Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a Region
In 1993, in advance of what was to be the first Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leader’s summit, US president Bill Clinton gave a lecture at Waseda University in Japan. In his speech, Clinton called for the creation of a “community of the Pacific.” The idea of a Pacific community is neither...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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UTS ePRESS
2005-08-01
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| Series: | PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://learning-analytics.info/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/107 |
| _version_ | 1818326834320769024 |
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| author | Arturo Santa-Cruz |
| author_facet | Arturo Santa-Cruz |
| author_sort | Arturo Santa-Cruz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In 1993, in advance of what was to be the first Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leader’s summit, US president Bill Clinton gave a lecture at Waseda University in Japan. In his speech, Clinton called for the creation of a “community of the Pacific.” The idea of a Pacific community is neither Clinton’s nor the Democratic Party’s invention, however. In the previous decade Ronald Reagan had already used it, going even beyond later conceptualizations, by referring to the 21st century as the Pacific’s century. But Reagan's prophecy concerning the Great Ocean was not new back in the 1980s either. In 1900 then US Secretary of State John Hay wrote: “the Mediterranean is the ocean of the past, the Atlantic the ocean of the present and the Pacific is the ocean of the future.” In a more general manner, as Christopher Coker has observed, the notion of the “Century of the Pacific” is plausible because it is consistent with the idea, popularized by Hegel, that the spirit of civilization is moving toward that part of the globe. Thus, the century of the Pacific has become a kind of zeitgeist. In this paper I undertake a conceptual, historical, and theoretical journey through the “Pacific Rim” or “Asia-Pacific,” as it has been called more recently. Although I will question the utility of the term, I want to make clear that my purpose is only to undertake a critical survey of “the Pacific.” As in any trip, however, one needs a starting point. But, What is the starting point of the Pacific Rim, that geographic zone that has been compared to Pascal’s sphere: “with periphery indeterminable and a center that may be anywhere”? |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T12:06:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-00b92e9f4edf4801a433001431ce3aee |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1449-2490 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T12:06:40Z |
| publishDate | 2005-08-01 |
| publisher | UTS ePRESS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-00b92e9f4edf4801a433001431ce3aee2022-12-21T23:46:57ZengUTS ePRESSPORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies1449-24902005-08-012210.5130/portal.v2i2.10774Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a RegionArturo Santa-Cruz0University of Guadalajara, MexicoIn 1993, in advance of what was to be the first Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leader’s summit, US president Bill Clinton gave a lecture at Waseda University in Japan. In his speech, Clinton called for the creation of a “community of the Pacific.” The idea of a Pacific community is neither Clinton’s nor the Democratic Party’s invention, however. In the previous decade Ronald Reagan had already used it, going even beyond later conceptualizations, by referring to the 21st century as the Pacific’s century. But Reagan's prophecy concerning the Great Ocean was not new back in the 1980s either. In 1900 then US Secretary of State John Hay wrote: “the Mediterranean is the ocean of the past, the Atlantic the ocean of the present and the Pacific is the ocean of the future.” In a more general manner, as Christopher Coker has observed, the notion of the “Century of the Pacific” is plausible because it is consistent with the idea, popularized by Hegel, that the spirit of civilization is moving toward that part of the globe. Thus, the century of the Pacific has become a kind of zeitgeist. In this paper I undertake a conceptual, historical, and theoretical journey through the “Pacific Rim” or “Asia-Pacific,” as it has been called more recently. Although I will question the utility of the term, I want to make clear that my purpose is only to undertake a critical survey of “the Pacific.” As in any trip, however, one needs a starting point. But, What is the starting point of the Pacific Rim, that geographic zone that has been compared to Pascal’s sphere: “with periphery indeterminable and a center that may be anywhere”?https://learning-analytics.info/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/107PacificPacific RimHegemony |
| spellingShingle | Arturo Santa-Cruz Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a Region PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies Pacific Pacific Rim Hegemony |
| title | Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a Region |
| title_full | Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a Region |
| title_fullStr | Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a Region |
| title_full_unstemmed | Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a Region |
| title_short | Out of the Blue: The Pacific Rim as a Region |
| title_sort | out of the blue the pacific rim as a region |
| topic | Pacific Pacific Rim Hegemony |
| url | https://learning-analytics.info/journals/index.php/portal/article/view/107 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arturosantacruz outofthebluethepacificrimasaregion |