Introduction: interrogating regional international society in East Asia

Author(s):  
Barry Buzan ◽  
Yongjin Zhang
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e77-e85
Author(s):  
Luxia Zhang ◽  
Jinwei Wang ◽  
Chih-Wei Yang ◽  
Sydney Chi-wai Tang ◽  
Naoki Kashihara ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
pp. 030582982110506
Author(s):  
Yuan-kang Wang

Scholars of international relations have embraced the tributary system as the dominant lens to studying historical orders of East Asia. Hendrik Spruyt’s The World Imagined, a rare gem in the study of comparative international orders, argues that the tributary system articulated the ontology of the historical East Asia international society. This article cautions against two common pitfalls. First, the tributary system is a modern conceptual construct that can blind researchers to other types of political orders existing throughout East Asia’s diverse landscape and history, thus contributing to a Sinocentric bias. Both the Mongols and the Tibetans adopted a distinctive set of rules of inter-polity conduct that have little to do with the Chinese tributary system. Second, the tributary system perpetuates the myth that East Asia has been historically peaceful, while glossing over the numerous interpolity warfare that took place in the region as well as internal conflicts within the same cultural sphere of a state. I argue that our understanding of international orders can be substantially enriched when we take material power seriously and study its interplay with ideational factors.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-163
Author(s):  
Tomohiko Kobayashi

“Circumvention” is a growing challenge to the effectiveness of international law as the incentive to circumvent laws grows as the “legalization” of international society continues. This analysis on the anti-circumvention provisions within the wto Agreement reveals a lack of clarity and coherence in the existing disciplines. Ongoing negotiations to modify trade rules also do not fully address these concerns. Therefore, this article proposes that there is a need for a comprehensive approach consisting of amendment, coherent interpretation, use of general principles, and functional reallocation for the wto Agreement to address circumvention more effectively. In particular, to establish an efficient legal framework for economic integration in East Asia, this article notes that the priority in improving and clarifying anti-circumvention disciplines is to strike multi-dimensional balances between legitimate interests, including those between sovereign liberty and the effectiveness of international agreements, and those between the predictability of obligations and the effectiveness thereof.


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