Multipolarity-in-the-Indo-Pacific-Lessons-for-Australia-from-the-past-and-present

The system collapsed into multi- the US House Foreign Affairs Committee.28 Mean- ple wars from the second half of the 19th century while, the entropic forces that tore apart the Con- through the first half of the 20th century because of cert of Europe in the 19th century, including ethnic the consolidation of the German states, the uncon- nationalism and grievance-based foreign policy, trolled spr. [...] and ideational divergences as Britain and France Multipolarity in the Indo-Pacific: Lessons for Australia from the past and present 5 The 19th and 20th century There are obvious similarities to this earlier system in Asia today in terms of geography and competi- concert of power in Asia tion in the maritime domain. [...] The generally slowed the ambitions of the rising powers battlefield victories of American and Australian and prevented great power wars of the kind seen forces in 1942 helped to reverse Japanese gains, in the 20th century. [...] A second similarity to today was the willingness of the United States and Japan to A third instructive reference for historical instanc- contribute to the economic development of China es of multipolarity is that which emerged with the as part of the counterbalancing strategy towards Sino-American entente in the last two decades of the Soviet Union. [...] 8 Multipolarity in the Indo-Pacific: Lessons for Australia from the past and present The trajectory of multipolar security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific The thickening defence cooperation among US Uncertainty about the merits of moving from allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific today sug- security networking towards a broader collective gests that key states will continue seeking security secu.