IR3001 Asian Security
Asian Security Background: Recent colonisation & decolonisation Vast and diverse territory Several new threats Numerous traditional security concerns…
** Great powers **** Great powers + aspiring great power ** ** Nuclear states ** ** Nuclear states** ** Nuclear states + nuclear threshold states **3 RSCs: * South Asia * Southeast Asia * Northeast Asia
Cold War in Northeast Asia Until 1960 clear dividing line After 1960 China becomes important player Regional securitisation of Japan regional dynamics Securitisation of divided states Superpower dynamics
Post-Cold War in Northeast Asia Continuity traditional security & geopolitics: Divisions: N-S Korea // China-Taiwan US role, particularly US-N Korea Japan and neighbours: difficult Change moderate co-operation Rise of economic issues & interdependence Stabilisation Multilaterilisation Challenges Power transitions China-US, Jp-US, NK, democratisation
Cold War in Southeast Asia Complex security dynamics Ideological alignments Superpower involvement Local rivalries Territorial disputes Creation of ASEAN (1967) Anti-communist Containment of Indonesia Weak security regime From ideological intrastate polarisation to ideological interstate polarisation
Post-Cold War in Southeast Asia Soviet withdrawal Chinas rise Other winner: ASEAN Gradual expansion of ASEAN ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF, 1993) Contain China, include USA, avoid Japans rearming Co-operative Security arrangement (collective sec.) Balance-of-Power considerations
Cold War in South Asia Dominated by India-Pakistani conflict, involving: Military sector Political sector Societal sector Sino-Indian war Penetration by CW superpowers
Post-Cold War in South Asia Regional dynamics reinforced, not created, by CW Pakistani involvement in Afghanistan Escalation of Indo-Pakistani conflict Border Interference Nuclear capability Continuity, rather than change! In a Pakistani weekly: a snake from Afghanistan baring its fangs in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province
Asian Security Conclusions Different security dynamics in each sub-RSCs: NEA survival of CW division, yet relaxed Economy > Military SEA Increasing regional institutionalisation SA Few changes, escalation of rivalry Continued presence of BoP considerations