Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia

East Asia's maritime domain represents today one of the world's most complex security hotspots. The rise of China has been redefining the region’s international relations and power dynamics, triggering apprehensions in the neighbourhood and beyond. Despite a high level of economic interdep...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Eva Pejsova
Other Authors: Ralf Jan Diederik Emmers
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66364
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author Eva Pejsova
author2 Ralf Jan Diederik Emmers
author_facet Ralf Jan Diederik Emmers
Eva Pejsova
author_sort Eva Pejsova
collection NTU
description East Asia's maritime domain represents today one of the world's most complex security hotspots. The rise of China has been redefining the region’s international relations and power dynamics, triggering apprehensions in the neighbourhood and beyond. Despite a high level of economic interdependence, sovereignty disputes, naval modernisation programmes and lack of effective maritime security cooperation in the region are the causes, as well as the results of the pervasive climate of mistrust and rivalry. In order to correctly understand and interpret regional maritime security dynamics, this thesis proposes to look at the role of perceptions and national identity. Subscribing to the Constructivist school of thought, it argues that the way States perceive themselves, each other, the international system and their role within it, shapes their national interests and influences their foreign policy, including the use of maritime power. The influence of perceptions is sought for in the approaches of China and Japan, the two most important regional players, to cooperation in the East China Sea, in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, and in marine environmental governance. Cooperation in functional maritime domains should constitute a common ground for consensus, and even serve as a catalyst for enhancing broader security cooperation in the long run. However, given the specific, transnational character of maritime management in the twenty-first century, this would require States to rise above the traditional Westphalian understanding of sovereignty and beyond the Realist mind-sets.
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spelling ntu-10356/663642020-11-01T08:39:08Z Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia Eva Pejsova Ralf Jan Diederik Emmers S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Sam Bateman DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science East Asia's maritime domain represents today one of the world's most complex security hotspots. The rise of China has been redefining the region’s international relations and power dynamics, triggering apprehensions in the neighbourhood and beyond. Despite a high level of economic interdependence, sovereignty disputes, naval modernisation programmes and lack of effective maritime security cooperation in the region are the causes, as well as the results of the pervasive climate of mistrust and rivalry. In order to correctly understand and interpret regional maritime security dynamics, this thesis proposes to look at the role of perceptions and national identity. Subscribing to the Constructivist school of thought, it argues that the way States perceive themselves, each other, the international system and their role within it, shapes their national interests and influences their foreign policy, including the use of maritime power. The influence of perceptions is sought for in the approaches of China and Japan, the two most important regional players, to cooperation in the East China Sea, in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, and in marine environmental governance. Cooperation in functional maritime domains should constitute a common ground for consensus, and even serve as a catalyst for enhancing broader security cooperation in the long run. However, given the specific, transnational character of maritime management in the twenty-first century, this would require States to rise above the traditional Westphalian understanding of sovereignty and beyond the Realist mind-sets. Doctor of Philosophy 2016-03-30T05:00:34Z 2016-03-30T05:00:34Z 2016 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66364 en 310 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
Eva Pejsova
Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia
title Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia
title_full Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia
title_fullStr Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia
title_full_unstemmed Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia
title_short Identity matters ... even in maritime security : China, Japan and maritime cooperation in East Asia
title_sort identity matters even in maritime security china japan and maritime cooperation in east asia
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66364
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