Editor's IntroductionAuthor(s): John DoyleSource: Irish Studies in International Affairs, Vol. 18 (2007), pp. 1-2Published by: Royal Irish AcademyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25469810 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 14:32

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Royal Irish Academy is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Irish Studies inInternational Affairs.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.158 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:32:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Editor's introduction

The rise of Asia in International affairs

John Doyle

Centre for International Studies, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University

This issue of Irish Studies in International Affairs is primarily concerned with the debate on the changing role of Asia in international affairs at the start of the twenty first century. The volume draws on papers presented at the November 2006 annual conference of the RIA's Committee for the Study of International Affairs and from some others submitted directly to the journal.

In relation to the matter of Asia's evolving influence, it is clearly impossible for one journal volume to tackle this huge issue in international affairs, but the selection of articles presented here makes an interesting contribution to this wider global debate. Irish minister for foreign affairs Dermot Ahern, in a contribution drawing on his opening address to last year's conference, sets out the Irish government's perspectives on the growing engagement with Asia?in particular the increasing trade relationship, but also deeper relations in development assistance, in cultural and education links and in wider diplomacy. European Commission director-general for trade David O'Sullivan, in an article also based on his contribution to the 2006 conference, deals specifically with the EU's perspective on Asia's role in the world economy.

The next set of articles deals primarily with the sub-regional dimensions of Asia's

growing and changing role in international relations. Linda Yueh looks at the role of

China?clearly now the major economic powerhouse of the region and a country with an increasingly global focus in its foreign policy. In an analysis of China's

gradualist path of reform and of the challenges to that strategy, she makes the crucial

point that China's growth has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and notes that the sheer scale of that advance will inevitably have major global impacts. Subrata K. Mitra and Jivanta Sch?ttli explore the changing dynamics of Indian foreign policy. They argue that increasingly, in the domestic political arena, India's leaders see their country as a global player, rather than as a low-income country with mass poverty. Yet, they argue that on some key issues there is an

ambiguity to India's position, and an incoherence about her intentions?and likely reactions?on matters affecting her vital interests. Yee-Kuang Heng, in an analysis of Japan's position, argues that while China might indeed become the pivotal Asian power sometime down the road, in the short-to-medium term Japan remains the pre eminent power, with Tokyo taking additional steps to safeguard that status. Bruce Cumings explores the ongoing challenges posed by the political situation on the

Irish Studies in International Affairs. Vol. 18 (2007), 1-2.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.158 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:32:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

2 Irish Studies in International Affairs

Korean peninsula and how it is influenced by the rise in China's position. Meredith

Jung-En Woo looks at East Asia ten years after the financial crisis of 1997. In that

period, she argues, the influence of the US and Japan have declined to be replaced by the rising power that is China. Collectively, these articles demonstrate the local

complexity of, but also the strong interconnections between, political developments throughout Asia.

In a section on Irish policy-making three articles bring good, original research to the public domain. Kevin O'Sullivan looks at the origins of the Irish official

development assistance programme in the period 1969 to 1975. This is a timely historical analysis at a point when the development-aid budget is rising rapidly in

keeping with the Irish government's commitment to reach the UN target for

development aid of 0.7% of GNP by 2012. Robert Kevlihan explores the limited nature of Ireland's relations with the Central Asian states in the post-Soviet period and argues for a greater engagement given the region's strategic location. Finally in this section, Oisin Coghlan analyses Irish government decision-making on climate

change policy, using a model of two-level game analysis to identify the changing influence of the domestic and international levels on government policy.

In a section on international diplomacy and the Northern Ireland conflict, there are two articles analysing relatively under-researched periods of international

engagement on Northern Ireland. Daniel Williamson examines the early period of the conflict?looking at Ireland's UN initiatives and Irish-US diplomacy from 1969 to 1972; while Mary Alice Clancy explores the Northern Ireland policy of the George

W. Bush administration.

Finally, in the review sections, Nicholas Rees and Helen O'Neill continue their

indispensable annual reviews of Ireland's foreign relations and Ireland's foreign aid,

respectively; while R?achbha FitzGerald provides an insightful review of the

historiography on the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. As ever, articles for next year's volume are always welcome.

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.158 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 14:32:46 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions