Geostrategy in the Asia-Pacific

Teacher(s)

Atanassova Elena;

Language

English

Main themes

This course examines major geostrategic and security issues facing selected countries in the Pacific Basin, by emphasising both the challenges to regional peace and stability, and opportunities for cooperation. The Asia-Pacific region, as defined for the purposes of this course, is one of the most dynamic regions in the world. In the post-Cold War era, the region has been undergoing a major shift in the balance of power, while struggling with the legacies of the Cold War. With a rising China, a 'rebalancing' US, a more assertive Japan, a nuclear-armed North Korea and two divided nations - Korea and China, as well as several territorial disputes and newly emerging powers in Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific is increasingly important in global military and strategic terms, in addition to its significance in economic ones.

Content

- Introduction to the course and review of the course outline
- Conceptualisation of Asia and the Indo-Pacific region, geostrategic importance for Europe, key theoretical perspectives
- Alliances, major power (the US-Japan-India-China) relations and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region
- Geostrategic issues of the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula
- Strategy and security in Southeast Asia
- Maritime territorial disputes in the China Seas
- Indo-Pacific minilateralism, ASEAN-led multilateralism and institution-building; the EU and the Indo-Pacific

Teaching methods

The course emphasises active learning. The teaching method consists of lectures and small group discussions.
The course is taught in an in-person format.

Evaluation methods

Oral exam (closed book).
The oral exam will be in-person or online (via MSTeams). This will depend on the situation of the pandemic at that time.

Online resources

Lecture slides (PPT) and some of the readings are uploaded on Moodle.

Bibliography

• E. ATANASSOVA-CORNELIS (2018). “Reconceptualising the Asia-Pacific order: Japan’s response to strategic uncertainties in the era of Trump”, Interdisciplinary Political Studies, Special Issue: Trump and the Post-American World Order, 4(1): 153-83.
• E. ATANASSOVA-CORNELIS (2020). “Alignment Cooperation and Regional Security Architecture in the Indo-Pacific”, The International Spectator, 55(1): 18-33.
• Elena ATANASSOVA-CORNELIS and Yoichiro SATO (2019). “The US-Japan alliance dilemma in the Asia-Pacific: Changing rationales and scope”, The International Spectator, 54(4): 78-93.
• Elena ATANASSOVA-CORNELIS and Bhubhindar SINGH (2021). “Japan-EU security relations”, In: T. Christiansen, E. J. Kirchner and S. S. Tan, eds., The European Union’s Security Relations with Asian Partners, Palgrave Macmillan, Series: The European Union in International Affairs, pp. 369-389.
• S. F. BURGESS and J. BEILSTEIN (2018). “Multilateral Defense Cooperation in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region: Tentative Steps toward a Regional NATO?”, Contemporary Security Policy, 39 (2): 258–79.
• Ja Ian CHONG & Todd H. HALL (2017). “One thing leads to another: Making sense of East Asia’s repeated tensions”, Asian Security, 13(1): 20-40.
• S. GANGULY, A. SCOBELL and J.C. LIOW, eds. (2018). The Routledge Handbook of Asian Security Studies. 2nd edition. Routledge.
• Tiang Boon HOO, ed., (2017). Chinese Foreign Policy Under Xi. Routledge.
• Y.R. KASSIM (ed.) (2017). South China Sea Disputes: Flashpoints, Turning Points and Trajectories, World Scientific.
• A. LANKOV (2009). “Why the US will have to accept a nuclear North Korea”, Korean Journal of Defence Analysis, 21(3): 251-264.
• T. F. LIAO, K. HARA and K. WIEGAND (eds.) (2016). The China-Japan Border Dispute: Islands of Contention in Multidisciplinary Perspective, Routledge;
• G. LIN (2016). “Beijing’s new strategies toward a changing Taiwan”, Journal of Contemporary China, 25 (99): 1-15.
• E.S. MEDEIROS (2019). “The changing fundamentals of US-China relations”, The Washington Quarterly, 42 (3): 93-119.
• Ash ROSSITER and Brendon J. CANNON, eds., (2020). Conflict and Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific: New Geopolitical Realities. Routledge.
• G. ROZMAN (ed.) (2012). East Asian National Identities: Common Roots and Chinese Exceptionalism, Stanford University Press.
• David SHAMBAUGH and Michael YAHUDA, eds., (2014). International Relations of Asia. 2nd edition. Rowman & Littlefield.
• S.N. SMITH (2019). “Harmonizing the periphery: China’s neighborhood strategy under Xi Jinping”, The Pacific Review.
• Weiqing SONG & Jianwei WANG, eds., (2019). The European Union in the Asia Pacific: Rethinking Europe’s Strategies and Policies. Manchester University Press.
• Ø. TUNSJO (2018). The Return of Bipolarity in World Politics: China, the United States, and Geostructural Realism. Columbia University Press.

Teaching materials

• 1. Plan du cours/Course outline 2. PPT/lecture slides (sur le Moodle) 3. dossier de lecture/course reader (disponible via la Duc/available at la Duc).

Faculty or entity

PSAD