1. Security Developments in the Asia-Pacific Region.
- Author
-
Weber, Katja
- Subjects
- *
NATIONAL security , *POLITICAL stability , *INTERNATIONAL security - Abstract
In the aftermath of WWII, and once again at the end of the Cold War, Europeans created order and thereby enhanced their stability. As the following discussion will make clear, they did so by transcending historical legacies, including former enemies into security structures, tying the US to the European continent and thus, over time, promoting principles, norms and rules that built trust and redefined identities. Or, put differently, Europeans promoted peace and stability by giving rise to what Webber et. al. (2004) and Kirchner (2006) characterize as "security governance." Security provisions in the Asia-Pacific region look very different. History there is still a "neuralgic point" (Berger 2006) and a "hub and spokes network" consisting of five bilateral alliances, along with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (a "security regime" which is gradually moving toward a "security community") and the ASEAN Regional Forum were created over time to stabilize the region. Recognizing that Asia is not Europe, the paper argues that the process of European security provisions, nevertheless, provides useful lessons for the Asia-Pacific region, particularly when it comes to the institutionalization of trust on multiple levels--a development that appears inevitable to assure regional stability in the long-run. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008