Asia Pacific Security - Values and Identity (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

The main theme of this book is that security is not just about defence from external attack, but embraces the protection of identity and values which cultures regard as important, and which they may regard as worth fighting for. It examines Asia Pacific security from the perspective of the values and identities of the major actors in the region - China, Japan, the Koreas and the USA. It highlights the importance of the centralised state for the Chinese identity and political culture and identifies the impact upon Taiwan. It surveys Japanese pacifist values which are at odds with the American effort to prod Japan to assume a greater security role in the region. It analyses the clashing value systems of the two Koreas, the South pressing engagement and the North bound by the logic of its existence to resist it. The book also examines American values as a basis for policy towards the other actors, values which are not as universal as Americans like to think. The book argues that the development of Asia Pacific regionalism has been deeply affected by a clash of values between the US and Asia, that the values and identities of the Asian actors have been misunderstood by the West, and that there will be no true security in the Asia Pacific region unless those values and identities will be accommodated.

Leszek Buszynski is Professor of International Relations at the Graduate School of International Relations, International University of Japan. He has previously been with the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, and the Department of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. He has published extensively on Asia Pacific security issues.