A Blueprint for an Open and Pluralistic Indo-Pacific
REGIONAL STRATEGIC AND POLITICAL STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR
About the Seminar
Much of the recent debate over the Indo-Pacific idea is grounded in short-term history and somewhat narrow strategic and policy considerations. The vision of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific promoted by the US has been contested by China. Acharya and Pardesi argue that for the Indo-Pacific to be viable in the long-term, it must be grounded in indigenous history, rather than contemporary great power geopolitics. A possible model for a genuinely free and open Indo-Pacific can be found in the Indian Ocean system before the arrival of European imperial powers. Then, an expansive, vibrant and rules-based order of trade and cultural flows was organized not by great power/s, be it China or India, but by small and dynamic port city-states from Malindi in East Africa to Malacca in Southeast Asia. While history may not repeat itself, the past suggests possibilities for the future. With the passing of Western hegemony, the emerging Asian order would be neither unipolar (whether under China or the US) nor bipolar (based on Sino-US rivalry). Rather it would be a multiplex, or a de-centered, non-hegemonic international order. In this context, Southeast Asian countries should pay attention to their own past and their own agency to develop an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific framework, rather than applying outmoded Euro-American models of unipolarity or multipolarity.
About the Speakers
Dr Amitav Acharya is the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Distinguished Professor at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC. His previous appointments include being a Professor at York University, Toronto, and the University of Bristol, U.K., Fellow of Harvard University’s Asia Center, Research Fellow of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Christensen Fellow at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Acharya is a three-time winner of the Distinguished Scholar Award given by the International Studies Association (ISA).
Dr Manjeet S. Pardesi is Associate Professor of International Relations in the Political Science and International Relations Programme, and Asia Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. His research interests include International Relations and Global History, International Order, Great Power Politics, Asian security, and the Sino-Indian rivalry. Acharya and Pardesi are co-authors of Divergent Worlds: What the Ancient Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Can Tell Us About the Future of International Order (Yale University Press, forthcoming, January 2025).
Registration
This is a hybrid event which will be held at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (ISEAS).
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