Australian Institute of International Affairs Victoria
ABN 42 727 001 279
The United States as a Rising Power in the Asia-Pacific Region
Professor Alan Henrikson, Director of Diplomatic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA
Monday 3 October, 2016: 6pm for 6.20pm – 7.30pm at Dyason House, 124 Jolimont Road, East Melbourne
Today the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific
region is dominated by the rise of new
powers. The role of the United States,
as the established political and military
power in the region, is increasingly
coming under challenge. But the United
States itself was once a rising power in
this region and the history of its rise may
hold clues as to how the contemporary
power transition might be managed
through deft diplomacy.
From its victory in the Spanish-American
War onwards, the United States emerged as a rising power in the Asia-Pacific theatre. Washington’s
rise tended to combine power assertion with attempts at order building. This included the Open Door
Policy, later the Nine Power Treaty and Kellogg-Briand Pact (joined in the Stimson Nonrecognition
Doctrine). Today, from the position of an established power, Washington continues to promote its
preferred approach to order in the Asia-Pacific including adherence to the UN Convention on the Law
of the Sea (despite having not ratified the treaty) as well as the trade principles of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership.
What may be the United States’ future approach of diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific Region?
AIIA Victoria is delighted to welcome Professor Henrikson to discuss the links between the US role in
the region today and its earlier history as a rising power as well as the lessons for navigating the
diplomacy of accommodating new powers in the region in the years ahead.
Professor Alan K. Henrikson is Lee E. Dirks Professor of Diplomatic History and the Director of
Diplomatic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, where he teaches
American diplomatic history, contemporary US-European relations, and the history, theory, and
practice of diplomacy. During the academic year 2010-2011 he was Fulbright Schuman Professor of
US-EU Relations at the College of Europe in Bruges. In November 2014 and March 2015 he lectured at
the Estonian School of Diplomacy in Tallinn; in August 2009, guest lecturer in diplomatic studies at the
University of Pretoria; and in November 2005, visiting professor at the European Commission in
Brussels where he taught a course for Commission officials on “American Foreign Policy Making”.
During the Spring of 2003 Professor Henrikson was Fulbright/Diplomatic Academy Visiting Professor of
International Relations at the Diplomatische Akademie in Vienna. He has been an associate and a
visiting scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.
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