Asian-Pacific security discourse in the wake of the Asian economic crisis

This paper looks at the impact of the economic crisis on security discourses and understandings in the Asia-Pacific, in particular on the earlier 'emerging consensus' that: (1) multilateral dialogue is security-enhancing; (2) consensus-building is better than institution-building; (3) security needs to be seen in comprehensive terms; and (4) regional security depends on a continuing US military presence. It argues that the crisis has provided an opportunity for the practice and, to a lesser extent, the theory of regional security to be (re)debated and (re)interpreted in certain ways, and that this is serving to strengthen some elements of the regional security consensus and weaken others. While it remains too early to make any final judgement, it appears that the direction of change overall is more backwards than forwards, favouring traditional rather than new or critical security approaches.