Alternative realities: Explaining security in the Asia-Pacific

Beeson, M

Alternative realities: Explaining security in the Asia-Pacific

Beeson, M

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Publisher:: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Review of International Studies, 2017, 43, (3), pp. 516-533
Issue Date:: 2017-07-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Beeson, M https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8659-262X
dc.date.accessioned	2022-10-04T21:14:44Z
dc.date.available	2022-10-04T21:14:44Z
dc.date.issued	2017-07-01
dc.identifier.citation	Review of International Studies, 2017, 43, (3), pp. 516-533
dc.identifier.issn	0260-2105
dc.identifier.issn	1469-9044
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/162305
dc.description.abstract	The central argument of this article is that constructivists in particular underestimate or even ignore the importance of the 'real' structural inheritance that shapes state (and the political elites that represent them) behaviour. Even though the future is indeterminate, some outcomes are decidedly more likely than others, especially where policymakers believe they inhabit a strategic universe of zero sum outcomes and where self-reliance and assertion remain important. I suggest that 'critical realism' offers a way of accounting for the institutional structures that shape international behaviour. The first half of this article makes the case for a critical realist approach. The second half illustrates the possible importance of this claim with reference to the contemporary geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
dc.relation.ispartof	Review of International Studies
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1017/S0260210517000018
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	1605 Policy and Administration, 1606 Political Science, 2203 Philosophy
dc.subject.classification	International Relations
dc.title	Alternative realities: Explaining security in the Asia-Pacific
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	43
utslib.for	1605 Policy and Administration
utslib.for	1606 Political Science
utslib.for	2203 Philosophy
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (International)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (International)/Australia-China Relations Institute
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-10-04T21:14:40Z
pubs.issue	3
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	43
utslib.citation.issue	3

Abstract:

The central argument of this article is that constructivists in particular underestimate or even ignore the importance of the 'real' structural inheritance that shapes state (and the political elites that represent them) behaviour. Even though the future is indeterminate, some outcomes are decidedly more likely than others, especially where policymakers believe they inhabit a strategic universe of zero sum outcomes and where self-reliance and assertion remain important. I suggest that 'critical realism' offers a way of accounting for the institutional structures that shape international behaviour. The first half of this article makes the case for a critical realist approach. The second half illustrates the possible importance of this claim with reference to the contemporary geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/162305