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	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
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English

CONTEST FOR THE INDO-PACIFIC

Rory Medcalf

Why China Won't Map the Future

What we call a part of the world Asia, Europe, the Middle East seems innocuous. But the name of a region is totemic: a mental map that guides the decisions of leaders and the story of international order, war and peace. In recent years, the label Indo-Pacific' has suddenly gained wide use, including among the leaders of the United States, India, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, France and others. But what does it really mean?

The Indo-Pacific is both a place and an idea. It is the region central to global prosperity and security. It is also a metaphor for collective action. If diplomacy fails, it will be the theatre of the first general war since 1945. But if its future can be secured, the Indo-Pacific will flourish as a shared space, the centre of gravity in a connected world.

Written by a recognised expert and regional policy insider, Contest for the Indo-Pacific is the definitive guide to tensions in the region. It weaves together history, geopolitics, cartography, military strategy, economics, games and propaganda to address a vital question: how can China's dominance be prevented without war?

Rory Medcalf is a professor and Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University. His experience as an Australian diplomat includes postings to New Delhi, Tokyo and Papua New Guinea. He was a senior strategic analyst in Australia's peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments and was the founding director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute. He has been published widely, including in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Economist, The South China Morning Post and The Hindu, as well as on the ABC, BBC and CNN.

Available products
Book Published 2020-03-01 by La Trobe University Press

Comments

Impressively foresightful NEW STATESMAN Medcalf is an intellectual who writes like a journalist THE STRATEGIST A tour de force of 21st century geopolitical analysis that should be read by strategists and statesmen throughout the region and the world ASIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS

"Rory Medcalf helped to pioneer the concept that Asia's emerging geopolitical order would best be understood as a fusing of the Indian and Pacific Oceans into a new Indo-Pacific framework. With this book he explains the rich tapestry of emerging regional dynamics and the evolution of a geopolitical concept that has been embraced by maritime Japan, India, Australia and the United States but contested by continental China. Medcalf makes a compelling case that the competition to define Asia is about more than just a name it is about ideas, alignment and power. This is a competition that cannot be avoided but one that could bend the arc of history towards an open, inclusive and rules-based equilibrium among the major powers if successfully waged. Medcalf's book is essential reading for any scholar or practitioner seeking to understand the geopolitics of a region that will define all our futures." Michael J. Green, Center for Strategic and International Studies and Georgetown University, author of By More Than Providence and Arming Japan "The Indo-Pacific is an idea whose time has come. Rory Medcalf has been crucial to both defining and promoting the idea of an Indo-Pacific region and has now written a fast-paced and fascinating guide to this vital strategic concept." Gideon Rachman, author of Easternisation and Zero-Sum Future "Rory Medcalf gives us a fast-paced ride around the world's newest, and most important, strategic arena. He has done more than anyone to introduce the world to the idea of the Indo-Pacific and this book is a convincing manifesto for a new vision of connectedness. This is the world with all the difficult bits left in." Bill Hayton, author of The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia, and Associate Fellow, Chatham House "This engaging mental map of the Indo-Pacific and its regional origins is a rare security studies book that treats economics and ideational elements as integral to the challenge China poses for front-line states like Australia. All of us struggling to understand great power competition need to become ambidextrous if we are to develop policies to cope with a rising or a collapsing China, and learning from Rory Medcalf's Contest for the Indo-Pacific is a great place to start." Kori Schake, Deputy Director-General, International Institute for Strategic Studies

"Elegant and absorbing Optimistic, yet realistic about the possibilities of war and conflict, this is an essential guide"