Economists for Peace and Security

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European analogies for a liberal peace in Northeast Asia
Brendan Howe

Vol 4, No 2 - Symposia on applied game theory and Southeast Asian maritime security, July 2009

The efficacy of the triangle of economic interdependence, international organization, and democracy in constructing a zone of perpetual peace in Europe has led many commentators and practitioners to consider the viability of a similar liberal internationalist project in Northeast Asia. In contrast, this article contends that far from Northeast Asia being ripe for resolution in accordance with the liberal principles which brought peace to Europe in the second half of the twentieth century, the underlying strategic and security structures bear closer resemblance to those of Europe in the first half of the last century when liberal internationalism experienced a twenty-year crisis and the region was wracked by great power competition and confrontation. Nevertheless, there remains hope for the evolution of a zone of peace in Northeast Asia, but one based on rational and socially constructed pragmatic instruments rather than those of the liberal paradigm. [Keywords: Europe; Northeast Asia; integration; interdependence; crisis. JEL codes: F52, F53, F59]

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