Papers by Antoine Roth
East Asia Forum, 7 September 2018
The unedited version of an online article published on the East Asia Forum website. Argues that d... more The unedited version of an online article published on the East Asia Forum website. Argues that despite frequent harpings about their nationalist tendencies, Xi Jinping and Abe Shinzo have shown a remarkable capacity of returning to normal, but still crisis-prone, Sino-Japanese relations after the breakdown of relations in 2012 following the nationalisation of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.
Reference to the shortened published version:
Andrea Fischetti and Antoine Roth, “Xi and Abe guarantors of Chinese–Japanese entente”, East Asia Forum, 7 September 2018, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/09/07/xi-and-abe-guarantors-of-chinese-japanese-entente/#more-144911
of Thesis Conflict Dynamics in Sino-Japanese Relations: The Case of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Di... more of Thesis Conflict Dynamics in Sino-Japanese Relations: The Case of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute This thesis analyzes the evolution of the Sino-Japanese conflict over ownership of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands since the end of the Cold War. It argues that the 2012-2013 confrontation following the nationalization of the islands by Japan is the result of a process of conflict escalation that played out during repeated cycles of tensions over the last two decades. Tensions reached a first peak in 1996 after Japanese activists built a lighthouse on one of the Senkaku/Diaoyu. Another confrontation would have erupted in 2004 after Chinese activists landed on one of the islands were it not for the intervention of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro.
Drafts by Antoine Roth
This paper examines the origins, implementation and effects of ASEAN’s policy towards China in th... more This paper examines the origins, implementation and effects of ASEAN’s policy towards China in the period from the end of the Cold War to the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997-1999. It argues that ASEAN countries elaborated a coherent strategy to try to socialize China by integrating it in the emerging regional architecture with the aim both to deter any aggressive action from its part and to try and create a sense of community and of common interests in order to guarantee regional stability and advance the idea of an East Asian community. ASEAN’s “complex engagement” strategy was deployed in different fields – diplomacy, security, economics, … – and at different levels – governmental, academic, … – so as to establish multi-dimensional dialogue mechanisms and to determine in which areas cooperation would prove the easiest. The organization was largely successful in its attempt to engage China, although hard security issues proved (and continue to prove) difficult to solve with ASEAN’s preferred diplomatic tools. Perhaps the organization’s greatest achievement is to have laid the path for China’s own conversion to regional multilateralism from 1997 onwards.
Conference Presentations by Antoine Roth
The rise of populism in Western democracies is one of the defining events of our time. In this pa... more The rise of populism in Western democracies is one of the defining events of our time. In this paper, this rise is analyzed as an internal cultural rift as described by Martin Wight in Systems of States. The moral opposition between liberalism and populism is outlined in all its dimensions, using the framework developed by Christian Reus-Smit to discuss the Moral Purpose of the State, with a particular focus on the institutional impact of different cultural values. This is followed by a discussion of the intensity and likely outcome of the cultural split as well as reflections on its impact on the global international society.
The Asia-Pacific region has become the most dynamic region on the planet, as well as the most wor... more The Asia-Pacific region has become the most dynamic region on the planet, as well as the most worrying potential theater of confrontation between regional and great powers. This paper will look to Asia’s past for lessons on how to ensure that maritime disputes on China’s periphery are neutralize as a source of instability. Taking inspiration from the English school of IR theory, it will first seek to understand which institutions and features of the traditional Sino-centric order were important factors of stability and could be usefully adapted to avoid disputes between China and its neighbors today. It will then focus more particularly on Sino-US relations and, using the theory on politics and enmity of German thinker Carl Schmitt as well as examples from imperial China’s dealings with “barbarians”, will discuss the prospects for their peaceful coexistence in Asian waters. The paper argues that a shared culture, the provision of benefits to other parties and a significant degree of flexibility in the understanding of international institutions were important factors in the negotiation of peaceful coexistence between the Middle Kingdom and smaller neighbors and can serve as useful sources of inspiration today. This paper also argues that, just like confrontation between China and the nomads in ancient times was a constant feature of East Asian international life, a certain degree of enmity is inevitable in Sino-US relations, but that this enmity can be managed through a pragmatic handling of the South China Sea as a theater of confrontation and a rejection of ideological arguments. Taken together, these two parts of our argument offer a potential way forward in ensuring stable relations between China and other actors in East Asia.
Commentary and op-eds by Antoine Roth
Op-eds by Antoine Roth
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Papers by Antoine Roth
Reference to the shortened published version:
Andrea Fischetti and Antoine Roth, “Xi and Abe guarantors of Chinese–Japanese entente”, East Asia Forum, 7 September 2018, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/09/07/xi-and-abe-guarantors-of-chinese-japanese-entente/#more-144911
Drafts by Antoine Roth
Conference Presentations by Antoine Roth
Commentary and op-eds by Antoine Roth
Op-eds by Antoine Roth
Reference to the shortened published version:
Andrea Fischetti and Antoine Roth, “Xi and Abe guarantors of Chinese–Japanese entente”, East Asia Forum, 7 September 2018, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/09/07/xi-and-abe-guarantors-of-chinese-japanese-entente/#more-144911