Shifting Power In Asia Pacific

This book investigates whether a power shift has taken place in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of the Cold War. By systematically examining the development of power dynamics in Asia-Pacific, it challenges the notion that a wealthier and militarily more powerful China is automatically turning the regional tides in its favour. With a special emphasis on Sino-US competition, the book explores the alleged linkage between the regional distribution of relevant material and immaterial capabilities, national power and the much-cited regional power shift. The book presents a novel concept for measuring power in international relations by outlining a composite index on aggregated power (CIAP) that includes 55 variables for 44 regional countries and covers a period of twenty years. Moreover, it develops a middle power theory that outlines the significance of middle powers in times of major power shifts. By addressing political, military and economic cooperation via a structured-focused comparison and by applying a comparative-historical analysis, the book analyses in depth the bilateral relations of six regional middle powers to Washington and Beijing.

The dynamics of international relations in Asia are undergoing broad and fundamental changes that are reverberating around the world. Primary among the catalysts of change in the region is the rise of China as the engine of regional economic growth, as a major military power, as a significant voice in regional diplomacy, and as a proactive power in multilateral institutions. With in-depth assessments by seventeen of the world’s leading experts on China’s foreign relations, this groundbreaking volume offers the most timely, up-to-date, and comprehensive analysis of China’s emerging influence on international relations in Asia. The contributors explore the various dimensions of China’s rise, its influence on the region, the consequences for the United States, and alternative models of the evolving Asian order. What emerges is a clear picture of China increasingly at the center of the regional web; while North Korean and Taiwan could erupt in conflict, the predominant trend in Asia is the creation of an extensive web of mutual interdependence among states and non-state actors. Providing the best overview we currently have of the changing political balance on the Asian continent, this accessible volume will be essential reading for anyone concerned with contemporary Asian affairs.

Proceedings from the conference "China and Asia: Towards a New Regional Order," convened in December 2003 at The George Washington University"--Acknowledgments.

Papers presented at the 10th Asian Security Conference, held at New Delhi on 4th February 2008.

Current preoccupations with the 'rise of Asia' attest to the nascent contestation of the very idea of what the pattern of international politics should look like and how it should be practiced. In this respect, the growing reference to a 'shift to the East' in global politics has become a popular shorthand for the nascent 'power transition' in world affairs. This volume offers a detailed conceptual and empirical investigation of the dynamics of power transition in Asia and details the accommodation strategies and coping mechanisms of different small and middle powers in Asia and, importantly, China's responses to these approaches.

As the twenty-first century progresses, the Indo-Pacific theater is experiencing an unprecedented transformation involving economic development, military build-ups, political reforms, social changes, and technological advancements. The region now reflects a multitude of geopolitical challenges, factors, and complicated realities. Although America is still recognized as the most powerful force in the Indo-Pacific region, the challenge to America’s hegemonic role is quite real and unrelenting. The ongoing global financial crisis has left a changed world with unanswered questions in its wake. Is America’s post-WWII dominance of the Indo-Pacific region finally coming to an end? Can the United States and China work together to manage the region’s hegemonic responsibilities? In The Geopolitical Power Shift in the Indo-Pacific Region, Randall Doyle provides analysis and insights on the transformational changes and the epochal history unfolding in this part of the world and America’s increasingly precarious political and economic position.

Asia-Pacific in the New World Order critically explores the notion that a distinctive regional power bloc is developing linking countries bordering the Pacific, with East Asia at its core. This student-friendly volume sheds light on the complex interplay between global, regional and national forces which have transformed the Asia-Pacific area into one of the most vibrant and economically successful regions in the world. Historical narratives alongside geopolitical and geoeconomic perspectives are deployed to examine the shifting pattern of power relations and security structures across the region, set within a wider world context. Key issues addressed include: * what are the primary security problems of the region and how are they being resolved? * does the dynamic growth of the region, and particularly the rise of China, pose a challenge to existing structures of world order? The text has a strong interdisciplinary flavour drawing on analytical approaches from the international relations, political economy and political geography literature. Authors have been drawn from the Asia-Pacific region and the UK and all are established scholars in their specialist fields.