East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy

East Asian Civilization and the Problem of Region Making

Millennial Asia ◽

10.1177/0976399620940467 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 097639962094046

Author(s):

Oleg Pakhomov

Keyword(s):

Dynamic Equilibrium ◽

East Asian ◽

Political Legitimacy ◽

Social Characteristics ◽

Total Power ◽

Informal Networks ◽

Local Conditions ◽

State Institutions ◽

Relevant Today ◽

Chinese Model

The paper examines East Asia as regional civilization whose enduring characteristics emerged from long-term relations towards the Chinese model of a centralized state. The civilizational approach helps to understand the interrelation between different aspects of the region, such as politics, economy or culture. Chinese statehood relied on the principle of total power unrestricted by any norms of morality or laws and its neutralization by non-state institutions and informal networks. These two aspects helped to maintain a dynamic equilibrium of the political system and adapt it towards internal and external changes. The adoption of Chinese statehood came into contradiction with Korean and Japanese natural and social characteristics. This produced risks for the internal political legitimacy of political systems constructed according to the Chinese model in both countries. Necessity to preserve internal legitimacy encouraged external expansion of Imperial China and forced Korea and Japan to resist Sinocentric order but continue to adapt Chinese influence to local conditions. This contradiction defined reality of East Asian region during the traditional period, influenced its transition to modernity and remains relevant today.

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Coup erodes Thailand's US and ASEAN ties

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db198081 ◽

2015 ◽

Keyword(s):

East Asian ◽

Political Legitimacy ◽

Code Of Conduct ◽

The United States ◽

South East Asia ◽

Content Type ◽

Regional Powers ◽

Parliamentary Elections ◽

Investor Confidence ◽

Military Exercises

Subject Outlook for Thailand's ties with other South-east Asian powers and the United States. Significance As Thailand moves uncertainly toward a new constitution and parliamentary elections in 2016, the junta is seeking this year to strengthen relations with other South-east Asian governments and regional powers. The junta aims to boost investor confidence and its political legitimacy by reclaiming Thailand's past role as a major ASEAN actor. Impacts A Code of Conduct with China in the South China Sea is unlikely. Despite rhetorical rifts, Washington and Bangkok will continue to cooperate on key regional issues, such as Cobra Gold military exercises. To Beijing, US ties with South-east Asia will justify China's military aggrandisement and cultivation of regional proxies such as Laos.

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Maxims of Foreign Policy

Itinerario ◽

10.1017/s0165115300044508 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 62-79

Author(s):

W.J. Boot

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Sixteenth Century ◽

Foreign Relations ◽

East Asian ◽

Modern Period ◽

Cultural Sphere ◽

Japanese Identity

In the pre-modern period, Japanese identity was articulated in contrast with China. It was, however, articulated in reference to criteria that were commonly accepted in the whole East-Asian cultural sphere; criteria, therefore, that were Chinese in origin.One of the fields in which Japan's conception of a Japanese identity was enacted was that of foreign relations, i.e. of Japan's relations with China, the various kingdoms in Korea, and from the second half of the sixteenth century onwards, with the Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutchmen, and the Kingdom of the Ryūkū.

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