missed Deadline

  14 November, 2018

• Sustainable Development: Can ASEAN Lead the Process?

  15 October, 2018

• CO18132 | Indo-Pacific: US Role in Infrastructure

  06 August, 2018

• CO18097 | Inching For A Trade War: Worst is Yet to Come

  14 June, 2018

• CO18066 | East Asian Financial Safety Net: The Problem of Leadership

  09 April, 2018

• CO18030 | China’s Maritime Silk Road: Challenging Test for ASEAN

  23 February, 2018

• CO17211 | Trump in Southeast Asia: Opportunity to Bolster US-ASEAN Economic Ties?

  08 November, 2017

• CO16283 | Thailand’s Rice Conundrum: Time for Economic Restructuring

  17 November, 2016

• CO16278 | The Rise of Trump and Its Global Implications - Trump’s Victory: Future of International Monetary and Financial System

  10 November, 2016

• CO16160 | Brexit and Its Aftermath - The Post-Brexit World: How Should East Asian Finance Cope?

  28 June, 2016

• CO16079 | After AIIB, What’s Next?

  08 April, 2016

• CO15213 | TPP: A win for ASEAN, A loss for WTO?

  12 October, 2015

• CO15181 | Thailand’s Troubled Economy: New Cabinet, New Hope?

  25 August, 2015

• CO15058 | ASEAN Economic Community: Slow Progress on Labour Issues

  18 March, 2015

• CO14196 | Governing ASEAN e-Commerce: Getting Cloudier

  08 October, 2014

• CO14093 | ASEAN SMEs: Same-Day Delivery Services for More Growth?

  19 May, 2014

• CO13190 | Beijing’s ASEAN Embrace: Making Hay While the Sun Shines

  09 October, 2013

• CO13086 | "Going Niche" for ASEAN Economic Community

  06 May, 2013

• CO13078 | ASEAN Unity: From Word to Deed

  26 April, 2013

• CO13076 | The Myanmar Government and Ethnic Minorities: An Unhappy Marriage

  25 April, 2013

Commemorative / Event Reports

• Conference Report on "Governance of East Asian Regional Economic Architectures"

  10 September, 2013

Authored Books

• The Impact of the Trump Administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy on Regional Economic Governance. Honolulu: East-West Center, 2019
• Negotiating Financial Agreement in East Asia: Surviving the Turbulence. : Routledge, 2015

Policy Reports

• Responding to Trade Coercion: A Growing Threat to the Global Trading System, Policy Options Paper, Asia Society Policy Institute and Perth USAsia Centre, 25 November 2021
• Towards Shared Economic Recovery: ASEAN’s Role in Driving Post-COVID Regional Integration
• RCEP: Unlocking Barriers to Regional Economic Integration

Journal Articles

• “Managing Economic Statecraft via Multilateral Agreements: The Roles of ASEAN Member States in Shaping Regional Comprehensive Partnership” in The Pacific Review , 2023
• “What Causes Changes in International Governance Details?: An Economic Security Perspective” in Review of International Political Economy, 29:2, 2022, pp. 399-424
• “Neo-Liberalism, the Rise of the Unelected and Policymaking in Thailand: The Case of the Medical Tourism Industry” (with Guanie Lim) in Journal of Contemporary Asia, 2020
• “Governing Medical Tourism: The Roles of Singaporean Government” in Thailand and the World Economy, 38, 1, 2020, 29-53
• “Economics and Trade Impact of the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative” in Panorama, Trade and Economic Connectivity in the Age of Economic Uncertainty, No. 1, 2019, pp. 47-58
• “The U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy and Its Implications for U.S.-ASEAN Economic Governance Architecture” in Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies, Vol. 30, 2019, pp. 258-275
• “Co-chairing Asia-Pacific Defence Diplomacy: The Case ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus” (with Nantasit Klaisringoen) in Australian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 73, No. 1, 2019. pp. 64-81
• Kaewkamol Karen Pitakdumrongkit (2017). "Building Exchange-Rate Governance Within the ASEAN+3 Process." Global Asia, Vol. 12, No. 4, Winter 2017, pp. 98-102.
• Pitakdumrongkit (2017). “Beyond the Secretariat: Addressing Governance Issues in ASEAN Economic Community” (2017), The Singapore Economic Review, 62(3): 741–759
• “Shaping the Future of East Asian Economic Architectures: Views of ASEAN” in Joint U.S.-Korea Academic Studies,, 27, 2016, 245-264
• Pitakdumrongkit, Kaewkamol. “Coordinating the South China Sea Issue: Thailand’s Roles in the Code of Conduct Development”. International Relations of the Asia Pacific (2015). doi:10.1093/irap/lcv006
• Pitakdumrongkit, Kaewkamol. “Co-Chairing International Negotiations: The Case of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization.” The Pacific Review 28 No 4 (2015): 577-605. doi: 10.1080/09512748.2015.1012540

