Institutional balancing in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

This study is about how the secondary (smaller) powers of the Asia-Pacific region balance the major powers – the US and China – through multilateral (regional) institutions in the international system. This paper explains the increasing importance of the Asia-Pacific region, where the major powers encounter and challenge each other, and examines the smaller powers of the region, which pursue balancing policies against the major powers through multilateral (regional) institutions. Therefore, this paper sets forth the increasing effectiveness of multilateral institutions for balancing the US and China, and claims that the so-called “institutional balancing” in the Asia-Pacific region has been making a great contribution to restructuring of the international system. Based on a case-study approach, the paper concludes that the efforts of secondary states to include major powers in regional institutions, helps to maintain balance in their powers within the Asia-Pacific and reorder the international system.