Introduction to Asia

Introduction to Asia

• The name Asia was given by Europeans to Asians.
• Asia has benefited from being portrayed as the "other" by Europe.
• Artificial senses of self, such as a king or flag, are crucial in unifying nations.
• European commentators have long used Asia to refer to a geographical and cultural unity.
• Ancient Greeks referred to Anatolia as Asia.
• In Homer's Iliad Asia denoted the continent limiting Aegean mariner's eastward movement.
• Some people referred to Asiatics as the people of the Sun or East.
• The Greek historian Herodotus presented a rivalry between Asia and Europe.
• Asia was the result of Europe's need for the "other" to create a "self."
• Asia provided a backdrop for Europe to define itself against.
• 16th-century geographical works used Europa with weapons and Asia linked to camels.
• Montesquieu spoke of Europe as progress and Asia as stagnation.
• In later centuries, "Asiatic" was associated with concepts of vulgarity and arbitrary authority.
• The terms 'Asia', 'Asiatic' and 'Oriental' were used in a pejorative way.
• The supposed decadence of the 'East' helped highlight the vitality of the 'West'.
• 'The Orient' holds different meanings because it is the place of Europe's richest colonies.
• Viewing Asia as a Western construct is misleading.
• Ideas about Asia are a mix of premodern and modern developments.
• Voices in Japan and China conceptualize a sense of being Asian.
• They used a Western term to articulate a changing local awareness.

Idea of Asian Unity in Asia

• Spirituality differentiates Asians.
• Some Asians say their spirituality is greater than religion.
• Japanese ethnocentrism was evident in WWII.
• 'Not even snowy barriers' interrupt the broad expanse of love between races in Asia.
• Asian love distinguishes Asians from Mediterranean and Baltic peoples, who prefer to dwell on the end of life
• Subregional divides exist, as no organization includes all Asian countries.
• Confucian unity is visible in Southeast Asia.
• There is always hierarchy in relationships except in friendships.
• Nepal is more Hindu than India.
• Japan was the only Asian country that wasn't colonized.
• The Indopacific is a clear example of China-US rivalry.
• Asia wants to overpower.
• Vivekananda said Europe is mainly the basis on the material plane during modern times
• Asia has been the basis throughout the history of the world on the spiritual plane
• Asia produces giants in spirituality and the Occident produces giants in politics and science.
• Rabindranath Tagore promoted a renascent Asian civilization.
• He helped establish an Asian Research Institute for the study of Asian languages and cultures.
• There was an interaction between scholars in Asia thus suggesting the spread of these ideas.
• Vivekananda visited Japan in the late 19th century and Okakura spent a year in India.
• Tagore noted that they first realized there was such a thing as an Asiatic mind.
• Tagore established numerous relationships with leading thinkers.

Exclusive Nationalism

• The Russo-Japanese War led to a new Asian pride.
• Japan's Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere was built around an idea of Asia.
• This was exclusive and led to a Japan-led colonialism.
• A strong Japanese opinion favored what was termed 'departure from Asia'.
• These thinkers wanted Japan to disassociate from its 'Asian' neighbors and turn to Europe.
• India organized an "Inter-Asian Art Exhibition" but it was dominated by India.
• A journal launched in China in 1930 argued that China's regeneration is the starting point.

Regional Integration

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was created in 1967.
• The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was created in 1989.
• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was created in 1985.
• The East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC) was created in 1997.
• The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) was created in 1997.
• The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was created in 2020.
• There is no organization encompassing all of Asia.
• These regional institutions help to blur sub-regional boundaries.

Difficulty to Conjure Asian Unity

• Internal ideas of "Asia" were driven by ethnocentric approaches in India, Japan, and China.
• Excessive ethnic, political, religious, and linguistic diversity exists in the region.
• There is no regional body encompassing the whole continent.
• Regional Rivalries prevent cooperation.

Ethnic Diversity in Asia

• China: 95% Han, with over 50 National Minority Groups.
• India: 74% Indo-Aryan, 23% Dravidian, 3% Mongoloid and other.
• Indonesia: 45% Javanese, over 300 ethnic groups.
• Japan and Korea: Very homogenous with small minority populations.
• Malaysia: 50% Malay, 30% Chinese, 9% Indian.
• Philippines: Very diverse population in terms of language, religion and ancestry.
• Singapore: 79% Chinese, 13% Malay, 7% Indian.
• Thailand: Majority Thai, 14% Chinese.
• Vietnam: over 50 ethnic groups.
• Almost 90% Vietnamese.
• Chinese (Hoa) around 1%.

