Module Information

This module offers a comprehensive examination of security issues in Asia-Pacific region. In the past century, various security challenges have emerged in the region, from US-China great power competition to the climate change and sea-level rise, which affected the existence many small islands developing countries in the region. This module explores how these security challenges intersect with power configuration, race, gender, and the environment, and bring about a more complex view of ‘regional security’. Therefore, we focus not only on ‘traditional’ security issues faced by states, but also emerging and increasingly complex ‘non-traditional’ security issues in the region. We also contextualise the security challenges from the perspectives of people who are often marginalised in security studies, from women, indigenous people, to citizens of small islands countries.

This module begins with conceptual and historical exploration of ‘security’ in Asia-Pacific. We problematise what ‘security’ means in Asia-Pacific, for whom, and how security evolves from colonialism to Cold War and the 21st century. In so doing, we discuss and problematise various conceptual tools that would be useful to understand the complexity of Asia-Pacific security issues. The remaining sessions explore various aspects of Asia-Pacific security, including great power competition, regional integration, geoeconomics, ecological security challenges, as well as perspectives of indigenous people and women. This module also motivates students to bring their assessment of contemporary Asia-Pacific security challenges to inform key stakeholders, either policy, business, civil society, or grass-root communities.