Rethinking Change and Continuity in Japanese Defense Policy and Politics
Japan has been following a deliberate course in the reform of its defense policy. This has emphasized gradual change over revolutionary breaks. More changes are to come.
Interview – Katrien Jacobs
Professor Jacobs discusses her research on pornography, censorship, and visual anthropology in the context of global capitalism, social control, and superpower rivalry.
Review – Afrasia: A Tale of Two Continents
Adem and Mazrui offer an enlivening and unconventional collection, critically invocating the need for a discourse about discourse on Africa’s relations with Asian powers.
South Korea’s Foreign Policy in 2013: Building Trust in East Asia
“Trust” has been the buzzword for President Park Geun-hye, and 2013 saw ‘trustpolitik’ in action in South Korea’s relationships with North Korea, China and Japan.
The Japan-China Relationship as a Structural Conflict
The already strained relationship between Japan and China has recently faced more challenges and they may benefit from US involvement in the process of regional power transition.
John Kerry’s Pacific Dream
The Pacific Dream concept sought to advance two central U.S. foreign policy goals in the Asia-Pacific: expanding the scope of the U.S. pivot beyond defense, and isolating China without singling it out.
IR Theory and the DPRK
Looking at interpretations of current events through an IR theory lens, it is astonishing at how often claims have been made that war is likely, and that we have no way of understanding what North Korea might do.
The ‘Clash of Civilizations’ Faces Evidence-based Perusal
While Samuel Huntington’s thesis continues to be influential, the fragilities of the civilization construct within it are exposed when measured against the realities of the last twenty years in Asia.
Apocalyptic Imagination: Sekaikei Fiction in Contemporary Japan
The lack of communities in Japanese apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic genre fiction of the 2000s highlights the insecurities of male youth in contemporary Japanese society.
Geopolitical Insecurities and Territorial Grievances in East Asia
The roots of the South China Sea disputes originate in the results of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Coming to terms with China as it exerts its power will be pricey, yet necessary.
