The Security of Northeast Asia *

Although the Northeast Asian region is more stable now than during the Cold War, significant unresolved issues remain. Most significantly, North Korea remains a security and economic problem for the entire region. In addition, unresolved territorial and historical disputes, how to deal with China's emergence, and whether the USA will retain its leadership position, are all issues on the agendas of states in the region. This article will address those four issues, and argue that neither realism nor liberalism provide a comprehensive explanation for the relative salience and importance of these issues. Alternatively, I argue that identities and interests are central to explaining both the sources of stability and potential instability in East Asia, and that relative capabilities and economic relations, while important, do not provide a clear picture of the fundamental dynamics in the region. What states want is more important than how powerful they are, and it is the question of state intentions, and how they view their own position in the world and their relationship to their neighbors, that will ultimately determine whether Northeast Asia continues to move toward stability or slides into instability.