US Bias in the Study of Asian Security: Using Europe to Study Asia

Abstract

AbstractScholars have been particularly hampered in their explanations and understanding of Asian security because they often learn little about Asia in their graduate training. The international relations (IR) literature draws an overwhelming proportion of its empirical source material from the European historical experience. We show that the curricula and training that graduate students of international relations receive in the United States are overwhelmingly focused on European examples. In short, the median American scholar of IR is deeply comfortable with European examples and analogies and has almost no exposure to Asian examples and history. Thus, when faced with Asian examples, they are considered within the context they are taught: through the European lens. We conclude with a call for greater attention to the empirical reality that is Asia.