Religious Diversity in Asia

• China: Taoist, Buddhist (officially Atheist).
• Indonesia: 89% Muslim, 7% Christian.
• India: 82% Hindu, 13% Muslim, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs.
• Japan: 85% Shinto and Buddhism.
• Korea: 30% Buddhist, 25% Christian.
• Malaysia: Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist.
• Philippines: 82% Catholic, some Muslims.
• Singapore: 43% Buddhist, 15% Muslim.
• Thailand: 95% Buddhist, some Muslims.
• Vietnam: 81% Atheist, 10% Buddhist, 7% Catholic.

Linguistic Diversity in Asia

• 19,500 languages or dialects spoken.
• Some eleven languages and eighty-seven dialects are spoken in the Philippines.

Political Diversity in Asia

• Democracies: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India.
• Authoritarian Regimes: North Korea, Brunei, China.
• Monarchies: Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan.
• Failed States: Afghanistan, North Korea.

Economic Diversity in Asia

• Singapore: 65,233.28 USD (2019).
• Japan: 40,246.88 USD (2019).
• Nepal: 1,071.05 USD (2019).
• Afghanistan: 507.10 USD (2019).

Basis for Suggesting Asian Unity

• Buddhism is the dominant religion in Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Tibet, Laos, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
• Large Buddhist populations live in China, Japan, Taiwan, Macau, North Korea, Nepal, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.
• Pilgrims traveling between different countries in Asia may feel a fleeting sense of 'Asian' commonality.

Confucian Unity

• Confucian cultural relationships existed between China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
• Korea copied many customs and utensils from China.
• Japan has obtained Chinese standard works.

Hinduism in Asia

• The Champa civilization existed in parts of Central Vietnam.
• The Khmer Empire was located in Indochina.
• Many kingdoms were based in Java and Bali.

Islam in Asia

• 62% of the world's Muslims live in Asia.
• Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have the largest Muslim populations in the world.

Colonialism in Asia

• Various definitions of "Asia" exist, including Asia-Pacific and Pacific Rim.
• Definitions of Asia are a factor of power, prosperity, and identity.
• Far East relates to British power.
• Greater East Asia relates to Japanese power.
• Pacific relates to American power.
• Pacific Rim and Asia-Pacific are linked to rising economic interdependence and prosperity.

"Asia Rising"

• Early imagination of Asia by Asians was mostly a defensive reaction to Western dominance.
• The "Asia rising" discourse risks turning into a cover for dominance.
• Conflating Asia with the rise of Asia simply imposes a Western discourse of power politics.
• All of Asia is not growing uniformly and the Rise of Asia is hyped.
• Nations not part of the economic rise of Asia are excluded.
• Asian values are often associated with authoritarianism.
• The rise of Asia is neither linear nor irreversible.
• The idea of Asia can be powerful for Asians and Europeans.
• Asia is a free-floating signifier with a contested meaning.
• Asia should be increasingly constructed from within rather than from the outside.
• The development of Asia by Asians does not mean it's unproblematic.
• Asia should not be monopolized by the regional elite.

Importance of Asia

• Asia holds about 60% of the world's population.
• It has different historical traditions, cultures, and religions.
• Three of the four most populated countries are in Asia.
• The world's three largest Islamic nations are in Asia.
• It contains more Muslims than anywhere else in the world.
• Asia's civilizations, like India, China, and Japan, have greatly contributed to world civilization.
• Asia is also the home of major religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism.
• Asia has four of the world's eight societies with the longest life expectancies.
• There are 50 million Chinese overseas.
• There are 32 million Indians overseas.

Nuclear Weapon States

• There are four nuclear weapon states in Asia.
• Economic might is important.
• Asia is expected to contribute roughly 60% of global growth by 2030.
• The Asia-Pacific will also be responsible for the overwhelming majority of the new middle class.
• Three Asian economies are in the top 5 GDP rankings.

Military Might

• Five Asian states are in the top ten military rankings.
• Half of the world's internet users are in Asia.

