The Struggle For Order: Hegemony, Hierarchy, And Transition In
Post-Cold War East Asia By Evelyn Goh (Hardback, 2013)

Product Description

How has world order changed since the Cold War ended? Do we live in an age of American empire or is global power shifting to the East with the rise of China? Arguing that existing ideas about balance of power & power transition are inadequate this book gives an innovative reinterpretation of the changing nature of US power focused on the 'order transition' in East Asia Hegemonic power is based on both coercion & consent & hegemony is crucially underpinned by shared norms & values Thus hegemons must constantly legitimize their unequal power to other states In periods of strategic change the most important political dynamics centre on this bargaining process conceived here as the negotiation of a social compact This book studies the re-negotiation of this consensual compact between the US China & other states in post-Cold War East Asia It analyses institutional bargains to constrain & justify power; attempts to re-define the relationship between a regional community & the global economic order; the evolution of great power authority in regional conflict management & the salience of competing justice claims in memory disputes It finds that US hegemony has been established in East Asia after the Cold War mainly because of the complicity of key regional states But the new social compact also makes room for rising powers & satisfies smaller states' insecurities The book controversially proposes that the East Asian order is multi-tiered & hierarchical led by the US but incorporating China Japan & other states in the layers below it