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Regional economic integration: the ASEAN Economic Community and beyond” in Jörn Dosch and Frederick Kliem, The Elgar Companion to ASEAN. Singapore: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023, pp. 62–75
• “Economic Security” (with Jean-Christophe Defraigne) in Tan See Seng, Thomas Christiansen, and Emil Kirchner (Eds.), The European Union’s Security Relations with Asian Partners. : Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, pp. 231-254
• “The Politics of East Asian Financial Agreement: The Case of the CMIM” in Tomoo Kikuchi and Masaya Sakuragawa (Eds.), Financial Cooperation in East Asia. Singapore: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2019, pp. 65-71

Working Papers

• Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit. “Coordinating ASEAN’s External Relations: Evidence from Thailand.' Paper presented at the 12th International Conference on Thai Studies, University of Sydney, Australia, April 21-22, 2014.

Op-Eds

• “Managing economic statecraft via multilateral agreements: the roles of ASEAN member states in shaping Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership”, The Pacific Review, 10 April 2023
• “APEC Summit: Thailand’s Middle Power Diplomacy”, Perth USAsia Centre, 28 February 2023
• “India’s RCEP Exit and How to Bring It Back”, The China-India Brief, No. 209, Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 23 August 2022
• “Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC): Updates and Ways Forward”, Points of View, 15 August 2022
• “The ASEAN-US Special Summit and the Future of Thailand-US Economic Relations”, Points of View, 18 May 2022
• “Southeast Asia’s Economic Future After COVID-19”, Think Global Health, 28 April 2022
• “Recapping ASEAN’s Year of Pandemic Recovery and Political Challenges”, East Asia Forum, 14 February 2022
• “The Prospects of Thailand-US Economic Cooperation”, The Asia-Pacific Bulletin, 23 November 2021
• “Thailand’s Reopening Strategy: Rationales and Prospects”, Point of View, 14 October 2021
• “The Political Economy of Southeast Asia: Politics and Uneven Development under Hyperglobalisation, edited by Toby Carroll, Shahar Hameiri and Lee Jones. (Book Review)”, Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 43/2, 12 August 2021
• “RCEP and its Implications for the Lower Mekong Subregion”, The Hinrich Foundation, 3 August 2021
• “The G7’s Jumpstart for Multilateral Cooperation”, East Asia Forum, 18 June 2021
• “Expert Voices on the APEC 2021 Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting”, The National Bureau of Asian Research, 20 May 2021
• “Goodbye Boracay, hello Tagaytay – less well-known places could be the future for domestic travel”, CNA, 15 May 2021
• “ASEAN’s Perspective on Economic Recovery”, Brookings Institution Southeast Asia Insights, 17 December 2020
• “COVID-19 and ASEAN Cooperation: The State of Play and Ways Forward”, AsiaGlobal Online, 7 October 2020
• ““ASEAN’s RCEP and sustainability challenges and achievements.” ”, East Asia Forum, 24 January 2020
• “Can Seoul’s Efforts Flow More Investments from Han to Mekong River?” (with Shawn Ho), The Straits Times, 29 November 2019
• “Navigating Economic Integration amidst US-China Strategic Competition and Rising Uncertainties”, Australian Outlook, 1 October 2019
• “Washington’s Fragile Economic Plans for the Indo-Pacific”, East Asia Forum, 3 July 2019
• “Managing volatility with a smile: how tumultuous Thailand puts a stable face on ASEAN”, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 7 May 2019
• “Can ASEAN Play a Greater Role in the Mekong Subregion?” (with Shawn Ho), The Diplomat, 30 January 2019
• “Pence in Southeast Asia: Ways forward for U.S.-ASEAN cooperation on infrastructure development”, Brookings, 27 November 2018
• “Thailand’s 2019 election: what’s in it for regional economic integration?”, Asia Dialogue, 12 November 2018
• Pitakdumrongkit, K. (2018). “Thailand’s Political Dynamics and the Consequences for Regional Economic Integration.” Asia-Pacific Bulletin, No. 430, East-West Center, 11 July 2018.
• No knight in shining armour for CMIM- East Asia Forum
• “The 32nd ASEAN Summit’s Economic Priorities And Implications For US-ASEAN Economic Relations – Asia Pacific Bulletin: East-West Center”, Asia Pacific Bulletin, 2 May 2018
• Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit. "ASEAN at 50: Making Headway in the Economic Community." IAPS Dialogue, University of Nottingham, September 27, 2017.
• Pitakdumrongkit, K. (2017) Enriching the ASEAN Economic Community. Australian Outlook
• Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit. “ASEAN SMEs: Same-Day Delivery Services for More Growth?.” Eurasia Review, May 20, 2014.
• Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit and Benjamin Ho. “Beijing’s ASEAN Embrace: Making Hay While the Sun Shines.” Eurasia Review, October 10, 2013.
• Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit. "The Myanmar Government and Ethnic Minorities: An Unhappy Marriage." The Jakarta Post on May 5, 2013.

