{"title":"Book review: Bob de Graaff ed., Intelligence Communities and Cultures in Asia and the Middle East: A Comprehensive Reference","authors":"A. Parkes","doi":"10.1177/23477970221098510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221098510","url":null,"abstract":"Bob de Graaff ed., Intelligence Communities and Cultures in Asia and the Middle East: A Comprehensive Reference. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2020, 505 pp. (hardback). ISBN: 978-1626378896.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41641190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book review: Yoichi Funabashi and G John Ikenberry. 2020. The Crisis of Liberal Internationalism: Japan and the World Order","authors":"Aakriti Sethi","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076763","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076763","url":null,"abstract":"<b>Yoichi Funabashi and G John Ikenberry. 2020. <i>The Crisis of Liberal Internationalism: Japan and the World Order</i>. Brookings Institution Press. 415 pp. (Paperback). ISBN: 9780815737674.</b>","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138536342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book review: Rory Medcalf. 2020. Contest for the Indo-Pacific: Why China Won’t Map the Future","authors":"Uday Patil","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076773","url":null,"abstract":"Rory Medcalf. 2020. Contest for the Indo-Pacific: Why China Won’t Map the Future. La Trobe University Press. 320 pp. (Paperback). ISBN: 9781760641573.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48981890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book review: Imtiaz Hussain (ed.). 2019. South Asia in Global Power Rivalry: Inside-out Appraisals from Bangladesh","authors":"Ryan Shaffer","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076766","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076766","url":null,"abstract":"Imtiaz Hussain (ed.). 2019. South Asia in Global Power Rivalry: Inside-out Appraisals from Bangladesh. Palgrave Macmillan. Xiii + 320 pp. (Hardcover). ISBN: 9789811372391.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46595427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond the Gaiatsu Model: Japan’s Asia-Pacific Policy and Neoclassical Realism","authors":"L. L. Vidal","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076641","url":null,"abstract":"Literature has tended to characterise Japanese foreign policy as primarily reactive to US interests, with many analyses focusing on aspects such as the gaiatsu or US pressure on Tokyo. Some analysts go further and depict Japan as a ‘reactive state’ with a foreign policy characterised as passive, risk-avoiding, ineffective and lacking of assertiveness. Accordingly, changes in Japanese diplomacy occur as a response to international stimuli rather than to domestic needs. However, while outside pressure is crucial in accounting for Japan’s foreign policy, approaches based solely on the gaiatsu/‘reactive state thesis’ fail to provide a full explanation of Japan’s behaviour, particularly in the promotion of regional initiatives. This article studies Japan’s post-Cold War Asian regional policy and shows that its Asia-Pacific strategy cannot be explained as merely a reactive policy with a tendency to concede to US pressure. We aim to fill this gap by adopting a neoclassical realist approach that incorporates gaiatsu and their interplay with intervening variables at the individual and domestic levels. We demonstrate that domestic political actors have played a primary role in defining Tokyo’s Asia-Pacific policy choices and argue that Japan has pursued a relatively independent regional strategy vis-à-vis the USA in the post-Cold War period.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41365783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"To Be or Not to Be: Great Power Dilemmas and the Iranian Nuclear Programme","authors":"Syed Jaleel Hussain","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076753","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076753","url":null,"abstract":"Mark Fitzpatrick, Michael Elleman and Paulina Izewicz. 2019. Uncertain Future: The JCPOA and Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Programmes. Routledge. 168 pp. ISBN: 9780367197056. Dennis C. Jett. 2018. The Iran Nuclear Deal: Bombs, Bureaucrats, and Billionaires. Palgrave Macmillan. 481 pp. ISBN: 9783319598222. Moritz. Pieper. 2018. Hegemony and Resistance around the Iranian Nuclear Programme. Routledge. 190 pp. ISBN: 9780367173807. Farhad Rezaei. 2017. Iran’s Nuclear Program: A Study in Proliferation and Rollback. Palgrave Macmillan. 272 pp. ISBN: 9783319441191. Trita Parsi. 2017. Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy. Yale University Press. 472 pp. ISBN: 9780300218169. This article looks at the competing dilemmas faced by the great powers and the reasons for their eventual cooperation concerning Iran’s nuclear programme. The great powers were divided between those who wanted a total roll back and those who supported meaningful and verifiable limits. Using the levels of analysis framework, the article looks at individual actors, structural factors and the domestic interconnections that sustained the Iranian nuclear crisis and propelled its eventual resolution in the form of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41905307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Iran–USA Relations: From Exceptionalism to Containment Policy","authors":"U. Siraj, Najimdeen Bakare","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076969","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076969","url":null,"abstract":"Since