Asia, Militarization & Regional Conflict
Author: Yoshikazu Sakamoto
Publisher: United Nations University Press
Published: 1988
Total Pages: 286
ISBN-13: 9780862327163
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The Political Resurgence of the Military in Southeast Asia
Author: Marcus Mietzner
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-11-12
Total Pages: 233
ISBN-13: 1136682228
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn the late 1990s, prominent scholars of civil-military relations detected a decline in the political significance of the armed forces across Southeast Asia. A decade later, however, this trend seems to have been reversed. The Thai military launched a coup in 2006, the Philippine armed forces expanded their political privileges under the Arroyo presidency, and the Burmese junta successfully engineered pseudo-democratic elections in 2010. This book discusses the political resurgence of the military in Southeast Asia throughout the 2000s. Written by distinguished experts on military affairs, the individual chapters explore developments in Burma, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, East Timor, Indonesia and Singapore. They not only assess, but also offer explanations for the level of military involvement in politics in each country. Consequently, the book also makes a significant contribution to the comparative debate about militaries in politics. Whilst conditions obviously differ from country to country, most authors in this book conclude that the shape of civil-military relations is not predetermined by historic, economic or cultural factors, but is often the result of intra-civilian conflicts and divisive or ineffective political leadership.
War and Escalation in South Asia
Author: John E. Peters
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Published: 2006-05-01
Total Pages: 121
ISBN-13: 083304091X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis monograph highlights key factors in South Asia imperiling U.S. interests, and suggests how and where the U.S. military might play an expanded, influential role. It suggests seven steps the military might take to better advance and defend U.S. interests in South Asia, the Middle East, and Asia at large. Washington should intensify involvement in South Asia and become more influential with the governments there. Given the area's potential for violence, it should also shape part of the U.S. military to meet potential crises.
Security and Conflict in East Asia
Author: Andrew T. H. Tan
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-04-24
Total Pages: 332
ISBN-13: 1317912403
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSecurity and Conflict in East Asia provides a timely and comprehensive analysis of the sources and implications of conflict on the Korean peninsula and in the People’s Republic of China and Japan, the three biggest economies in the world. This analysis provides the building blocks for effective solutions to manage these tensions more effectively, and is a vital resource to those seeking a clearer understanding of conflict in the most pivotal region in the world. In the context of increasingly tense China-US strategic rivalry, the ever-present potential for conflict on the Korean peninsula and over Taiwan, the absence of effective regional institutions and regimes, the emerging arms race in the region, the rise in nationalism and the absence of crisis management mechanisms, there are many good reasons why the high potential exists for miscalculation and misperception sparking a regional conflict. Given the presence of nuclear-armed powers in East Asia, namely, China, North Korea and the USA, it is also possible that any regional conflict could escalate into a nuclear conflict involving the world’s three largest economies: the USA, China and Japan. The security of, and any conflict in, East Asia thus has tremendous implications for global security. The Handbook is divided into four parts. The introductory section includes chapters which set the context, explain the history of international relations in East Asia and examine the phenomenon of regional arms race. The second section is made up of a series of chapters focusing on China, examining China’s military modernization, its relationship with the USA and the various territorial disputes in which it has been involved. The third section focuses on Japan and North and South Korea, looking at the security challenges facing Japan and the Korean peninsula. A concluding section examines the future role of China and the USA in East Asia, as well as the prospects for managing security in the region. The contributing authors are all experts in their respective fields, and all share an abiding concern over developments in East Asia. Their contributions aim to assist in a better understanding of the issues, to suggest possible solutions, and draw attention to the need for diplomacy, confidence-building measures, crisis management mechanisms and other measures to prevent conflict. This volume will be of use to government institutions involved in foreign policy, intelligence and defence, reference libraries, universities, research institutes, and non-governmental organisations. It will also appeal to analysts, researchers, journalists, policy advisers, students, academics and the general reader. Scholarly analysis is yet to catch up and currently there are no other comprehensive works examining conflict in East Asia in the context of the current tensions.
War and Escalation in South Asia
Author:
Publisher:
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 116
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe research reported here was part of a study called War and Escalation in South Asia, which was sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Director of Plans (XOX); Commander Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF/CC); and Commander, Pacific Air Force (PACAF/CC); and conducted within the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF). This monograph focuses on the highlights that emerged from an examination of the potential for regional conflicts, tensions, and instability in South Asia to endanger U.S. goals and objectives in the region and more broadly, U.S. equities in the Middle East and greater Asia. Because India and Pakistan are both nuclear weapon states with a long history of tensions and sporadic violence between them, much of the monograph focuses on their relations and the potential for future trouble. This study deals with other sources of friction and conflict, although in a more limited scope. The research should be of interest to anyone concerned with regional stability issues. Other recent RAND research on South Asia includes the following: The Counterterror Coalitions: Cooperation with Pakistan and India, C. Christine Fair (MG-141-AF, 2004). This monograph examines U.S. strategic relations with India and Pakistan both historically and in the current context of the global war on terrorism. It concludes that the intractable dispute over the disposition of Kashmir remains a critical flashpoint between India and Pakistan and a continual security challenge and offers five policy options on how the United States might proceed.
