In contributions to Global Flashpoints: A Scarecrow Press Series on Foreign Policy and International Security Issues, authors trace the origins, structural character, and possible policy responses to regional challenges that can change instantly from state of quiet tension to international crisis. Contributors explain in simple and clear language the causes behind the symptoms that supply the ever present "simmer" that can erupt into open hostilities. Policy recommendations consider not only American interests, but those of friendly, neutral and even opposing actors on the international in an effort to broaden readers' comprehension of the interconnectedness of policy responses at the global level. In South China Sea: Energy and Security Conflicts foreign policy analyst Christopher L. Daniels analyzes the core causes of the dispute over territorial claims in the South China Sea, which separates some of the world's fastest-growing economies.
Starting with the question of access to the billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas presently thought to lie beneath the region's territorial waters and islands, he contextualizes the race for resources and military dominancy within the rapid growth in the domestic demand for electricity and the increased industrial output of the regional players. South China Sea: Energy and Security Conflicts take on such troubling questions as the impact of this conflict on global oil and gas prices, China's growth economically and as a regional military hegemon, and the recent, often rocky, international efforts to mediate the conflict. In addition to policy recommendations aimed at suggesting possible peaceful resolutions to this emerging international challenge, Daniels includes maps, graphs, primary sources, and overviews of key players-individual and institutional-in what may well be the next great conflict in East Asia. This work is ideal for scholars and students, researchers and diplomatic professionals, military officers and energy traders, as well as anyone with a clear interest in the energy and security politics of East Asia.
Industry Reviews
Daniels provides a straightforward, accessible primer to the potentially most explosive area in Asia–the South China Sea. Seven countries (China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Brunei) put forth competing claims to all or to part of the sea and its seabed. China, with its energy needs and a more nationalistic stance, has asserted a commanding control over the region to gain access to the oil and natural gas reserves under the sea. Daniels finds the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea outdated and ineffective in dealing with the potential conflicts in the South China Sea. While he notes the US has refrained from taking sides, he urges the US to use its influence to affect a peaceful resolution to the rising conflicts among these parties. Complete with a timeline of key events, leaders, and institutions; the texts of international treaties on the issue, maps, and an extensive bibliography. A specialized work, but one of value in light of the potential for geopolitical conflicts in the coming decade. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.
