Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a new narrative about Asia in International Relations (IR) and world politics. It calls for a critical interrogation of all the major concepts involved: "civilization", "dialogue", and "security". The book also shows how the government of India today entwines energy resources with national security. It also shows how the modern state in South Asia has always defined nationhood in terms of security. The book addresses the escalating dispute between China and Japan in the East China Sea. It highlights the seeds of self-transformation towards a trans-cultural IR within Western social science. IR retains a Protestant-based, Realist/Liberal mode of interacting with the world. Stemming from North America and Western Europe as the "origin" of peoples contemporary world politics, Hypermasculine-Eurocentric Whiteness (HEW) translates into one set of social, institutional, and epistemic legacies that Vitalis calls a "white world order".