Brendan Taylor

What is Asian security architecture

‘Architecture’ has emerged as the new catchphrase in Asian security politics. Despite its growing centrality, insufficient attention has thus far been given to defining the term, often leading to its imprecise usage. This article seeks to redress that shortcoming. It reviews the ways in which various scholars and practitioners have employed the term ‘security architecture’ and highlights the anomalies that their often differing employment has created. The article proposes a set of guidelines to aid conceptualisation and application of the term. In so doing it establishes criteria to ascertain what ‘security architecture’ actually exists in the Asian region, and must ultimately exist to assure regional security.

Track 2 Security Dialogue in the Asia-Pacific: Reflections and Future Directions

Abstract This article critically reviews the literature on Track 2 security dialogue in the Asia‐Pacific and suggests a number of possible avenues for further research. From almost a standing start, Track 2 security dialogue in this part of the world has burgeoned over the past decade and a half. As these institutions and activities have grown, so too has a body of scholarship grown around them which has striven to stay abreast of them and – at least in the case of some of the more prominent second track institutions and activities – to evaluate their influence and effectiveness. Just as viable second track processes must constantly adapt in response to changes in the regional and global security environment, however, this article contends that the scholarship on Track 2 security dialogue needs now to evolve beyond its heavy emphasis upon on the “success” of these institutions and activities. While this criterion remains vital, the article argues that greater analytical attention should also be given to differentiating between the many and varied Track 2 security processes that are currently active in the Asia-Pacific; to developing a closer understanding as to the operating modalities of these institutions and activities; and to better comprehending longitudinal trends in regional Track 2 security dialogue.

The Shangri-La Dialogue and the institutionalization of defence diplomacy in Asia

Abstract The gradual institutionalization of defence diplomacy is becoming an increasingly prominent and potentially important feature of security dialogue in the Asian region. This stands in marked contrast to Asias recent history, where across the region multilateral defence or military interactions have traditionally been regarded with suspicion. This article examines the emergence of Asias most prominent exercise in defence diplomacy: the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD). Within a relatively short space of time, this forum has developed into one of the most important opportunities for regional defence ministers and senior military officers to meet and exchange views on security issues. Yet despite its growing standing, the SLD has received virtually no scholarly attention. The article begins by reviewing the origins and development of the SLD, before outlining its operating modalities. It seeks to account for the apparent appeal of the SLD, measured in terms of its capacity to consistently attract high-level representation and favourable reviews. The article explores how the SLD might develop in the future and outlines some of the challenges it faces, including the rise of potentially competing mechanisms for defence diplomacy in East Asia. The article closes by outlining a number of areas for further research.

Sanctions as Grand Strategy

Introduction 1. The Sanctions Debate 2. Sanctioning North Korea 3. Sanctioning Iran Conclusion Glossary Notes

The South China Sea is Not a Flashpoint

Two important anniversaries arrive in 2014 for protracted South China Sea disputes. January 19 marked 40 years since Chinese and Vietnamese forces clashed over the Paracel Islands, resulting in the deaths of more than 50 Vietnamese personnel and an undisclosed number on the Chinese side—at least the second-largest loss of life to have occurred in any single incident involving these disputed waters. Late 2014 will also mark 20 years since China controversially built structures on the aptly named Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, prompting a further series of incidents at sea. Recent reports that China has moved large concrete blocks to Scarborough Shoal—yet another disputed reef that was the scene of an April 2012 standoff between Chinese and Philippines vessels—have sparked concerns in Manila that history is repeating. More than at any time in the history of these disputes, the South China Sea has today become one of East Asia’s most talked-about security flashpoints. Most famously, the strategic commentator Robert Kaplan has characterized this body of water as “the future of conflict.” A recent study published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) describes the South China Sea as a “crucible for the unfolding geopolitics of Southeast Asia,” which has the potential to “influence the evolving balance of power in the region, and perhaps even the prospects for peace in the Asia–Pacific in the twenty-first century.” Southeast Asia’s top diplomat, Surin Pitsuwan, has dubbed the disputes “Asia’s Palestine,” while former Australian Prime Minister and China savant Kevin Rudd refers to the South China Sea as a “tinderbox on water” and a “maritime Balkans of the 21st century.” In a controversial new book, Rudd’s compatriot Hugh White goes even further, outlining a hypothetical scenario where a naval skirmish between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels draws in the

The Bush administration and Asia Pacific multilateralism: unrequited love?

