Routledge Studies on the Asia-Pacific Region
About the Book Series
Asia’s dynamic economic growth during the past three decades has elevated the region’s significance in the global economy. The growing American economic linkage with the region has also elevated the region’s significance in U.S. foreign policy, as typified by President Obama’s "Rebalance to Asia" policy. While U.S. President Donald Trump's protectionist outlook cast some doubt about the continuing U.S. engagement with the region, Asia’s growth has not only been an economic blessing, but also a potential destabilizing factor in regional security. The continuing isolation of North Korea and its development of weapons of mass destruction, China’s rapid military modernization and growing maritime ambitions, uncertainties about U.S. security commitment to the region, and responses of the major powers (like Japan, India, and Russia) have dynamically interacted to shape the transformation of regional security.
At the same time, economic growth has affected domestic socio-political balance in each country, and the growing economic linkages have also boosted transnational interactions between both legitimate and illegitimate societal actors; business alliances, human rights groups, environmentalist networks, and transnational criminals are some examples. These changes in governance in the region have offered a very important subject to study.
This series aims to cut across the arbitrary sub-regional focus of much of Asian Studies and to explicitly incorporate the role of the United States in the region. In order to capture the dynamic economic, political, social, and cultural transformation of the region, a broader geographical scope must be studied together in multi- and inter-disciplinary fashion. Topics covered will include international relations, comparative politics, history, popular culture, media, crime, urbanization and economic integration.
Understanding International Relations in the Indo-Pacific
1st Edition
By Aleš Karmazin, Michal Kolmaš, Guangyu Qiao-Franco
October 24, 2025
Karmazin, Kolmaš, and Qiao-Franco deconstruct the concept of the Indo-Pacific and offer a timely, comparative, and multidimensional exploration of the region’s international relations. Addressing fundamental academic questions regarding the viability of the Indo-Pacific as a regional conception, ...
Asia-Pacific Secondary States as Kingmakers: Alignment Roles in the China-US Strategic Competition
1st Edition
By Richard J. Cook, Maximilian Ohle, Zhaoying Han
May 30, 2025
Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, Cook, Ohle and Han investigate the escalating strategic competition between China and the US. They explore the dynamics of key regional secondary states caught in the middle, namely Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam, emphasising their crucial role ...
Security Order and Strategic Alignment in Europe and the Asia-Pacific: Times of Global Power Shifts
1st Edition
Edited
By Elena Atanassova-Cornelis, Yoichiro Sato, Tom Sauer
April 08, 2025
Elena Atanassova-Cornelis, Yoichiro Sato, Tom Sauer, and their contributors examine the implications of the shifts in power for the regional security order, as the longterm relative decline of the US standing in the global hierarchy of power is more pronounced than ever due to the challenges it ...
Climate Change and Conflict in the Pacific: Challenges and Responses
1st Edition
Edited
By Ria Shibata, Seforosa Carroll, Volker Boege
January 30, 2025
Shibata, Carroll and Boege address the various dimensions of the climate change–conflict nexus and shed light on the overwhelming challenges of climate change in the Pacific Islands region. This book highlights the multidimensionality of the problems: political, technical, material, and emotional ...
Pandemic, States and Societies in the Asia-Pacific, 2020–2021: Responding to COVID
1st Edition
Edited
By Charles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou
January 30, 2025
Hawksley and Georgeou bring together scholars and practitioners from across the region to analyse the main effects of the first two years of the COVID pandemic in a range of case studies from Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Oceania. The book provides a broad survey of how Indonesia, ...
Japan’s Rise as a Regional and Global Power, 2013-2023: A Momentous Decade
1st Edition
Edited
By Gilbert Rozman, Brad Glosserman
June 03, 2024
Rozman and Glosserman follow a momentous decade in the transformation of Japanese foreign policy from 2013 to 2023 that unveils Japan in a new light as a leading power more closely aligned with the United States than ever before but with distinct aspirations. The book presents a comprehensive ...
Diversity and Inclusion in Japan: Issues in Business and Higher Education
1st Edition
Edited
By Lailani Alcantara, Yoshiki Shinohara
May 27, 2024
Alcantara, Shinohara, and their contributors evaluate the current state of diversity and inclusion (D&I) within business and higher education in Japan, and the importance of D&I to the growth of Japan’s economy and the enrichment of its society. Japan is widely understood to be a ...