Multilateralism and East Asian transitions: the English School, diplomacy, and a networking regional order

International Politics volume 57, pages259–277(2020)Cite this article

Abstract

This article traces East Asia’s evolving multilateralisms and role in transitioning East Asia away from “US hub-and-spokes” bilateralism toward a more networked system of security arrangements. Drawing on the English School, it argues for revisiting multilateralism’s diplomatic foundations as a way to direct attention to (1) the practice’s region-specific content and (2) the ways that multilateralism has introduced system-transitioning changes that include system-level dynamics associated with membership, actor hood, and the types of security at stake. The result is a more complex security environment and normative context that calls for more multifaceted responses from all, including the United States and China whose current multilateral diplomacies both draw from and challenge the multilateral norms and practices that have been created. Theoretically, re-attention to multilateralism’s diplomatic foundations also offers the English School an opportunity to make more distinctive contributions to ongoing debates about East Asia’s networking processes and security arrangements.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, footnote 2 of Dian and Mejier’s introduction to this Special Issue.

  2. 2.

    For discussions on the constructivist versus English School debate, see Reus-Smit (2002), Finnemore (2001), and Adler (2005).

  3. 3.

    Goh (2013) offers the most systematic treatment of East Asia’s “layered” order.

  4. 4.

    The author appreciates a reviewer’s suggestion to underscore this point.

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Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Czech Science Foundation under the standard research Grant No. GA16-02288S.

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    Alice D. Ba

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This article is part of the Special Issue: Networking Hegemony: Alliance Dynamics in East Asia.

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Ba, A.D. Multilateralism and East Asian transitions: the English School, diplomacy, and a networking regional order. Int Polit 57, 259–277 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-019-00202-x

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Keywords

  • Security multilateralism
  • Diplomacy
  • English School
  • Security networks
  • Power transition
  • Asia