University of Tasmania, Australia

This paper examines claims that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) might come to serve as a hub for power balancing in Asia. It argues that while it is too soon to predict that the SCO will adopt a pan-Asian role, it is equally incorrect to dismiss the organisation as a paper tiger. After identifying the SCO as a fledgling hegemonic regime, I assess the SCO's capacity to engage in power balancing in four key areas: material capabilities, scope and purpose, resilience and adaptability. I conclude that the SCO is a potential candidate for activation in a power-balancing role in future.

Speaker

Matthew Sussex is Director of the Politics and International Relations program at the University of Tasmania. His research specialisations include international security, Russian politics and foreign policy, strategic studies and international relations theory. His most recent publications have been in the areas of energy security, power relations in the Asia-Pacific, security in the former Soviet space, and Australian strategic policy. He has been the recipient of grants from the Australian Research Council (Discovery Grants), and from the Fulbright Foundation, amongst others. His most recent book is (ed) Conflict in the former USSR (Cambridge University Press, 2012). 

Date: Friday, 11 October 2013

Time: 2 - 3 pm

Venue: Room 586, Social Sciences Building, Sandy Bay campus

All welcome. No RSVP required.

If you have any queries, please contact the School of Social Sciences, tel: 6226 2331, e:Social.Sciences@utas.edu.au

Campus maps