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This book investigates public claims for the protection of weak groups and interests in Japan and China from the nineteenth century to the present day. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it engages with ongoing global debates relevant to both Western and non-Western societies whilst also providing an historically informed analysis of contemporary issues. Using case studies on disaster victims, employee well-being, cultural heritage and animal welfare, this book analytically distinguishes between framing, mobilisation and institutionalisation processes. It examines these processes at the intersections of international and domestic spheres and, in doing so, demonstrates how drives for protection are formulated, contested and played out in practice. Ultimately however, this book argues that claims for protection do not necessarily translate into effective measures, but may in fact entail ambiguous or negative outcomes for the protected ‘weak’. Protecting the Weak in East Asia makes a significant contribution to the empirical and theoretical research into the transformation of East Asian societies. As such, it will appeal to students and scholars of Asian history, Asian culture and society and East Asian Studies more broadly.
During the past half century, U.S. policy in East Asia was guided by a simple dictum: avoid the domination of East Asia by any power other than the United States. Increasingly, however, this policy approach seems questionable in a globalizing world, a massively changed East Asia, and a much deeper U.S. economic involvement in the region. Even as East Asian leaders often tell Americans they want a continued U.S. presence for security purposes, they also fear an American effort to "contain" China that will put them between a rising regional power and the global superpower, creating dangerous tensions that ultimately would threaten the region's golden goose —China's powerful economic growth engine. Others, like some Japanese, would welcome a conclusion by the United States that a powerful China ultimately threatens American interests.The Post-American Century in East Asia addresses major policy problems of East Asia —from the management of our relations with China to the North Korean nuclear problem to the growth of East Asian regionalism. The book answers how, in light of East Asia's growing power and influence, the United States can retain influence commensurate with its interests. The transformation of the region requires us to ask whether some longstanding perspectives are still relevant, as well as what changes are needed in American policy.
Based on lectures delivered at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies.
In a changing security environment shaken by the United States' pivot to Asia, China's rise, growing economic interdependence, new institutional frameworks, and long-standing tensions, regional security dynamics within East Asia have changed profoundly. Non-Traditional Security in East Asia assesses how and why these and other developments have affected East Asian security regimes in the early 21st Century. This volume brings together experts in different areas of traditional and non-traditional security — ranging from arms and weapons proliferation to climate change and biosecurity — to analyze the recent evolution, current state and possible future of East Asian security dynamics which have been built on dynamics dating back to the Cold War. This volume's holistic exploration of East Asian security makes it a sophisticated introduction for students, researchers and policymakers who are interested in East Asian security and international relations.
Security issues have traditionally been defined in military terms, yet the post-Cold War security landscape contains numerous non-military challenges to security. In this 2001 analysis, Alan Dupont argues that an emerging new class of non-military threats has the potential to destabilize East Asia and reverse decades of hard-won economic and social development. He shows that these transnational shifts must be grasped and dealt with by governments and non-government organizations both regionally, and internationally, if conflict is to be avoided. Transnational threats stem from overpopulation, deforestation and pollution, global warming, unregulated population movements, transnational crime, virulent new strains of infectious diseases and other issues not previously associated with international security. Collectively they represent a new agenda and pose novel challenges for foreign and defence policy. This highly informative, compelling and authoritative book is essential reading for East Asia specialists and makes a significant contribution to international security debates.
Assesses the impact on the Asia-Pacific region of the detente in great power relations attendant upon the end of the Cold War. The book explores prospects for tension reduction in the region, reconciliation opportunites for ASEAN and Indochina, and the great power search for new roles in the area.
Although many of the states of East Asia have achieved startling success, not all have benefited from the region's development. Many of the most vulnerable sections of East Asian populations still face tremendous challenges in their daily lives, have yet to enjoy the rewards of the Asian Century, and may even be further imperiled as a result of the forces of development. Brendan Howe examines the measurements of success in East Asian development and governance from a human-centered perspective. He assesses obstacles to the protection and promotion of human security and development through detailed case studies of the most challenged states in the region, including Burma, Timor-Leste, Japan and North and South Korea. He looks at the roles that East Asian actors can play, and have been playing, in protecting and promoting human security at the theoretical and practical level.