• Moderator, “Corporate subsidies by China, the EU, and the US – Time for reforms?” organised by Hinrich Foundation, 25 November 2021.
• Chair, RSIS Webinar Series on Economic Multilateralism for Post-COVID-19 Recovery on “Economic Resilience and Security in Southeast Asia and ASEAN”, organized by the Centre for Multilateralism Studies, RSIS, 23 November 2021.
• Speaker, CEO Interview on “ASEAN’s role in driving post-COVID regional economic integration” by the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia, 23 August 2021.
• Speaker, Webinar on “The Future of ASEAN Economy Post COVID-19” by the International Studies Center, Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand, 11 August 2021.
• Presenter, The 62^nd International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention by ISA, 6-9 April 2021.
• Speaker, Japan Symposium on “Value Chains and Regional Economic Integration” by Perth USAsia Centre, Australia, 24 March 2021.
• Speaker, Brookings Webinar Series on “Navigating COVID-19 in Southeast Asia” by Brookings Institution, U.S.A., 10 December 2020.
• Speaker, Webinar on “ASEAN Insights 2020” by the American Chamber of Commerce, 12 August 2020.
• Speaker, International Workshop on “Transdisciplinary Approaches to Good Governance” by Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University, Japan, 7-8 February 2020.
• Panellist, RSIS-Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) Dialogue on “Maintaining Strategic Autonomy in Times of Tectonic Shifts in Global Affairs” by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 30 August 2019.
• Panellist, RSIS-Pangoal Workshop on “Sino-US Relations in the New Era” by Pangoal Institution, China, 20 August 2019.
• Panellist, ASEAN Roundtable Series on “Future of ASEAN Trade in the New World Trade Order” by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 2 April 2019.
• Presenter, The 60^th International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention by ISA, 27-30 March 2019.
• Speaker, The International and Regional Security Developments 2018 on Implications for Myanmar by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), 27 November 2018.
• Speaker, The 7^th ERIA Editors’ Roundtable on “ASEAN and Indo-Pacific: Challenges Ahea” by Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Singapore, 6-7 October 2018.
• Speaker, The ASEAN Summit on “The Future for ASEAN Economy – Greening for Sustainable Growth” by RHT Academy, Singapore, 24 October 2018.
• Speaker, The Asia Pacific Foreign Policy and Defense Seminar by The East-West Center, U.S.A., 17 May 2018.
• Speaker, The 2^nd CAG-KGRI Workshop on “The Asian Century and China-Japan Cooperation” by S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, 5-6 March 2018.
• Speaker, The 5^th RSIS-CNA Workshop on “East Asia Maritime Issues” by S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, 7-8 March 2018.
• Presenter, The Conference on “[email protected] – Southeast Asia at Risk: What Should be Done?” by the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), U.S.A., 25-27 October 2017.
• Presenter, The ISA Asia-Pacific Conference by Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, 15-18 June 2017.
• Presenter, The Conference on “The United States and the Indo-Asia-Pacific” by Brookings Institution, U.S.A., 22-23 March 2017.
• Presenter, The Seminar on “Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and East Asian Economic Integration” by Chiba University, Japan, 17 March 2017.
• Presenter, The “U.S.-ASEAN Relations: Charting the Next 40 Years” Conference by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), U.S.A., 1 March 2017.
• Presenter, The RSIS-China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (RSIS-CICIR) Roundtable by S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, 9 May 2016.
• Presenter, International Conference on East Asian Economic Governance by The Korea Economic Institute of America, U.S.A., 6 April 2016.
• Presenter, The Asia Pacific Conference on Security & International Relations by International Academic Forum (IAFOR), 15-17 October 2015.
• Speaker, The ADB-ADBI-RSIS-MFA Joint Training Programmed on “Economic Corridor Development for Competitive and Inclusive Asia” by S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, 26-28 August 2015.
• Presenter, The 12^th International Conference on Thai Studies by University of Sydney, Australia, 22-24 April 2014.

• IP6001 Economics for International Political Economy
• IP6026 Introduction to the Political Economy of Southeast Asia