The United States and Asia: Regional Dynamics and Twenty-First-Century Relations

by Robert G. Sutter professor of International Affairs, George Washington University

Overview

Now in a fully revised and updated edition, this cogent book provides an overview of the historical context and enduring patterns of U.S. relations with Asia. Noted scholar Robert G. Sutter offers a balanced analysis of post–Cold War dynamics in Asia, which involve interrelated questions of security, economics, national identity, and regional institution building. He demonstrates how these critical concerns manifest a complex mix of realist, liberal, and constructivist tendencies that define the regional order. He describes how the United States has responded to Asia’s growing strength and importance while at the same time trying to maintain its leading position as an Asian power despite China’s rising influence. Considering the most important transition in American policy toward Asia since the end of the Cold War, Sutter assesses the growing U.S.-China rivalry that now dominates both regional dynamics in the Asia-Pacific and U.S. policy in the region.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538126448
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/17/2019
Series:	Asia in World Politics
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	362
Product dimensions:	6.27(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert G. Sutter is professor of practice in international affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University.

Table of Contents

Acronyms

1 Introduction

2 Historical Lessons and the Evolution of U.S. Relations with the Asia-Pacific

3 Post–Cold War Developments

4 Asia, Obama’s Rebalance, and the Ascendance of Donald Trump

5 Status and Outlook of U.S. Relations with China

6 U.S. Relations with Korea

7 U.S. Relations with Japan

8 U.S. Relations with Southeast Asia and the Pacific

9 U.S. Relations with South Asia

10 U.S. Relations with Central Asia, Mongolia, and Russia in Asia

11 China Rivalry, U.S. Leadership, and Asia’s Contested Balance of Power

Selected Bibliography

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Bob Sutter is among the best academic analysts of American foreign policy toward Asia. Adding to his first edition, this volume provides an insightful, up-to-date assessment of the continuities and disjunctions of the Trump administration’s unusual approach to Asian affairs.

Sheldon Simon

The Trump administration has reshaped Washington’s Asia policy on Beijing, moving decisively to check a rising China. Bob Sutter is supremely qualified to assess and explain this seismic shift in American policy and international relations. Students of Asia and of American foreign policy are well served by the sharp analysis in this book.

Ming Wan

Robert Sutter is the leading expert on U.S.-Asian relations. His latest book combines the insights of a former government analyst with the skills of an academic to provide a fair-minded, careful account that pays due regard to the views of both sides, while making his own views clear. It deserves to reach a very wide audience.

Michael Yahuda

Bob Sutter has struck again, providing experts and students alike with a valuable, wide-ranging analysis of U.S. relations with Asia stretching from South Asia to the North Pacific. He explicitly favors a ‘contextual analysis used by U.S. government and other policy and intelligence analysts’ to assess the complicated determinants shaping U.S.-Asia relations. It is difficult to suggest a more useful, current, and thoughtful single-volume, single-author text for specialists and students.

Satu Limaye

Sutter provides the most comprehensive and balanced account to date of what contexts and determinants of the United States’ foreign policy are integral to shaping its perceptions and strategies toward the Asia-Pacific region. Applying major IR theories to his analysis of power politics, regional economic developments, and institution-building, the author offers critical and timely assessments of U.S. policy formulation and behavior toward key Asian actors and facilitates an in-depth understanding of those interests, identities, and norms that generate and sustain American policy in Asia. Written clearly and persuasively, Sutter’s volume is required reading for students and analysts wishing to understand how the United States interacts with and influences what is arguably the world’s most important region.

William Tow

With perceptive analysis, historical narrative, and insightful deployment of international relations theory, Robert Sutter offers a comprehensive account of U.S. engagement with the Asia-Pacific—particularly focusing on U.S.-China relations. He challenges conventional wisdom and makes a strong case for a future of enduring American leadership—and enduring stability—alongside China in the region.

Bates Gill

Sutter gives readers another of his periodic and always excellent comprehensive assessments of US foreign policy in Asia. The book takes a broad view, examining US policy from Central to East Asia. Sutter makes it clear that he is a realist but not an alarmist. Of course, the most important issue is the US-China relationship. China’s growing economic and political power makes the country a dilemma for the US but not yet a peer competitor. US policy toward China should still be based on engagement, and the Obama rebalancing policy is a solid starting point. From this perspective, Sutter examines US policy in Asia in the context of the three key paradigms in international relations scholarship—realism, liberalism, and constructivism. Each, he contends, is a useful tool for analyzing the current shape and future of US policy in Asia. He identifies the five key factors that will determine the future of Asia: changing relations among the great powers, growing economic globalization, rising tension levels in regional conflicts and WMD proliferation, rising Asian multilateralism, and the level of US involvement using them as a framework for analysis. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels.

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