As shown by China’s relationship to Japan, and Japan’s relationship to South Korea, even growing regional economic interdependencies are not enough to overcome bitter memories grounded in earlier wars, invasions, and periods of colonial domination. Although efforts to ease historical animosity have been made, few have proven to be successful in Northeast Asia. In previous research scholars anticipated an improvement in relations through thick economic interdependence or increased societal contact. In economic terms, however, Japan and China already trade heavily: Japan has emerged as China’s largest trading partner and China as second largest to Japan. Societal contact is already intense, as millions of Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese visit one another’s countries annually as students, tourists, and on business trips. But these developments have not alleviated international distrust and negative perception, or resolved disagreement on what constitutes “adequate reparation” regarding the countries’ painful history. Noticing clashes of strong nationalisms around the world in areas like Northeast Asia, numerous studies have suggested that more peaceful relations are likely only if countries submerge or paper over existing national identities by promoting universalism. Pride, Not Prejudice argues, to the contrary, that affirmation of national identities may be a more effective way to build international cooperation. If each national population reflects on the values of their national identity, trust and positive perception can increase between countries. This idea is consistent with the theoretical foundation that those who have a clear, secure, and content sense of self, in turn, can be more open, evenhanded, and less defensive toward others. In addition, this reduced defensiveness also enhances guilt admission by past “inflictors” of conflict and colonialism. Eunbin Chung borrows the social psychological theory of self-affirmation and applies it to an international context to argue that affirmation of a national identity, or reflecting on what it means to be part of one’s country, can increase trust, guilt recognition, and positive perception between countries.
Contemporary East Asian societies are still struggling with complex legacies of colonialism, war and domination. Years of Japanese imperial occupation followed by the Cold War have entrenched competing historical understandings of responsibility for past crimes in Korea, China, Japan and elsewhere in the region. In this context, even the impressive economic and cultural networks that have developed over the past sixty years have failed to secure peaceful coexistence and overcome lingering attitudes of distrust and misunderstanding in the region. This book examines the challenges of historical reconciliation in East Asia, and, in doing so, calls for a reimagining of how we understand both historical identity and responsibility. It suggests that by adopting a ‘forward-looking’ approach that eschews obsession with the past, in favour of a reflective and deliberative engagement with history, real progress can be made towards peaceful coexistence in East Asia. With chapters that focus on select experiences from East Asia, while simultaneously situating them within a wider comparative perspective, the contributors to this volume focus on the close relationship between reconciliation and ‘inherited responsibility’ and reveal the contested nature of both concepts. Finally, this volume suggests that historical reconciliation is essential for strengthening mutual trust between the states and people of East Asia, and suggests ways in which such divisive legacies of conflict can be overcome. Providing both an overview of the theoretical arguments surrounding reconciliation and inherited responsibility, alongside examples of these concepts from across East Asia, this book will be valuable to students and scholars interested in Asian politics, Asian history and international relations more broadly.
East Asia has been relatively free from large-scale conflict in the 1990s, but the absence of security organisations or even of a sense of community within the region has raised doubts about its future security. China and Japan are likely to bear much of the responsibility for maintaining stability, but both countries have been reluctant to adopt a leadership role. South-east Asian states have been willing to take the initiative outside of their sub-region, but they possess neither the resources nor the authority to lead the whole of East Asia. In the long term, the ability to organise the region depends on greater clarity in the identity of leading states in the region, and of the region as a whole. This paper analyses the way in which issues of identity have affected the actions of the key players, and assesses future challenges and possibilities in the search for regional security. It concludes that: Through the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), South-east Asian states have developed a sense of confidence and unity. However, ASEAN's need to safeguard its newly acquired identity means that it has not exported the 'ASEAN way' to the wider region of East Asia or the Asia-Pacific. The greater diversity that enlargement will bring and the effects of the crisis since 1997 are likely to make the Association's defensive instincts still more resistant to change. In the 1990s, Japan has sought to redefine its identity, both in terms of its past and of its post-war values such as pacifism and human rights. This process has compelled Japan to face Asia more squarely, and has increased the country's self-assurance. As a result, it may become more willing to take the initiative in political and security, as well as economic, areas. For China, nationalism has become more important, just as communism's position as the country's unifying ideology has eroded. Beijing has tried to change the status quo in a forceful way. By the close of the 1990s, however, China has become increasingly willing to act as a responsible world power. A key test of this transformation will be Beijing's treatment of the Taiwan question. The prospects for regional stability depend on Japan's ability to reform and return to growth. The most pressing task is to revitalise East Asia's economies. A return to prosperity would encourage China's reform and opening process; lessen Japan's introspection; make disagreements between the South-east Asian states less acute; and allow the Asia-Pacific region as a whole to move beyond both the triumphalism of the East Pacific and the resentment of the West.