Asia

With the enthusiasm surrounding the election of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, some have again speculated as to whether Indonesia will become the regional leader in Southeast Asia. That was the central question behind Joseph Chinyong Liow’s “Can Indonesia Fulfill...

Southeast Asia’s military modernization over the last half decade has been impressive. Defense expenditures across the region have risen, on average, by nine percent each year since 2009, but the region’s countries have not been uniform in their approaches....

This article will take a snapshot of Korea today and look back to the past to see the origins. It will offer many comparisons between North and South Korea. Why have North Korea (The Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea–DPRK)...

Abstract China has sought to gain regional influence by utilizing a mix of energy investments and military modernization efforts. China’s overall efforts aim to bring about three broad goals. First, China seeks to hedge its economic growth potential against...

Abstract Begun in 2009, the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) is now America’s foremost engagement vehicle on the Indochina peninsula of Southeast Asia. From the outset, its most concrete aim was to facilitate an integrated water management scheme for the...

Abstract China’s rapid rise in economic and military power has occurred alongside the apparent decline of Japan, which has traditionally been America’s closest ally in the post-World War II era. These shifting fortunes have led policymakers in all three...

Abstract Among China’s unresolved frontier questions, the South China Sea has become the most complex and troubled, and arguably the most significant and disconcerting. The economic and security stakes are high and the stake-holding states numerous and diverse. The...

Sumit Ganguly and S. Paul Kapur, India, Pakistan, and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010). Catherine McArdle Kelleher and Judith Reppy, eds., Getting to Zero: the Path to Nuclear Disarmament (Stanford,...

Although the shift back towards a more normal international order seems inevitable, its timing and manner are not. The transformation will be smoother and America’s security will be greater if the U.S. adapts to changing circumstances by exercising restraint...

With the announcement in 2010 that sovereignty over the South China Sea was a national interest comparable to Taiwan or Tibet, China has created a new geopolitical situation in East Asia. Although Peking would seem to expect that her...