Global International Relations

• IR theories are biased towards Western Europe and the United States.
• International systems should be studied in terms of cultural and civilizational interactions.
• There is a call for a new understanding of universality.
• IR needs to be grounded in world history.
• Global IR subsumes existing IR knowledge.
• Give center stage to regions.

Global IR Limitations

• Global IR cannot be based on cultural exceptionalism and parochialism.
• Global IR takes a broad conception of and multiple forms of agency.

Introduction to Asia II

• Impact of colonialism on Asia.

Cartography

• Necessary for colonizers to carve out a plan to reap economic and political benefits from the colonies.
• There is a difference between a border and a frontier.
• Border: legally established lines, control, clear, and requires a passport.
• Frontier: informal transitions between empires and less control.
• Bringing more territories under control led to revenue generation.
• Cartographic representation helped to justify imperial project.
• Territorial disputes between India and Pakistan caused conflict.
• The Radcliffe Line refers to India/Pakistan.
• There is maritime boundary issues in Southeast Asia and East Asia.
• Traditionally, there was no concept of a border, but rather frontiers which defined the reach of a political kingdom.
• Frontiers were loose demarcation and marked the political reach of a kingdom.
• The transition from frontier to border was a result of colonial modernity and was inorganic.

Sovereignty

• The understanding of sovereignty in South Asia is trapped under the notion of autonomy.
• South Asian states are paranoid of the presence of powerful India in the neighborhood.
• The British empire annexed territories, tried their hand in Afghanistan, and took Sri Lanka.
• The colonial empire did not respect the sovereignty of neighboring territories.
• India is seen as a threat to their autonomy by other states in South Asia.

Emergence of Nation States

• Nation-states in many parts of Asia were artificially created.
• This created the need to manage this artificial newcomer.
• These new artificial states would exclude certain communities
• The notion of nation-state and nationalism in South Asia was transported through imperial channels.

Bureaucracy and Bureaucratic Culture

• Bureaucratic models were adapted to contextual realities and historical antecedents.
• The attributes of British bureaucracy: centralization, rigidity, elitism, and secrecy were part of the post-colonial states.
• Bureaucratic elites preserved the colonial legacy.
• The bureaucratic structure was overdeveloped compared to other political institutions.
• The political apparatus was subordinate to the civil and military bureaucracy.
• Examples include Pakistan, Myanmar, & Thailand military states
• Colonialism was an economic problem.

Collective Memories

• Collective memory is the distribution of beliefs, feelings, and moral judgements about the past.
• Collective memory vehicles include history and commemoration.
• You will know about certain situations through textbooks, anecdotes
• Commemorating history is what we pick and choose to remember

Collective Memory Perspectives

• Presentists memories are hostage to present circumstances.
• Cultural memory is an ordered system of information animated by cultural values.

A Century of Humiliation in China

• Defeat in the First Opium War (1839-1842) by the British led to unequal treaties.
• Defeat in the Second Opium War (1856-1860) resulted in the sacking of the Old Summer Palace.
• The Treaty of Aigun (1858) and treaty of Peking (1860) ceded Outer Manchuria to Russia.
• China experienced a partial defeat in the Sino-French War (1884-1885).
• It lost its suzerainty over Vietnam.
• Defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) by Japan.
• The Eight-Nation Alliance suppressed the Boxer Uprising (1899-1901) .
• The British expedition to Tibet occurred in 1903-1904.
• The Twenty-One demands (1915) by Japan loaned advantage and local government control.
• There was a Japanese invasion of Manchuria (1931-1932).
• The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) caused China to lose 1 ½ of its territory.
• Chinese collective memory emphasizes Chinese strength over humiliation.
• Pursuing national interests safeguards China from oppression.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the Century of Humiliation.

Memories of Japanese Imperialism in Asia

• The Nanking Massacre is a painful memory for China.
• The comfort women issue strains the relationship between Korea.
• The victimisation of Japan in the atomic bombing blunts criticism of their wartime atrocities.
• Post-war Japan deemed demands for apology and compensation less urgent.
• Koreans see opportunism in Japanese officials' apologies.
• The state upholds its sense of honour.
• The Chinese believe their time of subordination is an anomaly.

