This book examines the future of the Asia Pacific’s political economy and its security challenges for the next quarter century.Featuring pertinent discussions on topics such as the ongoing Sino-American power transition and hedging behavior by various states in this vital region, it explains that while some important legacies will endure (such as China’s centrality in the region and continuing U.S. military dominance), other ongoing changes (such as the obsolescence of the Yoshida ...

It is widely believed that shifts in the balance of power between an established hegemon and a rising upstart can lead to war. To what extent does this proposition hold true for Sino-American relations today?Steve Chan examines a range of international relations theories and popular narratives that suggest an elevated risk of confrontation between the two powers. Probing the recent deterioration in Sino-American relations, he considers whether several factors that can raise or lowe...

Historical analogies are often utilized to frame and formulate foreign policies, illuminate issues of war and peace, and mobilize support for particular political programs. The historical record, however, can be distorted in a variety of ways, leading to overly simplistic, misleading conclusions that impair sound policy and scholarship. This danger is most imminent and palpable when there exists premature academic consensus, pressure to conform to political orthodoxy, intellectual complace...

How do interstate conflicts start, spread and escalate? Not all local or regional rivalries develop into devastating multistate wars, but those that do cause upheaval across the world. It is important, therefore, to study causal chains and pathways that can trigger a conflict of international proportions. Fuses, Chains, and Backlashes analyzes the factors and processes that have historically ignited wars among the great powers and applies the resulting insights to examine the pote...

The author presents contrarian arguments contesting mainstream US views on the danger of a Sino-American war over Taiwan's status. They contend that these countries' dispute about Taiwan is motivated by opposing strategic interests and security concerns rather than just, or even mainly, clashing values such as national reunification, sovereignty, democracy, and self-determination. The danger of a Sino-American confrontation has become more elevated recently due to a confluence of several c...

In many areas of the natural and physical world, long periods of seeming stasis or small incremental changes are interrupted by large, sudden leaps. This book illustrates how similar processes characterize international relations. This book points to such occurrences, for example the collapse of the USSR, the unravelling of Napoleon's wartime alliance, and the possible future status of the US dollar; and it illustrates in greater detail the admission of China to the United Nations, the his...

This book analyzes the influence of geography— defined broadly to refer to physical size, location, terrain, accessibility, insularity, climate, regions, neighborhoods, natural endowment, strategic pathways, maritime and continental orientations and even imagined communities— on international relations.Drawing on evidence and insights from cross- national research the book highlights geography’s enduring importance in and relevance to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, tension across...

A country's culture influences its economic growth, which in turn influences its international position. Confucian heritage appears to be the common factor explaining the rapid economic growth of East Asian countries, including China's meteoric rise in recent years. Ironically, Confucianism has been criticized not too long ago for hindering progress in these countries. At the same time, Protestant countries, once the vanguards of economic development, have seen weak growth., These develope...

It is widely believed that shifts in the balance of power between an established hegemon and a rising upstart can lead to war. To what extent does this proposition hold true for Sino-American relations today?Steve Chan examines a range of international relations theories and popular narratives that suggest an elevated risk of confrontation between the two powers. Probing the recent deterioration in Sino-American relations, he considers whether several factors that can raise or lowe...

How can we know a country, such as the United States or China, is revisionist, that is, whether it intends to upset the international order? What motivates states to act the way they do? Contesting Revisionism focuses on a particular kind of motivation inclining a state to challenge the existing norms, rules, and institutions of international order: revisionism. The authors offer a critique of the existing discourse on revisionism and investigate the origin and ev...

East Asian Dynamism continues to offer a succinct account of Pacific regional political economy from the dawn of the modern world system to projections of alternative futures. Steve Chan is a master at demystifying the geography, history, and culture of the region while bringing to life the current policy choices and dilemmas facing its people

The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) ostensibly arose because of the fear that a rising Athens would threaten Sparta’s power in the Mediterranean. The idea of Thucydides’ Trap warns that all rising powers threaten established powers. As China increases its power relative to the United States, the theory argues, the two nations are inevitably set on a collision course toward war. How enlightening is an analogy based on the ancient Greek world of 2,500 years ago for understanding contemporary...