East and West Asia in the Twenty-First Century: Introduction

Rotem Kowner, Yoram Evron, and P.R. Kumaraswamy, eds. East-West Asia Relations in the 21st Century: From Bilateral to Interregional Relationships. London: Routledge, 2024. This book examines the changing relations between the Asian part of the Middle East and the rest of the continent during the 21st century. Written by leading experts, this ground-breaking volume utilizes a comprehensive and multi-dimensional perspective to offer a novel and unique outlook on the evolving shape of East-West Asia relations and their global impact. Critically, it demonstrates that the intensification and diversification of East-West Asia relations since the 1990s have altered them from a set of separated bilateral ties into complex interregional relations. The book presents a nuanced, comparative look at Asian countries’ responses to global developments, and China’s rise in particular, and offers a new perspective on the very concept of Asia itself. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and practitioners working in the fields of International Relations, Asian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies.

Insights, 2019

States in the Middle East today are coming together not on the basis of shared sectarian or ideological lines. Rather, they are coalescing along two rival lines of alliance: (1) a Northern Tier that connects Iran and Turkey to Russia and Central Asia and (2) a Southern Tier that ties the Arabian Peninsula to coastal South Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the southern Mediterranean. Conflicts and rivalries in the Middle East, when seen along these two lines, reveal a clear, operative rationale capable of piercing through the smoke of burning towns and the tangled web of relations that otherwise paint an image of disorder in the region. If these two alliances solidify into blocs, will their rivalries intensify, pulling neighbouring states into proxy wars? Or will they step back to conclude that good fences make good neighbours, divide the region between them, and calm down the countries caught in between? How they handle their rivalries will have consequences for how China’s Belt and Road Intitiative may pass through or bypass them.

Routledge, 2024

This book examines the changing relations between the Asian part of the Middle East and the rest of the continent during the 21st century. Written by leading experts, this ground-breaking volume utilizes a comprehensive and multi-dimensional perspective to offer a novel and unique outlook on the evolving shape of East-West Asia relations and their global impact. Critically, it demonstrates that the intensification and diversification of East-West Asia relations since the 1990s have altered them from a set of separated bilateral ties into complex interregional relations. The book presents a nuanced, comparative look at Asian countries’ responses to global developments, and China’s rise in particular, and offers a new perspective on the very concept of Asia itself. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and practitioners working in the fields of International Relations, Asian Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. ENDORSEMENTS With its impressively expansive and detailed sweep, this volume makes an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of the rapidly changing dynamics between East and West Asia. Situating them in the wider strategic context of great power rivalry, the volume looks at key actors’ approaches not through the usual bilateral or functional prisms but through a genuinely cross-regional approach – making for an innovative reframing of even familiar issues. Including most of the best scholars in the field, this is a book that will be of great use to academics and policy practitioners alike.” — Andrew Small, Senior Transatlantic Fellow, Indo-Pacific Program, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the author of The China-Pakistan Axis (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2015) “This volume provides a rich and multifaceted examination of the complex interregional relationship between East and West Asia in the twenty-first century. With contributions from leading scholars and experts, it offers a thorough and insightful examination of the strategic, economic, and political aspects of bilateral and multilateral relations between the two regions. It also contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities for China-West Asia cooperation during a period of intense great power competition in the region. Overall, this volume adds significantly to the literature and is a must-read for anyone interested in the shifting contours of today’s global landscape.” — Sujata Ashwarya, Professor of Western Asian Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India, and the author of India-Iran Relations (Routledge, 2017) and co-editor of Contemporary West Asia (Routledge, 2017) “This is a very fruitful and thought-provoking book. After the rise of Western powers in the 19th century, East Asia and West Asia drifted apart and formed their respective sub-regions. In the process of globalization and, in particular, Asia’s rise, East-West Asian countries have rediscovered their historical affinities and have built closer political, economic, energy, and cultural ties. At present, their relations are shifting from “back-to-back” to “face-to-face.” Based on multilingual sources, inter-disciplinary methodologies, and rigorous research, this book sheds light on domains, features, and trends of East-West Asia complex relations bilaterally and inter-regionally.” — Degang Sun, Professor and Director of Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University, Shanghai, China “East-West Asia Complex Relations in the Twenty-First Century offers a comprehensive assessment of the complex interregional, multifunctional interactions between the Middle East and East Asia. Written by a diverse collection of leading scholars with deep expertise in these economic, political, and strategic relations, this book contributes significantly to the scholarly literature by broadening understanding of the two-way interactions between various countries in these sub-regions. This empirically rich, up-to-date analysis will be welcomed by scholars and students alike for its novel approach to examining relations between these critical sub-regions in an increasingly interconnected world.” — Dawn C. Murphy, Associate Professor of National Security Strategy, US National War College, and the author of China’s Rise in the Global South (Stanford University Press, 2022)

East Asia, 2015

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2021

Changing Security Paradigm in West Asia: Regional and International Responses, 2020

The Middle East today is witness to one of the worst phases of conflicts and instability in its modern history. This is reminiscent of the conflicts and wars the region experienced historically during the two World Wars and during the peak of the Cold War. World War I ended in the defeat of the Quadruple Alliance which eventually led to the end of the Ottoman Empire, and this along with the colonial interventions of the victorious Allied Powers created mayhem in the Middle East that continued until World War II. The expectation of an end to conflicts with the end of the war could not be realised due to the beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict. During the Cold War, the region witnessed an unprecedented arms race and alignments that left the regional countries divided into camps. The end of the Cold War and the relative stability in the world order again created hopes for regional peace and stability, but the rise of global terrorism and the American “war on terror” created another round of violence and instabilities.

YILMAZ S. “The Middle East in the Light of 21 st Century Power Relations”, Beykent University, The First International Strategy and Security Studies Symposium, The New Middle East in Questioning Strategic Trends, (İstanbul, 17-18 April, 2008).