Security, Arms Control and Defence Restructuring in East Asia
Author: Taylor & Francis Group
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-05-31
Total Pages: 286
ISBN-13: 9781138346451
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFirst published in 1998, this volume examines East Asia, especially Northeast Asia, which has been a region of considerable political security of importance for several key reasons. It features several great and medium powers: China, Japan and Russia, as well as North and South Korea. Even though no arms race is yet discernible among these states (with the partial exception of the two Koreas), it is conceivable that one might commence. If it did, the level of militarization could become quite alarming, if only because of the tremendous and rapidly growing economic potential of the regional states. Even though relations among regional sates (except the two Koreas) are currently peaceful, the region features several unresolved issues (e.g. concerning territory) and a historical legacy of enmity between several states. To prevent such conflicts of interest from erupting into armed conflict is of the utmost importance. A stabilizing factor is that the military potentials in the region are still predominantly defensively oriented, i.e. most states lack the requisite power projection or invasion capabilities to inflict serious harm on each other. However, this might change in the not-so-distant future. Hence the importance of confidence-building measures; of an institutionalization of regional relations; and of a strengthening of commitments to defensive military strategies and postures.
Scramble in the South China Sea: Regional Conflict and Us Strategy
Author: Air War Air War College
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2014-11-01
Total Pages: 24
ISBN-13: 9781503253841
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe recent pivot in US foreign policy to the Asia-Pacific region acknowledges new geopolitical realities: the center of the global economy has shifted, and the region is struggling for balance amidst contending powers. The fact that Asia will dominate this century economically is clear-its economies are projected to expand to 37 percent of world GDP in 2014, and the region will top the West in all measures of economic power by 2030. Unfortunately, Asia lacks a comprehensive security arrangement, and nowhere is the need for cooperation and regional stability more pressing than in the South China Sea (SCS). Despite its modest size, the sea is "a mass of connective economic tissue where global sea routes coalesce" around the demographic hub of the twenty-first-century world economy. As Southeast Asian states interact with growing Chinese diplomatic, economic, and military power in the region, the SCS is likely to become a strategic bellwether for continued US leadership in the western Pacific along with unfettered global access to the sea.
Asia’s New Geopolitics
Author: Desmond Ball
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-09-28
Total Pages: 110
ISBN-13: 1000536270
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIntensifying geopolitical rivalries, rising defence spending and the proliferation of the latest military technology across Asia suggest that the region is set for a prolonged period of strategic contestation. None of the three competing visions for the future of Asian order – a US-led ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’, a Chinese-centred order, or the ASEAN-inspired ‘Indo-Pacific Outlook’ – is likely to prevail in the short to medium term. In the absence of a new framework, the risk of open conflict is heightened, and along with it the need for effective mechanisms to maintain peace and stability. As Asia’s leaders seek to rebuild their economies and societies in the wake of COVID-19, they would do well to reflect upon the lessons offered by the pandemic and their applicability in the strategic realm. The societies that have navigated the crisis most effectively have been able to do so by putting in place stringent protective measures. Crisis-management and -avoidance mechanisms – and even, in the longer term, wider arms control – can be seen as the strategic equivalent of such measures, and as such they should be pursued with urgency in Asia to reduce the risks of an even greater calamity.
The Evolution of Military Power in the West and Asia
Author: Pauline Eadie
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-09-16
Total Pages: 236
ISBN-13: 1317502647
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book investigates how states in both the West and Asia have responded to multi-dimensional security challenges since the end of the Cold War, focusing on military transformation. Looking at a cross-section of different countries, this volume assesses how their armed forces have responded to a changing international security context. The book investigates two main themes. First, how the process of military ‘transformation’- in terms of technological advances and new ways of conducting warfare - has impacted on the militaries of various countries. These technologies are hugely expensive and the extent to which different states can afford them, and the ability of these states to utilise these technologies, differs greatly. Second, the volume investigates the social dimensions of military transformation. It reveals the expanding breadth of tasks that contemporary armed forces have been required to address. This includes the need for military forces to work with other actors, such as non-governmental agencies and humanitarian organisations, and the ability of armed forces to fight asymmetric opponents and conduct post-conflict reconstruction tasks. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan exemplified how important the relationship between technological and social transformation has become. This book will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, military innovation, Asian politics, security studies and International Relations.
Military Capacity and the Risk of War
Author: Eric H. Arnett
Publisher: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 396
ISBN-13: 9780198292814
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhen does the legitimate application of military technology to the problem of national defence become needlessly provocative? Arnett addresses this question in the context of 4 particularly important Asian states
