Security system in the Asia-Pacific Region

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Asia and the Pacific Region became the center of world politics in the 21st century with the biggest number of emerging superpowers like China and India, and the fastest political and economic regional fora and organisations - ASEAN Community, SCO, RCEP. At the same time security systemin the region is extremely fragmented and the rivalry between regional and extra-regional powers is growing. The longest wars in Afghanistan, Korean Peninsula or between Russia and Japan have not ended yet. The conflict in the South China Sea has the biggest number of actors, involving the USA and the EU. The main aim of the course would be to explain the roots of existing situation and its key determinants.

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The course focuses on: The Asia-Pacific region – a description; classification and systematization of security threats in the region; the Division of Korea; the Division of China (problem of Taiwan); the security sub-system in South Asia; regional Integration –political and economic dimensions; US Regional Strategy; the System of US bilateral alliances in the Asia-Pacific region; the Regional Strategy of China; the role of India in the Asia-Pacific region; regional Strategies of Russia and Japan; the Importance of the Asia-Pacific Region in International Relations at the turn of the 21st Century.

1. Introduction and history of regional systems in Asia

Regions as geographic and social constructs; Hettne's qualities of regionness; concepts of Asia (Asia-Pacific, ASEAN+5, Indo-Pacific); IR theories of regional systems; regional security complex theory (Buzan & Waever); Mandala and Tianxia; colonialism, Cold War hub-and-spokes, post-Cold War institutions

2. Hierarchy and stability in the region

Kang's hierarchical model; heterarchy; direct and soft balancing, hedging, bandwagoning, institutional balancing; hybrid US-China-institutional order

3. Competing world views of the regional system in East Asia

Kang (hierarchy), Acharya (multiplex, plural orders), Ikenberry (liberal international order under strain)

4. Economic interdependence and trade

Complex interdependence (Keohane & Nye); institutional balancing (Kai He); Factory Asia and intra-Asian trade; FDI; regional trade agreements, AFTA, RCEP, CPTPP; development gaps, supply-chain risk, decoupling

5. Multilateral institutions in the region

Institutional explosion after 1990; spaghetti bowl effect; ASEAN, ARF, EAS, APT, SCO, SAARC; norm localisation and diffusion; omni-enmeshment; talk-shop critique

6. US system of alliances and its impact

From hub-and-spoke to spiderweb; Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Taiwan; Quad, AUKUS, trilaterals; alliances and US-China competition

7. Role of China in the regional system

Tributary system and Tianxia; zhoubian diplomacy; tributary logic today; BRI as economic statecraft; responses from Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Mongolia; South and East China Seas

8. ASEAN and the ASEAN-based system

Origins (1967), expansion to ASEAN-10, ASEAN Way, Charter and Community; ASEAN-led forums; broker and buffer role; limits and Indo-Pacific pressures

9. Rivalries in the region

Typologies of rivalry; web of rivalries; US-China, China-India, China-Japan, Korean Peninsula, India-Pakistan, China-Taiwan, South China Sea claimants; Russia's role

10. Strategic alliances and alignments

Alliance vs. alignment (Walt, Wilkins); alliance security dilemma (Snyder); strategic partnerships (Thayer); Quad; minilateral and trilateral alignments

11. Conflicts and security issues as destabilizing factors in the regional system

Boundary disputes (Fravel); great power competition; regime instability (Myanmar, Central Asia); non-traditional threats; economic fragmentation; disinformation; nuclear proliferation

1. Introduction and history of regional systems

◦ Katzenstein, P. (2005). A World of Regions: Asia and Europe in the American Imperium.

◦ Acharya, A. “International Relations Theory and the Rise of Asia”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

◦ Buzan, B. & Wæver, O. (2003). Regions and Powers, ch. 5–6.

2. Hierarchy and stability

◦ Kang, D. “Hierarchy and Stability in Asian International Relations”, in International Relations Theory and the Asia-Pacific.

◦ Ikenberry, G. J. (2004). American hegemony and East Asian order. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 58(3), 353–367.

