The East Asia and the Bipolar Balance of Power

Subject Areas :

Shahrooz Ebrahimi ¹ , Jamil Milani ² , Javad Karami Rad ³

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Received: 2013-04-04 Accepted : 2013-06-15 Published : 2013-06-01

Keywords: Realism, Balance of Power, Neorealism, concert of powers, East Asia,

Abstract :

The East Asia is one of the key economic regions of the world. According to forecasts in near future this region is one of the important poles of international economic system. This economic importance and the presence of big powers like China, Japan and extra regional powers like the United States and also the presence of nuclear weapon in the region have added to the importance of peace and stability in the region. Some of the analysts are of the view that one of the reasons for amazing economic development is the existence of stability in the region. Other observers believe that due to absence of democracy, mutual economic interdependence and the presence of multinational corporations in East Asia, the tension is on the rise. There is a possibility that disruption of peace and security in East Asia affects the whole international system. Taking into consideration the above conditions the international thinkers suggest ways to maintain peace and stability. One of these suggestions is the “concert of powers”. According to these thinkers the concert of powers or the collective security system consisting the United States, China and Japan can protect security, peace and stability of the region. The basic question raised by the present paper is whether there will be possibility of forming such concert of powers in East Asia. The hypothesis given in reply to above question is that till predictable future it is the balance of power which will be the basis of East Asia equation and it can prevent an all-out war in the region. The paper has written within the framework of Kenneth Waltz’s structural realism. In Kenneth Waltz structural realism the balance of power is the best mechanism which maintains (fragile) peace especially in a bipolar system. The Methodology used in the paper is descriptive-analytical and source for collecting data is library material. The finding of the study is that due to lack of identical political ideology and strategy about the distribution of power in the regional structure; practically the possibility of formation of such concert of power in East Asia is not probable in predictable future.