Pekkanen, Saadia, John Ravenhill, and Rosemary Foot. "The International Relations of Asia" In Oxford Handbook of International Relations of Asia, edited by Saadia Pekkanen, John Ravenhill, and Rosemary Foot, 3-22. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Pekkanen, Saadia, John Ravenhill, and Rosemary Foot. "The International Relations of Asia" In Oxford Handbook of International Relations of Asia, edited by Saadia Pekkanen, John Ravenhill, and Rosemary Foot, 3-22. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

• Since 1945, Asia has gone through four major transitions: decolonization and the establishment of new states, the end of the Cold War, tremendous economic growth, and the rise of China (4).
• Most Asian countries place great value on preserving their national sovereignty and IR in the region is very state-centric. Originating in the nationalist orientation of these countries following decolonization, most Asian nations are still very suspicious of attempts to push human rights, democracy, or intervention, viewing these as threats to national governments (5, 10, 17).
• There a large, and expanding, economic divide within Asia between Northeast Asia and everywhere else. China, South Korea, and Japan collectively make up 20% of the global economy and 70% of the Asian economy (5-6). Most other parts of Asia are integrated into this economic zone, especially due to Chinese economic influence (6).
• The rapid economic growth of Asia has also produced anxieties about the stability or sustainability of this expansion. China, in particular, has faced increased pushback against its expanded political influence and there are many questions about whether China's economy will continue to grow (6).
• Economic growth has further connected Asian economies to global supply chains, making them dependent on imports and creating anxiety about the reliability of these resources (11).
• The enormous economic growth in Asia has been used to finance a consummate increase in military spending, especially in East and South Asia. The nuclearization of North Korea has also prompted new security concerns, including the possibility of more countries acquiring nuclear weapons (7, 11).
• Asia is intimately connected to the rest of the world, with all regions have strong connections to non-Asian countries, particularly to Oceania and the Americas through the Pacific Ocean and above all with the USA (7-8).
• Asia has a number of international organizations, but very few of them have any strong legal responsibilities or teeth in their enforcement capabilities. This has served to socialize Asian countries in the norms of international cooperation, but they still lack much of the substance of working through international organizations (8).
• The most distinctive feature of Asia and Asian IR is that both China and India, the world's largest countries, are in the region It also features many other powerful rivals, including Japan, the ASEAN nations, and the United States (9-10).
• The USA is heavily involved in Asia, more so than in any other region, and has maintained a system of alliances in the region since World War II: the San Francisco System. This has tied many Asian countries to the USA and has created a conception of the region as the Asia-Pacific to rival any attempts to create wholely Asian organizations (10).
• Asia has more territorial disputes than anywhere else on Earth, including both land and maritime borders. These disputes are also taken very serious by all sides, and raise the specter of conflict between India and Pakistan, India and China, China and Vietnam, between the Koreas, and elsewhere. They also remain largely unresolved (10).
• The traditional schools of IR theory -- Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism -- as well as their variations and some minor schools, are summarized and discussed from page 12 to page 15.
• The authors make a number of predictions about the future of IR in Asia:
• The 21st Century will be the Asian century and China will play the leading role, with India also potentially being important (16).
• States, not international organizations or civil society groups, will continue to be the many actors in Asian IR (16).
• Neutral states, like ASEAN, and non-Asian countries, especially the United States, will play an important role in mediating conflicts between Asian states (16).
• An arms race will continue between some Asian states, particularly China, Japan, and India (16-17). Conflict will not, however, erupt because it would seriously damage the economic growth valued by the entire region (17).