This book examines the progress and reception of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in key subregions of Asia, Africa and Europe. Through its exploration of the patchwork of distinctive sub regions of each continent, the book analyses how well the BRI accommodates sub regional variation as it attempts to integrate Asia, Africa, and Europe under Chinese auspices. Individual chapters focus on how developing subregions experience BRI relations with China, while others focus on how liberal powers seek to compete with China's BRI agenda. The contributions also gauge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the BRI in regional settings and point to its future implications. Offering a panoramic view of the vast mosaic of Asian, African, and European sub regions targeted by the BRI, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of International Relations and Global Political Economy as well as Chinese politics and those with an interest in the Belt and Road Initiative more broadly.

Japan's use of Soft power in its international politics is as yet understudied. Soft power presents as many challenges as promises. This book explores the way Japan uses soft power in its relationship with the US, its Asian neighbours and Europe and aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of soft power in international relations. Hard power, on the other hand, is more tangible and has received far greater scholarly scrutiny than soft power. However, as this collection makes clear, hard power has its limitations and counterproductive consequences as an instrument of policy. This book makes it clear that hard power alone will not provide Japan with the peace and security it desires. A smart balancing or mixture of hard and soft power is required. Is Japan up to this challenge? While this book cannot give a definitive answer to this question, the excellent line-up of contributors present their best analyses of the effectiveness of Japan's current attempt at balancing the two components of national power in meeting its bilateral and multilateral security challenges. The US-Japan Alliance is suitable for upper undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in International Politics, Political Science, Security studies and Japanese studies. Winner of The Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Special Prize, 2011.

The Routledge Handbook of Africa-Asia Relations is the first handbook aimed at studying the interactions between countries across Africa and Asia in a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive way. Providing a balanced discussion of historical and on-going processes which have both shaped and changed intercontinental relations over time, contributors take a thematic approach to examine the ways in which we can conceptualise these two very different, yet inextricably linked areas of the world. Using comparative examples throughout, the chronological sections cover: * Early colonialist contacts between Africa and Asia; * Modern Asia-Africa interactions through diplomacy, political networks and societal connections; * Africa-Asia contemporary relations, including increasing economic, security and environmental cooperation. This handbook grapples with major intellectual questions, defines current research, and projects future agendas of investigation in the field. As such, it will be of great interest to students of African and Asian Politics, as well as researchers and policymakers interested in Asian and African Studies.

Japan's use of Soft power in its international politics is as yet understudied. Soft power presents as many challenges as promises. This book explores the way Japan uses soft power in its relationship with the US, its Asian neighbours and Europe and aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of soft power in international relations.

Hard power, on the other hand, is more tangible and has received far greater scholarly scrutiny than soft power. However, as this collection makes clear, hard power has its limitations and counterproductive consequences as an instrument of policy. This book makes it clear that hard power alone will not provide Japan with the peace and security it desires. A smart balancing or mixture of hard and soft power is required.

Is Japan up to this challenge? While this book cannot give a definitive answer to this question, the excellent line-up of contributors present their best analyses of the effectiveness of Japan's current attempt at balancing the two components of national power in meeting its bilateral and multilateral security challenges.

The US-Japan Alliance is suitable for upper undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in International Politics, Political Science, Security studies and Japanese studies.

Winner of The Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Special Prize, 2011.

Filling a gap in the existing literature, this book analyzes the distinctive features of Japan's development aid, especially technical co-operation, in comparison with other donors' aid. Incorporating a wealth of research, it discusses whether Japan is behind other leading donor countries in rethinking its aid policy and whether it lacks transparency, sensitivity to recipient needs, and a coherent and coordinated policy that targets poverty.

The volume assesses the nature and effectiveness of the administration of Japan's aid, and explores the degree of involvement of private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Including contributions from experts with direct experience with Japanese ODA, the book provides a wide range of recipient and donor viewpoints and presents important policy recommendations.

