Security in Asia Pacific: The Dynamics of Alignment

Presents a new approach to conceptualize security in the Asia Pacific region through the perspective of alignment. Defines the key characteristics of alliance paradigm and the debates as to its use and misuse in International Relation (IR) and policy discourse. Studies the case study of the Trilateral Security Dialogue (TSD), “virtual alliance” to assess the analytical utility of the framework and conceptualizing the security community paradigm of alignment with the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) or ASEAN Security Community (ASC). Describes the strategic partnership and proceed to apply the interdisciplinary analytical framework to the exemplary Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) case study.