When the Cold War ended two decades ago, some prominent commentators optimistically proclaimed that 'the end of history' had arrived and that international conflict was becoming obsolete. Yet the Cold War never really ended in the Asia-Pacific. Its legacy is still very much apparent in the form of the America-led bilateral network of security alliances and with the persistence of dangerous flashpoints on the Korean Peninsula and across the Taiwan Strait. Longstanding historical tensions persist between Japan and Korea, China and Japan and India and Pakistan, to name just a few. In the interim, new powers such as China and India have risen at impressive rates, spending some of their newfound wealth on increasingly sophisticated weaponry. All of this, in turn, has created new interstate security dilemmas in the Asia-Pacific region and has generated speculation that a new 'arms race' is emerging as more established players respond in kind to these acquisitions. This course introduces the challenging and in many respects very dangerous range of international security issues currently facing the Asia-Pacific region and analyses the prospects for addressing them successfully through, for example, the utilization of new or existing institutional mechanisms.

• To provide course members with an empirical understanding of a range of international security challenges in the Asia-Pacific, both through the material delivered in lectures, as well as via the reading material assigned.
• To provide course members with a series of analytical frameworks for better understanding the complexities of international security challenges in an Asia-Pacific context.
• To assist course members with developing the skills required to clearly and confidently articulate their ideas regarding international security challenges in the Asia-Pacific through in-class discussions, a variety of written assessments and tutorial based activities.

Tutorial attendance and participation (10 per cent); Short assignment (700 words) (20 per cent); Essay plan (500 words) (10 per cent); Research essay (2,500 words) (30 per cent); Take home exam (1,500 words) (30 per cent).

34 contact hours per semester.

A 2-hour lecture session per week for twelve weeks and a 1-hour tutorial per week for ten weeks of the semester.

ASIA1025 and ASIA1030, or STST1001 and STST1002, or permission of coordinator

Rudimentary knowledge of the history of Asia-Pacific conflict and the features of the contemporary regional security environment.

An E-brick will be provided free of charge to course members