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WORSE THAN A MONOLITH: Alliance Politics and Problems of Coercive Diplomacy in Asia. By Thomas J. Christensen. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2011. ix, 306 pp. US$24.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-691-14261-6.
When looking at the political landscape of a rising Asia, it is difficult to ignore the importance of history and alliances that are deeply entrenched in its regional security dynamics. In Worse Than a Monolith: Alliance Politics and Problems of Coercive Diplomacy in Asia, Thomas Christensen argues that "disunity, lack of coordination, and intra-alliance rivalry increased both the chance that regional conflicts would occur and the likelihood that existing conflicts would persist and escalate" (1). He pinpoints the early formation period of an alliance and during the questioning of "the continued leadership capabilities of the most powerful ally" as key moments where these factors will likely occur (11). Christensen extensively examines the alliance conditions and interactions in East Asia from the lead-up to the Korean War through the US involvement in Vietnam. Moreover, the author further looks at the region moving from the normalization of relations between the US and the People's Republic of China to the post-Cold War positioning of the Asia region.
Christensen cites numerous historical documents, memoirs and cables, many of them translated from Chinese and Russian sources, to...