US Policy for Building a Networked Region in the Pacific

In the paper, US Pacific policy is analyzed through the concept of a “network”. On the one hand, systemic conditions which prevented the emergence of comprehensive integrational structures, and on the other hand, the results of George W. Bush’s policy served as foundations for such a course. By the end of 2008, three networks with US participation had formed: the TransPacific Partnership, the American alliances network and the six-party talks devoted to the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula. All of them served as a framework for Barck Obama’s Pacific policy. Its results demonstrated that a sparse network of security allies and partners with a limited number of nodes appeared was the most viable. As a consequence, this network was the only one maintained by Donald Trump and modernized by Joseph Biden. The modernization involved inclusion of non-regional actors into Pacific formats, closer integration of alliances and security partnerships through a partially corresponding agenda, the formation of multilateral partnership network based on a flexible cyber agenda, and assigning the role of network braces to the Quad and the trilateral US – Japan – ROK military and security partnership.

USA, foreign policy, Pacific Ocean, network, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Quad, Japan, Republic of Korea, security