Relations internationales

C19(c) - Global Politics of the Indo-Pacific

Date: Jun 5 | Heure: 01:45pm to 03:15pm | Salle:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Benjamin Toettoe (University of Montreal)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Seanon Wong (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Conflict and Crisis in Afghanistan: Contemporary United States Role in the New Great Game of Asia-Pacific Seerat Saleem, Government Murray graduate college Sialkot, Punjab-Pakistan Farhan Khalid, Government Murray graduate college Sialkot, Punjab-Pakistan The Nuclear Mirage of Japan’s Energy Security Fantasy: A Historical Institutionalist Analysis Clare McKendry, University of Waterloo No Longer the Backwater: Maritime Security and the Blue Economy in the South Pacific Juhn Chris Espia, University of the Philippines Visayas La Stratégie Indo-Pacifique du Canada : Une Quête de Statut ou une Approche Stratégique ? Nicolas-Francois Perron, UQAM

No Longer the Backwater: Maritime Security and the Blue Economy in the South Pacific: Juhn Chris Espia (University of the Philippines Visayas)
Abstract: The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are located among the most marine resource-rich regions in the world. However, factors such as the small island geography, relatively small populations, and limited levels of economic diversity have made them vulnerable to shocks such as disasters, making these states poor and economically volatile. While these states have been largely forgotten in the larger geostrategic picture in the Cold War and for most of the post-Cold War era, they have become once again an important geopolitical flashpoint. Within the larger context of US-China strategic competition, China sees these islands as an opportunity to exploit more marine resources, expand its maritime geopolitical domain, and diplomatically isolate Taiwan. The US, Australia, and New Zealand, with well-established relationships with PICs policymakers and its people, also consider them of paramount strategic importance due to their proximity. But while issues of traditional security and aid dependence rank high on the agenda, issues related to these states’ livelihoods and sustenance, which are dependent on fishery and marine resources, take a back seat. This paper examines how China’s presence in the Pacific can further intensify resource exploitation in this region and potentially exacerbate prevailing issues. In particular, I am interested in the question, “How does China’s presence in the Pacific enhance or constrain the maritime space?” Here I examine how demand-driven expansion by China’s Distant Water Fleets (DWF) can lead to the depletion of fish stocks and other resources through Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUU-F). Drawing from extant reports, scholarly work, and commentaries, I argue that the presence of PRC’s DWF in the Pacific Islands not only exacerbated the issue of IUUF but has also contributed to the securitization of fisheries in the region. The scale and scope of the DWF’s industrial-scale fishing not only directly threatens food and livelihood security in the region, but the opaque yet controversial nature of the PRC’s fishing operations makes it inextricable from the PRC’s larger strategic ambitions.

The Nuclear Mirage of Japan’s Energy Security Fantasy: A Historical Institutionalist Analysis: Clare McKendry (University of Waterloo), David Welch (University of Waterloo)
Abstract: Energy security has sat at the nexus of Japan’s political calculations as its overreliance on oil and gas imports from an increasingly unstable Middle East and Eastern Europe leaves it particularly vulnerable to energy shocks. Japan’s limited natural resource production capabilities place it at a severe disadvantage of potentially having their access to oil, gas, and coal held hostage by external suppliers. This predicament often compels states to diversify their energy mix, which can include an array of both renewable and non-renewable sources to supplement energy demand. The problem is that alternative energy production sources can be slow to catch up. The sources of renewable energy (i.e., geothermal, wind, and solar power) and non-renewable (i.e., hydroelectric, and nuclear power) make up an estimated 15% of Japan’s domestic supply. Why does Japan’s political elite keep this precarious institutional arrangement remain in place? This paper takes a historical institutionalist (HI) approach to examine the bureaucracy of Japan’s institutional decision-making and its impact on the country’s energy security. I examine the structural adjustments in Japan’s energy programs—primarily its nuclear power industry— to reduce its reliance on imports to lessen the blow of future uncertainties. I analyze these updated policies and programs in conjunction with notable nuclear incidents and disasters in Japan’s recent history. I argue that Japan’s incalculably high sunk costs into nuclear energy production and pro-nuclear lawmakers’ unwillingness to increase the country’s energy mix are to blame for its energy insecurity.

Conflict and crisis in in Afghanistan: contemporary United States role in the new great game of Asia pacific: Seerat Saleem (Government Murray graduate college Sialkot, Punjab-Pakistan), Farhan Khalid (Government Murray graduate college Sialkot, Punjab-Pakistan), Farhan Khalid (Government Murray graduate college Sialkot, Punjab-Pakistan)
Abstract: Afghanistan has been remained a game theatre for regional and global powers due to the presence of conflict and crises on its soil with multiple implications. The Washington administration has preferred its own policy of capturing power and influence in the region. The research aims to elucidate the vested interests and objectives of the United States in Afghanistan over the past two decades along with to indicate major causes of conflict and crises in Afghanistan. The research work consists of the qualitative analysis with the support of empirical data, How the United States has applied different security strategies in Afghanistan to acquire certain settled interests and objectives? The research widely emphasis on the United States contemporary role in Afghanistan being the major and powerful player of the new great game in the region along with its aftermath, outcomes, implications, and the probable environment of socio, political, ethnic, and economic instability in Afghanistan. Despite costing a huge investment, struggle and sacrifices the question arsis that Afghanistan still remains a zone of violence, uncertainty, instability, militancy and religious extremism. The United States has adopted the dynamical policy parameters like, coercive diplomacy, regional approach, pressuring tactics, military escalation method, complete disengagement approach, political settlement approach and the status que plus approach, but it could not be successful to bring all the Afghan stakeholders and the regional actors on any undisputed solution of the conflict in Afghanistan. It includes how the United States can play its vital role as an influential and most leading actor in the dynamical geo-strategic great game of Indo-pacific politics.

La Stratégie Indo-Pacifique du Canada : Une Quête de Statut ou une Approche Stratégique ?: Nicolas-Francois Perron (UQÀM)
Abstract: Face aux appels internes et externes pour une position plus précise sur l'Indo-Pacifique, le Canada a publié sa première Stratégie indo-pacifique en 2022. D'une part, l'engagement dans la région est présenté par le gouvernement comme preuve de son engagement envers ses alliés, mettant en avant le rôle de leader et de partenaire fiable du Canada. D'autre part, cet engagement répondrait aux dynamiques de pouvoir changeantes dans l'Indo-Pacifique, en particulier à la montée des tensions entre la Chine et les États-Unis. Ainsi, l'implication du Canada semble motivée à la fois par des changements systémiques et par une quête de statut. Ancrée dans un cadre théorique de la théorie de l'identité sociale et de la théorie des rôles, nous soutenons que la posture canadienne y est en grande partie motivée par une quête de statut plutôt que par des considérations purement stratégiques. En d'autres termes, l'engagement du Canada dans la région est influencé par la recherche d'une position et d'un rang fondés sur des attributs collectivement valorisés. Par conséquent, les choix stratégiques du Canada sont souvent orientés par des techniques de gestion du statut, en alignement avec les attentes de ses alliés au profit d'une pensée stratégique alignant les moyens aux objectifs. Nous examinons les documents stratégiques canadiens et les acquisitions militaires pour la période de 2011 à 2024. Cette posture a des impacts importants. Quels signaux cela envoie-t-il aux alliés du Canada ? Pourquoi le Canada adopte-t-il une politique axée sur le statut ? Quelles sont les conséquences sur les capacités militaires canadiennes ?