International Relations Theory and the Asia-Pacific

What will the Asia-Pacific rim look like in the years ahead? What tools will international relations theorists need to understand the complex relationship between China, Japan, and the United States as the three powers shape the economic and political future of this dynamic region? Some of the best and most innovative scholars in international relations and Asian area studies gather here to consider a variety of theoretical approaches to understanding the interactions among these three critical players. The creative integration of these two fields presents the authors with the opportunity to assess the applicability of Western categories of analysis, based largely on an intellectual tradition owing to Hobbes, Kant, Marx and other classic thinkers, to the beliefs and behaviors of Asian actors. Overall, their tone is guardedly pessimistic: they are less than sanguine about the projected salutary effects of global and regional trade. Yet they agree that understanding the effects of cultural divides between Asian and American policy makers and theorists on the region's economic and regional security is crucial to building effective policies for the new century.