making it out as the most powerful nation following the Second World War, Washington has demonstrated and employed two independent yet interlocking policies of Exceptionalism and Containment in its foreign policy. American exceptionalism is ingrained in its pride as the most powerful military and economic power, and a champion of democracy. While Washington sees itself as exceptional, it also believes that the fruition of its national interest and strategic objectives depends on bestowing friendly states with exceptional code. To place the discussion in perspective, we take Iran as a case study and explore the transition of Iran from being a recipient of American exceptional code, a strategic tool of American containment policy, to becoming an object of containment itself. The article applies George Kennan’s exceptionalism and containment strategy on USA–Iran relations in both Shah’s rule and post-revolution era. We conclude that decades of US exceptionalism in the region have multiplied into regional challenges for the USA itself and raised the importance of Iran and increased its security threats.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48123699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Culture, Religion and Strategy: The ‘Islamic’ Contours of Iran’s Nuclear Thinking","authors":"Shafat Yousuf, Syed Jaleel Hussain","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076715","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076715","url":null,"abstract":"This article proposes a fresh explanation of Iran’s nuclear programme by using the framework of strategic culture. The core argument of this article is that Iran’s strategic restraint in not overtly weaponising its nuclear programme is primarily driven by its strategic culture despite the continuously deteriorating regional security situation and a deeply hostile neighbourhood. This has incentivised a ‘Shia way’ of looking at and practising a strategy that sees nuclear weapons as fundamentally un-Islamic. Instead of weaponisation, Iran has shown remarkable flexibility to accept restrictions on its nuclear programme under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Security-based realist explanations fail to account for such behaviour and can be better explained using a cultural framework. The strategic culture-based framework also explains the reasons behind Iran’s policy of nuclear hedging and its acceptability by major sections of the political elite in Iran.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49304783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transboundary River Cooperation in Mekong Basin: A Sub-regional Perspective","authors":"P. Mallick","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076746","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076746","url":null,"abstract":"Freshwater resource management is one of the important challenges of the twenty-first century. It becomes more complicated when the river crosses a political boundary. A country can implement water resource management policies to promote more sustainable growth and development within its borders. However, it is not easy to enforce policies in the case of a transboundary river. Mekong River basin is crucial for freshwater resources and other activities like fishing, agricultural production, transportation, diverse biodiversity, hydropower generation, and so on. In addition, the basin supports the livelihoods of more than 60 million people. The massive expansion in the development of hydroelectric plants in the upper reaches of the Mekong has had a significant impact on the basin’s ecology during the previous decade. Hydropower dams are trapping the nutrients carrying sediment load and preventing it from reaching the floodplains. China’s increasing hydropower activities is a significant concern for downstream countries. Its policies are not transparent with lower Mekong basin (LMB) nations. To limit China’s influence, the USA is also attempting to engage with the basin countries. In such a situation, effective sub-regional cooperation for the sustainable development of the Mekong basin is crucial, where all stakeholders’ interests are considered.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47126640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Preventive or Revisionist Challenge During Power Transition? The Case of China–USA Strategic Competition","authors":"Ciwan M. Can, A. Chan","doi":"10.1177/23477970221076646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23477970221076646","url":null,"abstract":"Some scholars argue that established great powers tend to launch preventive wars to halt and reverse power transition processes, while others argue that it is the rising great powers that initiate revisionist challenges. Through the application of the preventive war model and the theory of strategic competition, this article argues that we should identify the initiation of a hegemonic war in the agency of established great powers during power transition processes and that hegemonic confrontations, in the age of nuclear weapons, are limited to the diplomatic domain where great powers will compete for relative strategic influence in the world. The argument is then applied for a re-examination of China–USA relations as this provides a novel ground for testing its explanatory power. Based on our findings, the article further argues that the USA has been the instigator of a preventive strategic competition against China aimed to halt and reverse the ongoing power transition process.","PeriodicalId":42502,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42201091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}