Conclusion: Whither the East Asian Peace?

Nearly all the chapters-at least implicitly-suggest that a deeper understanding of conflict and cooperation processes within regions need to have a more explicit comparative focus if we are to determine the interplay of confluential, transformational, and attentuation/enhancement processes as they are intertwined with variation in regional fault lines across the regions in international politics. For instance, it is extremely difficult to assess the salience of hierarchy as a variable driving regional peace without substantial interregional comparisons. There are regions that contain no dominant power (the Middle East, Central Asia, the Maghreb, Central Africa, and East Africa); there are regions that contain one (North America, South America, Southern Africa); there are regions that contain a dominant but weak power (Nigeria in West Africa); there are regions that contain a dominant power but one that is trapped in an ongoing rivalry (India in South Asia); there are regions with more than one dominant power (the United Kingdom, France, and Germany in Western Europe). Among these stands East Asia with a dominant power (China) but also an external power (the United States) is vying for regional influence. Obviously, a focus on East Asia alone does not provide enough variation to fully analyze the role of hierarchy in regional relations. However, a larger comparative approach can. Meanwhile, we have not yet resolved the question of whither the East Asian peace. That may take time. In the interim, we have time to hone our questions about this phenomenon, and, ideally, come up with better answers-or at least better questions.