@article{THESIS,
      recid = {3160},
      author = {Un, Paul},
      title = {Hegemony and Indirect Balancing in Mainland Southeast  Asia},
      publisher = {University of Chicago},
      school = {M.A.},
      address = {2021-08},
      number = {THESIS},
      abstract = {What factors drive the international politics of tertiary  states? Constructivists, such as Alice Ba and Aarie Glas,  have argued that conflict occurs within the confines  permitted by cultures of diplomacy, which are mutually  constituted between states. Such analyses eschew structural  factors. Structural realists, meanwhile, leave little room  in their analyses for the agency of tertiary states to  decide their own foreign policies. Following in the  footsteps of other scholars of Southeast Asian  international relations, this paper will argue that the  choices of Southeast Asian states are limited to them by  the hierarchical arrangement of the international system,  as expressed via alignment choices. One specific  manifestation of politics under these constraints is the  phenomenon of indirect balancing, wherein states that are  otherwise constrained from balancing a hegemonic actor  compensate by balancing against their bandwagoning  neighbors. Looking at these emerging rifts between states  helps us answer the question why conflict continues to  occur between Southeast Asian states, despite the presumed  dampening effects of international institutions? Conflict  has continued to arise among ASEAN members and has even  occurred among states with mutual alignment postures- a  fact which helps to explain the counterintuitive evidence  for increased conflict even as bandwagoning increases in  the region. Evidence for this phenomenon of indirect  balancing comes from textual analyses of ASEAN documents  for evidence of hegemonic intrusion, data on military  interstate disputes, and case studies from contentious  political moments in the region’s recent history.  Understanding this under-studied manifestation of tertiary  state power politics can help show how great powers should  constructively engage with tertiary powers- a lesson which  is especially pertinent in light of a rising China and a  United States scrambling to respond to the challenge. },
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/3160},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.3160},
}