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Regionalism and Declining US Hegemony: Implications for the Philippines

Lecture delivered at Ateneo University, Manila (hosted by the Philippines-Australia Studies Network)

From Berlin to Baghdad: Competing for power and discursive legitimacy

Abstract

September 11, 2001 was a terrible moment for the United States and the rest of the world. It was not, however, a defining moment. It simply clarified and hastened a trend long in the making: the decline of American power. The terrorist attacks on that day and since have provoked anger, retaliation, and much flexing of military muscle. Yet, neither the war on terror nor the doctrine of military pre-emption, neither the interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq nor the daring plans for missile defense can obscure Washington's rapidly diminishing capacity to shape the world in its own image or in its own interests. Reflecting this trend is the declining legitimacy of US moral and diplomatic leadership and the slow, at times painful, but sustained attempt to strengthen regional institutions, especially in Europe and East Asia.

In our part of the world, much attention has focused on such potential flashpoints as Korea and Taiwan. But the dominant trend is the region's growing economic weight and the increasing pace of regional co-operation. ASEAN, ASEAN+3, and ASEM are but outward manifestations of this trend. We are already seeing an emerging regional order, in which East Asian markets and production networks will become the fulcrum for greater regional integration, a more self-confident role in international diplomacy, greater questioning of existing military alliances, and the renewal of Asia's cultural traditions. These trends will pose enormous challenges, not least for Asia-Pacific societies, like the Philippines and Australia, traditional allies of the United States who have yet to develop coherent and durable strategies of engagement with Asia and cohesive multicultural policies at home.

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Sunday, 05. June 2005 01:23 PM +1100