Invasion by invitation: the role of alliances in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

Alliances continue to occupy a prominent place in the Asia-Pacific's security architecture. For many regional states such as Australia and Japan, their respective alliances with the USA are the unchallenged foundations of their security. But when the rise of China is causing major change in the region, and when many countries are increasingly reliant on China economically, is the region's network of alliances any longer appropriate or useful? This article reviews alliances in theory and practice, and argues that, while alliances are unlikely to disappear, their utility is nothing like as clear-cut as many of their supporters would have one believe.

Keywords:

• alliances
• Asia-Pacific
• Australia
• China
• security
• USA

Notes

1. I would like to thank the Australian Journal of International Affairs’ anonymous referees for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this article.

2. The possibility that institutions may persist long after their original rationale has disappeared is a long-standing idea in public policy and international relations, as is the idea that this may impart a degree of ‘path dependency’ (see Goldstein and Keohane 1993; Pierson 2000).

3. This is a notoriously contested concept that cannot be considered fully here. Suffice to say that I regard it as anything but self-evident and far more problematic than many political and strategic elites appear to believe (see McSweeny 1999).

4. Limited space precludes a discussion of the significance of regional definitions, but rivalries in North-East Asia and institutional weakness in South-East Asia mean that the absense of effective leadership adds to the difficulty of overcoming entrenched patterns of behaviour (see Nabers 2010).