US Foreign and Security Policy in Asia

The Asia-Pacific is undergoing substantial geopolitical change. Accustomed to playing a dominant strategic role in the region during much of the post-war era, the United States is increasingly compelled to search for new and different regional strategies from those it has traditionally projected as a 'regional hegemon'. This course will initially review what approaches and policies have underscored US security doctrinal thinking in an Asia-Pacific context. It will then assess major factors now affecting US power relativities and how such factors are re-constituting the strategic role in the region. It will then apply these investigations to selected case studies of US policy interests and behaviour in the contemporary Asian security environment.