Call For Papers

Pacific Review Workshop

Competing Visions of Regional Order in the Asia-Pacific

17th- 19th June 2020, Brussels


In 2017, The Pacific Review celebrated its 30th Anniversary. In preparing a special issue to mark this event, the editors looked back over the previous three decades to identify the key continuities and changes in scholarship regarding the development of the Asia-Pacific region over the years. One issue that ended up in both lists was the debate over what exactly the region was that we were studying (or should study). The identification of which countries were in and which out, who was taking the lead in promoting regional solutions, and shifts in the type of issues that might require collective action and regional governance in regard to political economy and security placed the topic clearly in the list of major areas of change. Indeed, where to locate the greater region--Asia-Pacific, East Asian Caucus, APEC, APT, EAS, East Asian Community--was at very issue. But at the same time, the fact that very basic questions of regional ordering cropped up again and again provided one of the most enduring research questions that tied together various strands of scholarship over the years.

The state of the Asia-Pacific regional order does not seem to be coming much clearer as we move into the third decade of the twenty-first century . This is partly a result of the way that key regional states - and depending on your view, some extra regional ones as well - are pushing preferred understandings of region, and promoting competing ordering initiatives. It is also in part a result of changing flows of money, goods and people; some of it as a result of state plans and initiatives, and some of it driven by commercial actors and objectives. Shifting perceptions of threats play a role too - how they are defined, where they originate from and what are the most effective ways of dealing with them. And, of course, power shifts at the global level play their role too.

So a stock taking exercise seems in order. Competing Visions of Regional Order in the Asia-Pacific has a broad remit. We invite papers that interrogate the very notion of core concepts in the Asia-Pacific such as region, regionalism, regional ordering and so on that either help or hinder the study of ongoing transformations in the region. We also welcome submissions that discuss what that region actually is. On one level, this entails identifying what and/or who drives changes, and asking if this varies across different issue areas. For example, how are regional orders being shaped in trade, or finance, or development, or the environment, or security? We also welcome papers on specific regional visions and projects in the realms of politics, political economy and security. Examples include, but are not limited to, proposals such as the FTAAP, RCEP, TPP, and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, as well as those that question the centrality, efficacy, and prospects of longer-standing regional bodies. As we are convinced that followership matters as much as leadership, this included papers considering responses and reactions, and not just those that that focus on initiatives, objectives and leadership.

Abstracts of no more than 400 words should be submitted to pacificreview@warwick.ac.uk by 6th March. Successful applicants will be informed by 20th March. The workshop organisers will cover the cost of economy fair transport to Brussles, and accommodation for the duration of the workshop. The acceptance of an invitation to attend the workshop entails an agreement to submit a finished paper to the Pacific Review. Depending on the range of papers accepted, this might lead to publication in a a special issue, a number of special section, or in a series of linked paper across a number of issues. While the feedback provided at the workshop should help authors fine tune their papers, we cannot make a reciprocal promise to publish all final submissions; our commitment to "Peer Review Integrity" means that all final decisions will be dependent on the outcome of the peer review process. We also plan to hold a non-academic briefing session in Brussels alongside the academic workshop, and may ask some paper presenters to join us at this event.

We are particularly keen on encouraging applications from early career researchers in order to help build the next generation of scholars and scholarship, and will privilege applications from younger scholars wherever possible.


Christopher W. Hughes
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)
Professor of International Politics and Japanese Studies

PA Angela Gibson
A. Gibson@warwick.ac.uk

Co-Editor The Pacific Review
https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpre20
Research website: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/people/hughes/

Department of Politics and International Studies
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
UK