Memories of Partition in South Asia

• Collective memories of the partition affect the domestic and foreign policies of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
• Northeast Asia's memory problem relates to dignity and honour.
• In dignity cultures, aggressors apologize for the rights they have violated.
• In honour cultures, compensation is more complex because of the difficulty of expressing regret for wounding others.
• The atrocity is the spectacle of Japanese commemorating perpetrators.
• There is Chinese and Korean refusal to accept declarations of regret.
• Current Chinese nationalism may be a remnant of the Chinese tributary state system.
• The narrative of "century of humiliation" has been constantly used to create a sense of hypernationalism in China.
• Nationalism is also on the rise in Japan and impacts relations in the are
• Nationalism is also on the rise in India.

Pacifism as a Normative Factor

• Japan adopted a pacifist constitution after World War II.
• Japan continued to maintain a military capability.
• This cannot be explained by mainstream IR theories.

Theoretical Approaches to the Understanding of International Relations in Asia

• Global international relations.
• Traditional IR has problems.
• Global IR faces challenges.
• The origin of international relations is Western history.
• IR reflects the standard narratives, values, and principles of the West.
• The modern period of IR began in the Peace of Westphalia (1648).
• The European state system spread through colonialism.
• The era of American dominance.

Criticisms of IR

• The standard narrative of IR is only partially correct.
• It depends on how International Relations and its scope are defined.
• The standard narrative of IR does not capture the practices and history of other older civilizations.
• Civilizations had different kinds of world orders.
• The term "international relations" is problematic
• It means inter-nation states relations.
• Why limit the study of IR to nation states?
• The goal should be to study how civilizations relate to each other.
• There is no reason to begin from the peace of Westphalia.
• Even after the birth of Westphalia, there were empires.
• Hierarchy and not just anarchy existed.
• The Ottoman empire exisited.
• Mughal empire, Qing dynasty in China.
• It is a myth that Westphalia eliminated empires.

What Are the Alternatives to IR?

• World politics, or global politics.
• IR should broaden its scope and draw its theories from world history.
• Look at hierarchic relations, not just strategic interactions, but also economic interactions.
• Lot of IR was about diplomacy, statecraft and strategic interactions.
• The traditional IR mostly focuses on war and peace.
• Islam was a primitive version of what we call "globalization” through economics.
• Islamic civilizations used trade more than occupation.
• Traditional IR only talks about the global systems as worth studying, but regional systems must be studied as well.
• IF we study China only in terms of war and peace, we will ignore the contributions from China to the world.

Key Dimensions

• Relations can be best understood as a product of the mutual learnings between civilizations and states.

• So IR must be studied from a civilisational perspective.

• The idea of Global IR revolves around six main dimensions.

  1. It is founded upon a pluralistic universalism
  2. It is grounded in world history
  3. It subsumes that IR theories and methods
  4. It It integrated the study of regions

• Pakistan and India have tense relationship.

• They will still si down after their disputes.

  1. UN driven
  2. Bilateral peace
  3. Third party mediations

• HIstoric water accord of 1960 tahnks to third parts

###Overview of past confrontations of India and Pakistan, a zero-sum game:

• 1st war on Kashmir: Pakistan and India clashed over Kashmir. Kashmir was left divided into two parts, administered by India and pakistan. India opposes giving up.

• 2nd war on Kashmir: 1965 China was defeated by India in 1962 The 1971 trigger Pakistan blame

• Kargil war: 1999

• US played a crucial role

• 2002 Military Nuclear weapons introduced element of deterence in the pakistan India defence equation;

• Surgical Strike of 2016 and escalation of the rift since 2014 India has been taken over Modi since Pakistan had had frequent attacks.

• II . South Asian Geopolitics India and Pakistan rivalry had deining factor South Asia

• Politics of Small states in South Asi: Afghaniasthan, Sti Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanammar

• Multlatenalism in South Asia of Bimsetec

• End of cold war and the emergence of nuclear South Asia

• What is South Asia : Comprises of : Banglasdesh, Bhutan,India the Maldives, Nepal , Pakistan and Sri Lanka

• Afghanistan an Myanmar often includes of disscussons if the region as a whoile

• China as it is key important Player

Indian Political System in brief

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Political Systam of Pakistan

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• Pakistan wac partitioned wih India in 1947 with independent .
• Pakistan as has faced lot of politician unctability

History and Causes of India-Pakistan Conglict

• Partition of India and pakistan

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