This book analyzes the distinctive features of Japan's development aid, especially technical co-operation, in comparison with other donors' aid. It provides a wealth of material, and discusses important questions, such as whether Japan is behind other leading donor countries in rethinking its aid policy; whether Japan's aid programmes are too donor-led, and insufficiently consultative; whether Japan's aid over-emphasises technical co-operation, and assumes that aid means industrialisation, rather than giving due weight to social needs; and how far Japan's aid is focused on Asia. It assesses the nature and effectiveness of the administration of Japan's aid, and explores the degree of involvement of the private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It offers conclusions and policy recommendations on all these points. One important conclusion is that, whatever its shortcomings, Japan's aid is much appreciated by recipient countries.

This book discusses the impact of China's rise on regional order at three levels: Sino-US relations, East Asia's contested sub regions and regional institutions. Sino-US relations provide a framework to examine macro-regional relations. In East Asia's contested sub regions-Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the eastern Indian Ocean region-the author explores the crucial role regional powers and local states play in maintaining effective governance and stability. The author shows how regional institutions attempt to develop cooperation and shared norms that work toward regional community. The inclusion of leading experts from China, the US, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, and India gives this collection a unique viewpoint, and reveals how China's rise looks from inside and outside China, as well as inside and outside the region.

This book discusses the impact of China's rise on regional order at three levels: Sino-US relations, East Asia's contested sub regions and regional institutions. Sino-US relations provide a framework to examine macro-regional relations. In East Asia's contested sub regions-Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the eastern Indian Ocean region-the author explores the crucial role regional powers and local states play in maintaining effective governance and stability. The author shows how regional institutions attempt to develop cooperation and shared norms that work toward regional community. The inclusion of leading experts from China, the US, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, and India gives this collection a unique viewpoint, and reveals how China's rise looks from inside and outside China, as well as inside and outside the region.

The Routledge Handbook of Africa-Asia Relations is the first handbook aimed at studying the interactions between countries across Africa and Asia in a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive way. Providing a balanced discussion of historical and on-going processes which have both shaped and changed intercontinental relations over time, contributors take a thematic approach to examine the ways in which we can conceptualise these two very different, yet inextricably linked areas of the world. Using comparative examples throughout, the chronological sections cover: * Early colonialist contacts between Africa and Asia; * Modern Asia-Africa interactions through diplomacy, political networks and societal connections; * Africa-Asia contemporary relations, including increasing economic, security and environmental cooperation. This handbook grapples with major intellectual questions, defines current research, and projects future agendas of investigation in the field. As such, it will be of great interest to students of African and Asian Politics, as well as researchers and policymakers interested in Asian and African Studies.

The United States launched a new Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy in late 2017 after reluctantly concluding that its patient effort to engage and socialize China to the rules-based order since 1972 had failed. China's behaviour since 2009 convinced the United States that China is a revisionist power seeking to impose an authoritarian model of governance in Asia which, if successful, would end the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific as well as endanger US security and vital trade interests. The new US FOIP strategy initiative seeks to engage like-minded nations in economic, security (both traditional and non-traditional), and political governance partnerships to construct a collaborative and scalable network of relations that will be able to respond flexibly to meet a wide range of stakeholder needs and regional contingencies across the Indo-Pacific region. The United States occupies a peak organizing role in this network and works with a hierarchy of partners distributed throughout the vast Indo-Pacific to meet the economic, security, and governance capacity needs of network members at any level. The rules-based order is the "operating system" of this network approach, and so the network itself sustains the rules-based order for its members as a collective good. FOIP is more like a club that generates rules-based order benefits for its members and as such has little in common with Cold War bloc politics and containment strategy. Bearing in mind that FOIP is only in its start-up phase and is likely to gather momentum going forward; that the elements of this network strategy are already in place; and that the United States and its main FOIP partners together have considerable material, organizational, and soft power resources, one may say that its prospects for long-term sustainability and success are not bad.