Despite major changes in the security environment in Northeast Asia, including North Korea’s emergence as a nuclear-armed power, the US–Republic of Korea (ROK) alliance has been characterised by several consistent themes since its inception. The most prominent of these has been a tension between entrapment and abandonment fears, and a misalignment between close military-operational ties and uneven political strategic relations. While the alliance has experienced a significant ‘thickening’ of its institutional fabric, it nevertheless remains susceptible to strains regarding the inter-Korean focus of governments in Seoul and the aversion among US policymakers to any accommodation of Pyongyang. Looking ahead, these dynamics will continue to shape the US–ROK alliance as it confronts a new, and increasingly unpredictable, era of strategic uncertainty on the Korean peninsula.
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Handbook Chapter
In Handbook on the United States in Asia
Edited by Andrew T.H. Tan
- Published:
- 28 September 2018
Michael Heazle and Andrew O’Neil
US primacy has provided not only the political foundation of America’s many long-standing relationships in the region, but also the foundation of the regional order’s most fundamental norms and aspirations, in addition to the public goods needed for their pursuit. But the regional environment is now facing transformation in the face of both China’s ongoing challenge to the existing political order and the prospect of a US no longer willing to unilaterally guarantee regional security now, or perhaps in the future either. US allies and partners in Asia committed to a ‘rules-based’ liberal order, then, increasingly need to recalibrate their expectations of the US, but also to do more in asserting the authority of the order’s principles and rules in ways that continue to support US leadership but still recognize the current, and likely future, limits imposed by America’s status as a non-resident power in the region.
Monograph Chapter
In China's Rise and Australia–Japan–US Relations
Edited by Michael Heazle and Andrew O’Neil
- Published in print:
- 27 Apr 2018
China's Rise and Australia–Japan–US Relations
Primacy and Leadership in East Asia
Edited by Michael Heazle and Andrew O’Neil
Monograph Chapter
In China's Rise and Australia–Japan–US Relations
Edited by Michael Heazle and Andrew O’Neil
- Published in print:
- 27 Apr 2018
Michael Heazle and Andrew O’Neil
A common conclusion among the authors in response to questions about the nature of US leadership and its sources of authority is that US authority stems ultimately from the legitimacy granted to US power and influence by other states in East Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific; an attribute of US leadership clearly demonstrated by the great concern any prospect of US withdrawal continues to create in the region. So while America’s economic and military power have been the material enablers of US authority in Asia and elsewhere, it has been the acknowledged legitimacy and appeal of US leadership that has made it enduring and thus more than only hegemonic.
Monograph Chapter
In China's Rise and Australia–Japan–US Relations
Edited by Michael Heazle and Andrew O’Neil
- Published in print:
- 27 Apr 2018