ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes security complex theory to analyse the changes in the Asia-Pacific region consequent on die ending of the Cold War. It outlines security complex theory which can be skipped by those already familiar with its concepts and language. The chapter reviews the pattern of security complexes in the region during the Cold War. The chapter looks at the changes created by the ending of United States-Soviet military and ideological rivalry, and their consequences for the Cold War pattern of security complexes. It examines the international political economy, asking whether it will evolve more globally or more regionally, and what effect the options will have on the dynamics of regional security. The chapter explores the possibility that an all-Asian security complex will form, based on the unleashing of rivalries amongst Asian great powers which, for the first time in modern history, are largely unconstrained by the presence of external powers in the region.
