CIAO DATE: 12/2010
Volume: 10, Issue: 3
September 2010
Introduction (PDF)
G. John Ikenberry, Takashi Inoguchi
Over the last half century, the United States has been a dominating presence in East Asia. In the shadow of the Cold War, a regional order took shape organized around an array of bilateral alliances and an open trade system – all tied to the United States. In this American-led regional hegemonic order, the United States provided security through security agreements and the forward deployment of its forces while it supported the expansion and integration of East Asian countries in the context of an open multilateral world economy. The United States–Japan alliance was the cornerstone of this regional order. In the background, the East Asian region was nested within the wider Cold War-era American-led Western order. After the Cold War ended, this Pax Americana was extended outward throughout the globe. Alliances, free trade, multilateral institutions, democratic community, and American hegemony all went together.
Will currency follow the flag? (PDF)
Daniel W. Drezner
The 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath have triggered uncertainty about the future of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region have voiced support for a new global monetary regime. There are both economic and geopolitical motivations at the root of these challenges. Going forward, what will the future hold for the international monetary system? Crudely put, will currency follow the flag? This article addresses this question by considering the economic opportunity and geopolitical willingness of actors in the Pacific Rim to shift away from the current international monetary system – with a special emphasis on China as the most powerful actor in the region. While the dollar has shifted from being a top currency to a negotiated one, neither the opportunity nor the willingness to shift away from the dollar is particularly strong. The current window of opportunity for actors in the region to coordinate a shift in the monetary system is small and constrained. The geopolitical willingness to subordinate monetary politics to security concerns is muted.
After dollar? (PDF)
Masayuki Tadokoro
The national currency of the United States, the dollar, plays a critical international role. The privileged position of the dollar, which has greatly facilitated America’s role in world politics, is now being questioned. This article argues that the international monetary system tends to be based on hegemony rather than super-sovereignty or multiplicity, and that no serious challengers to the dollar’s hegemony have yet emerged. The dollar’s predominance, however, is weakening and it has turned into a ‘negotiated currency’. If its international roles are to be sustained, the dollar needs to be actively supported by other major economies. ‘Negotiation’ may fail as rising economies, most notably China, represent American political challengers rather than subordinate allies. Should the dollar cease functioning as the reliable international currency, in the absence of an alternative hegemonic currency, the world could see a more fundamental shift, such as the wider use of private international currencies.
Chung-in Moon, Sang-Young Rhyu
The alliance with the United States has not only provided South Korea with a credible military deterrence against North Korea, but also helped normalize its economy through extensive military and economic assistance and assertive policy intervention for macroeconomic stabilization and export drive. South Korea was also one of major beneficiaries of the American-built liberal international economic order. No matter how strong the alliance tie would be, however, major external economic crises or subsequent critical junctures (e.g. the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the global financial crisis of 2008) tempted South Korea to seek an alternative arrangement by attempting to depart from the USled economic and financial architecture. Nevertheless, such moves were fundamentally constrained because of the preference of continuing stability in international economic and financial institutions and its renewed emphasis on the alliance in face of North Korea’s nuclear threats. South Korea is likely to adhere to the American-led currency regime for the time being.
More Pax, Less Americana in Asia (PDF)
T.J. Pempel
Northeast Asia presents a major theoretical puzzle: the region is rife with security challenges and seems continually poised for horrific military conflicts. Yet, despite many structural tensions, the region has been devoid of significant shooting wars since the signing of the Korean armistice in 1953. This essay examines two major contributions to that pacific condition: first, the pervasive focus on economic development and the growing economic links across the region; and second, the growing number of multilateral institutions within the Asia-Pacific. It concludes that while a ‘Pax Americana’ was important to peace in the past, the long-term prospects are for the continued absence of overt conflict but in ways that will reflect an overall decline in America’s capacity to shape regional developments.
Motoshi Suzuki
Alliance coordination involves a multiplicity of equilibria, the resolution
of which depends on institutions and knowledge known as focal-point
effects. Since the end of the Cold War, the alliance has expanded its
missions despite difficult coordination problems by taking advantage of
multiple focal factors. Although common threat perceptions have continued
to serve as a central focal factor, other factors, such as shared
democratic values and international norms, have been used to legitimate
the alliance's missions that are beyond what the perceived threats
could justify. To be a viable focal factor, common threat perceptions,
democratic values, and international norms need to be backed up
by the causal knowledge that alliance coordination has stabilizing,
confidence-building, and legitimating effects on regional and international
security, respectively. More recently, however, the allies' perceptions
are becoming more complex and divergent, putting increasing
pressures on the other factors for maintaining and expanding the missions. Although democratic values and international norms could
generate diversionary effects in broadening Japan's policy horizon, this
need not be feared insofar as it contributes to the alliance's basic goal.
The efficiency of China's multilateral policies in East Asia (1997–2007) (PDF)
Sun Xuefeng
Since the mid-1990s, China has adopted various multilateral policies to shape a more favorable regional environment. The policy of integration, which accommodates both the United States and neighboring countries’ core interests, can succeed in achieving China’s goals in regional multilateral cooperation. On the contrary, the policies of dominance, co-governance, and guidance have been suffering from frustration or failure because they threaten the core interests of either the United States or China’s regional partners. The efficiency of China’s multilateral policies is strongly shaped by two factors: the dominant United States wary of China’s rapid rise and the substantial power gaps between the two states. In the coming decade, China may rise to the second rank in terms of economic capabilities, but the United States can still maintain its dominant position. So China will adhere to the policy of integration to maintain its favorable regional environment in East Asia. China’s rising position and its integration policy will result in the continuation of competition in the regional cooperation mechanisms and the stability of the US regional alliance system in the decade to come.
Uneasy Warriors: Gender, Memory, and Popular Culture in the Japanese Army (PDF)
Alessio Patalano
This monograph examines the socio-cultural realm of the Japan Self-Defence Forces (JSDF) charting the contradictions and uneasiness of the modern military profession within the country. Across five chapters, Sabine Fru¨hstu¨ck provocatively points out how in many ways the JSDF prefigured the ‘post-modern’ character of present military organizations through their practice of ‘carefully constraining and recasting their potential for violent acts in the name of the Japanese state’ (p. 7). In post-war Japan, normative constraints enshrined in Article 9 of the constitution, memories of the violent behavior of the imperial armed forces, post-war popular culture, and social models, have in fact contributed to make the transition towards ‘new modes of militarized gender’ a permanent factor shaping the JSDF’s identity.
Normalizing Japan: Politics, Identity, and the Evolution of Security Practice (PDF)
Seung Hyok Lee
Scholars of international relations (IR) generally agree that at present Japan is not sufficiently ‘normal’ in its national security principles and behavior, as symbolized by the nation’s ‘peace constitution’ and the restraints imposed on national power projections. Scholarly experts offer, however, dichotomous views on Japan’s future trajectory. ‘Realists’ emphasizing materialistic power distribution in international politics assert that Japan is already close to discarding its post World War II pacifist identity in order to become a muscle-flexing military giant more commensurate with its international status and changing external environment. ‘Constructivists’ focusing on the resilience of social identity, on the other hand, counter that despite drastic shifts in international power dynamics, Japan is likely to maintain the core of its antimilitaristic security institutions, as a prudent Japanese society and domestic politics remain at the core of security policy-making.
Erratum (PDF)
The publishers would like to apologise for an error in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 10(2), 2010, p. 379. The author’s name was published incorrectly. The correct name should be Umemoto Tetsuya. Please note that this error has been corrected in the online version of the journal.