◦ Liu, F. & Liu, R. (2019). China, the United States, and order transition in East Asia: An economy-security nexus approach. The Pacific Review, 32(6).

3. Competing visions of order

◦ Kang, D. (2003). Getting Asia Wrong: The Need for New Analytical Frameworks. International Security, 27(4), 57–85.

◦ Acharya, A. (2003/04). Will Asia’s Past Be Its Future? International Security, 28(3), 149–164.

◦ Ikenberry, G. J. (2018). The end of liberal international order? International Affairs, 94(1).

4. Economic interdependence and trade

◦ He, K. (2008). Institutional Balancing and International Relations Theory. European Journal of International Relations, 14(3), 489–518.

◦ Wróbel, A. “Trade Liberalization in the Indo-Pacific”, in Handbook of Indo-Pacific Studies.

◦ Yoshimatsu, H. “Economic-Security Linkages in Asia”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

5. Multilateral institutions

◦ Ba, A. D. “Asia’s Regional Security Institutions”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

◦ Stubbs, R. & Mustapha, J. “Ideas and Institutionalization in Asia”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

◦ He, K. (2019). Constructing dynamic security governance: institutional peace through multilateralism in the Asia Pacific. Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies, 8(2).

6. The US alliance system

◦ Hemmings, J. (2019). The Evolution of the U.S. Alliance System in the Indo-Pacific Since the Cold War’s End. APCSS.

◦ Cha, V. D. (2016). US-Led Alliances and the Contemporary International Security Disorder. Korean Journal of Defense Analysis.

◦ Cha, V. D. “American Alliances and Asia’s Regional Architecture”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

7. China in the regional system

◦ Shambaugh, D. (2013). China Goes Global: The Partial Power.

◦ Jones, C. & Ogden, C. “Chinese Conceptions of the Indo-Pacific”, in Handbook of Indo-Pacific Studies.

8. ASEAN and ASEAN centrality

◦ Acharya, A. (1997). Ideas, identity, and institution-building: From the ‘ASEAN way’ to the ‘Asia-Pacific way’? The Pacific Review, 10(3).

◦ Acharya, A. (2017). The Myth of ASEAN Centrality? Contemporary Southeast Asia, 39(2), 273–279.

◦ Hoang Thi Ha (2024). Re-ordering the World: China’s Global South Focus versus the Ally-Centric Approach of the US. ISEAS Perspective 2024/90.

9. Rivalries in Asia

◦ Chadha, A. “Strategic Rivalries in the Indo-Pacific”, in Handbook of Indo-Pacific Studies.

◦ Camroux, D. & Gippner, O. (2023). Great Power Rivalry and Southeast Asian Agency. The Pacific Review.

10. Strategic alliances and alignments

◦ Kratiuk, B. “Strategic Alliances and Alignments in the Indo-Pacific”, in Handbook of Indo-Pacific Studies.

◦ Green, M. J. “Strategic Asian Triangles”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

11. Current issues: destabilising factors

◦ Goh, E. “Southeast Asia’s Evolving Security Relations and Strategies”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

◦ Fravel, M. T. “Territorial and Maritime Boundary Disputes in Asia”, in Oxford Handbook of International Relations in Asia.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Define regions and regional systems and compare competing concepts of Asia (Asia-Pacific, East Asia, Indo-Pacific).

2. Apply realist, liberal, constructivist, non-Western and RSCT approaches to Asian regional order.

3. Explain how historical orders (Mandala, Tianxia, the tributary system) shape contemporary behaviour.

4. Distinguish balancing, hedging and bandwagoning, and identify them in state practice.

5. Evaluate the role of economic interdependence, trade agreements and multilateral institutions in regional stability.

6. Analyse the US alliance system, China's regional strategy and ASEAN centrality as competing organising principles.

7. Assess major rivalries and destabilising factors, and formulate policy positions in simulated negotiations.

- final exam - open ended questions based on readings and lectures - 60points

- active class participation - 40 points (attendance only counts for 1 point per class)

Grades:

100-90 - 5

89-80 - 4+

79-70 - 4

69-60 - 3+

59-51 - 3