ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that American scholarship in particular, is biased by US national ‘interests’ and national security considerations. Understanding the historical dynamics of shifts towards conflict resolution in the regions will build a bridge between security and area specialists, between academic and policy studies and between strategic and peace studies. Dominant Western scholarly tradition is preoccupied with the development of an international and regional regime to control weapons of mass destruction and to gain regional security through unilateral and/or negotiated arms control, confidence-building and transparency between enemies. Regional security architectures are built around regional histories and memories of conflict and in the context of domestic and international vetoes. Along with geo-politics and economics, Asian international relations are driven by the politics of oil, religion, drugs and arms trade as well as ethnic, irredentist security fights, be they ritual confrontations or deadly quarrels in regions of conflict.