This article challenges the presumed multilateral aversion of the George W. Bush administration. It argues that, at least in its approach toward the Asia-Pacific, this administration has been a more active and stimulatory advocate of multilateral approaches than is commonly acknowledged. The article begins by documenting the Bush administrations multilateral activism in the Asia-Pacific and examines those factors which appear to have contributed towards it. It then goes on to demonstrate, however, that Bushs at times unexpected enthusiasm for multilateral approaches has encountered a high degree of regional reticence. For a part of the world that has been affording an increased prominence to multilateral institutions and activities, this finding is initially both surprising and significant. The article concludes by seeking to account for this apparent anomaly and by considering its possible implications for the emerging regional architecture.

US-China relations after 11 September: a long engagement or marriage of convenience?

This article traces the evolution of US–Sino relations in the period since the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. It argues that the resultant, largely unanticipated rapprochement that has occurred between Beijing and Washington is actually more robust than many analysts have thus far been prepared to acknowledge. While conflictual elements will remain a feature of this all-important bilateral relationship, the article contends that the current ‘honeymoon period’ in US–Sino relations is likely to persist for some time yet, largely because it is underwritten by a deeper combination of economic, political and strategic considerations. While recognising that it is both natural and necessary to contemplate the ‘worst of times’ that may still lie ahead in US–Sino relations, the article concludes that it is particularly important for Australian policymakers to acknowledge the potential for a prolongation of the post-11 September ‘honeymoon’ and to actively encourage this possibility as they contemplate alternative approaches to managing Chinas rise.

Attacking North Korea: Why War Might Be Preferred

An air of complacency surrounds the continuing nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Many analysts assert that the chances of a second Korean War erupting are small, barring a serious act of miscalculation or misadventure on the part of Pyongyang. This paper confirms that there is indeed a range of important reasons why the United States would not wish to initiate hostilities on the peninsula in the short to medium term. However it also finds that the case that US policymakers could, over time, build for a deliberate and very major attack on North Korea is actually more comprehensive and its logic more robust than is commonly acknowledged. While it is easy for analysts to continue to regard the attack option as both unlikely and irrational, therefore, this paper concludes that the prospect of a US-led war against North Korea is one that still ought to be taken seriously.

American sanctions in the Asia-Pacific

Acknowledgements. Acronyms and Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. The Sanctions Debate 3. Sanctions and US Foreign Policy 4. The Bill Clinton Years 5. The George W. Bush Years 6. Conclusions and Recommendations. Bibliography

Coral Bell's contribution to Australian foreign policy

She has been described as a ‘delightful white-haired lady’ and likened to such literary characters as ‘Miss Marples’ and Margaret Rutherford from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes . Yet if appearances are often deceiving, there is perhaps no better exemplar of this than Dr Coral Bell. Not that she isn’t one of the most unassuming, gracious human beings you could ever hope to encounter. But beneath that genteel exterior lies the mind which has recently conceived Living with Giants: Finding Australia ’s Place in a More Complex World (Bell 2005). In so doing, Coral*/herself recognised internationally as an intellectual giant in the fields of International Relations and Strategic Studies*/has produced what will likely emerge as one of the leading academic contributions on Australian foreign policy in 2005. Coral’s encounter with world politics began over half a century ago, when she was appointed by Dr Evatt to the Australian diplomatic service as it was being reconstructed at the end of the Second World War (Coral herself experienced the war firsthand as a Sydney high school student and recalls hearing ‘a Japanese shell or two whistle overhead during the submarine raid of 1942’. During the war, she also worked at a Sydney University physics laboratory which assisted with the degaussing of ships). She served six years in the Australian diplomatic service and was present at the signing of the ANZUS Treaty in 1951. Coral spent most of the next two and a half decades in the United Kingdom, where she first went to take up graduate study at the London School of Economics (LSE). During this period she also worked as a research officer at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), where the renowned historian Arnold Toynbee handed her the editorial reins to Survey of International Affairs*/the most authoritative textbook in international politics at that time. She subsequently went on to take up academic appointments at the Universities of Manchester, Sussex (as Professor of International Politics) and the LSE. In 1959 Coral also held a Rockefeller Fellowship in the US, which allowed her to spend time as a visiting academic at Columbia University and the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. Her academic peers over the course of this entire period included the likes of Hedley Bull, Martin Wight, Alastair Buchan, Owen Harries and Sir Michael Howard.