Shambaugh revised and updated his popular edited collection on Asian international relations, which has served as an excellent student reference for many years. His masterful opus offers a nuanced approach to understanding the regional competition that forces many of Asia’s neighboring nations—China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and even Pakistan—to find ways to coexist peacefully. He identifies five particular variables, whose consequences most merit attention: China’s increasingly assertive “wolf warrior” diplomacy; the US-China power rivalry; the emergence of regional multilateralism; a dangerously nuclear Korean peninsula; and, most worrisome, Taiwan—a ticking time bomb…. Shambaugh wisely suggests changing the approach to Asian international relations from a country-by-country area studies strategy to a holistic analysis of the Indo-Pacific as a whole. Essential. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.

Choice Reviews

David Shambaugh’s third edition of his influential The International Relations of Asia offers a way to think comprehensively about the complex web of diplomatic, economic, and security relations in this century of Asia. Cutting through that complexity to explain the international relations of the world’s largest and most dynamic region is no mean feat. Offering not only clear and integrated analysis, but also a diversity of perspectives, it will prove valuable to students of Asia for years to come.

Hon. Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia and Global President of the Asia Society

An astute, impressive, masterful capture of the complex geopolitical dynamic that defines Asia today, this is a study distinguished by the in-depth, compelling analysis of seasoned strategic experts. The Indo-Pacific today is the cockpit of intensifying major power rivalry, competing nationalisms and growing militarization—all of which suggest a growing uncertainty about the future of the region. These and a variety of other issues that affect the region, including the key challenge of counterbalancing China, are examined thoroughly and incisively in this study which should benefit university students and policy planners alike.

Nirupama Rao, former Foreign Secretary of India and Ambassador of India to China and the United States

Want to know where the Asia region is headed? This comprehensive and well-written volume provides a clear picture of its political, economic, and social dynamics by the top scholars in the field. It has justly become the most widely used textbook for Asian international relations courses.

Susan Shirk, University of California, San Diego; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs

Asia is becoming an ever more central player in global affairs. This volume, under a master editor's touch, captures the complexity of changing relationships, and the region's enormous potential.

Kent Calder, Director, Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University SAIS