Session: Plenary Session II / Regency Room
Date/Time: April 30, 2013 / 17:00-18:15

Panel Description

As global power and politics return to their historic configurations, will the emerging East Asian order resemble the past centuries of conflict and conquest or find a way to accommodate the interests of great and small powers alike? Without a comprehensive political or strategic architecture as in Europe, bilateral alliances continue to underpin intra-regional relations. But the return of China and India as the region’s most influential countries will inevitably challenge the fragile post-World War II system set up by the United States. In a region as diverse as East Asia, can the Westphalian inter-state model remain predominant or will be it supplanted by new “East Asian” models?

Guiding Questions

1. 1. Is the American-led bilateral alliance system fundamentally incompatible with the creation of an East Asian regional system?
2. 2. How would past models of regional order in East Asia look if applied today? Are hierarchical systems or tributary analogies viable? How will spheres of interests and core interests be accommodated?
3. 3. What role should outside powers such as the United States and Russia play in fostering the development of East Asian integration and preventing conflict?