Look how close they put their country to our military bases!

mo Kivimäki, University of Helsinki, FinlandSeries : Rethinking Asia and International Relations The annual number of battle deaths from interstate and intra-state conflicts in East Asia has declined by 95% since 1979. During the past three decades, East Asia has been more peaceful than Europe, the Americas or any continent, in terms of battle deaths per capita. When generating theories on peace and war, studies almost never look at the experiences of East Asia. Yet the region by focusing on a commitment to development, is a social reality that is less paranoid, less militaristic and more cooperative. Since 1979 there has been a commonly accepted rule to keep domestic issues domestic so that external military interference, that often caused the majority of battle deaths, was not needed. Thus the emergence of the long peace of East Asia is historically specific, and cannot be generalized by studying objective, material conditions independent of common perceptions and common interpretations. This does not mean that the East Asian experience is not relevant for other regions in the world, but that generalizations should not be attempted to be drawn from the material conditions, but rather from the lived experience and socially constructed realities of East Asia. Since East Asia is a spectacular case of pacification, and since it has not contributed much to our theories of peace and conflict, The Long Peace of East Asia is an important book for studies on peace and war. Contents: Preface; Aim and concepts; Theoretical premises of the argument; The phenomenon to be explained: the long peace of East Asia; The main argument: the contribution of the ASEAN/Chinese way to the long peace of East Asia; Developmentalism and the prevention of the onset of conflicts; Non-intervention and the prevention of the escalation of conflicts into wars; Face saving and the termination of conflicts; Generation of the successful ASEAN/Chinese approach; Will the long peace survive? How could it be made broader, positive and more sustainable?; What can the East Asian experience offer to theories of international relations, peace and conflicts?; Bibliography; Index. About the Author: Dr Timo Kivimäki has been professor of the University of Helsinki, Copenhagen and Lapland, and the Director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (University of Copenhagen) and the Institute of Asian Studies (University of Helsinki). He has also been a frequent adviser to the Finnish, Danish, Dutch, Russian, Indonesian and Swedish governments, as well as to several UN and EU organizations on conflict and peace negotiation. Dr Kivimäki’s latest book, Can Peace Research Make Peace? was published by Ashgate in 2012. Reviews: ‘In one fell swoop, backed by impressive data sets, Professor Timo Kivimaki methodically and empirically destroyed all arguments, and one might add, theoretical pretences about Asian Pacific Way or the ASEAN way. The results are clarity, irrefutability and sheer analytical precision; rather than mere belief in constructivism or culture as the predisposition of the region. Incidents of war are almost non-existent in East Asia. Those who believe that wars in the region are still thinkable have to face these evidences head on.’ Phar Kim Beng, CEO Foundation of Research on Transformation, Malaysia ‘Based on the experience of East Asia, this book develops peace research and political science generally by revealing several weaknesses in the theory of peace. The book is a remarkable and impressive achievement.’ Lang Youxing, Zhejiang University, China Dr.Timo Kivimäki has a profile page on the University of Helsinki and Calx Proclivia websites and blogs at The Jakarta Post