Chapter 10 Peace through trade? Econophoria in Northeast Asia

• Date: 08 July 2010
• Pages: 169-184
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S1572-8323(2010)0000014014
• Published date: 08 July 2010
• Author: Brendan Howe

CHAPTER 10

PEACE THROUGH TRADE?

ECONOPHORIA IN

NORTHEAST ASIA

Brendan Howe

ABSTRACT

Purpose – This chapter assesses the extent to which ‘Econophoria’

(all problems seen as surmountable though development and economic

growth) is justif‌ied with regard to the maintenance of peace in Northeast

Asia where, despite ongoing tensions, outright war has been averted for

half a century. Given that peace talks, international organisations and

democratic dyads (alternative explanations for the absence of war) are in

short supply, and in the context of regional economic ‘miracles’, the

various economic peace mechanisms are addressed through analysis of

Northeast Asian data.

Design/methodology/approach – The impact of economic development

in relation to war and peace is seen to operate at both the macro-level

between states (trade, interdependence) and at a micro, transformative

level within them. This chapter applies Northeast Asian data to each of

the theoretical traditions of economic peace to assess whether there is

suff‌icient f‌it to provide grounds for optimism and therefore econophoria.

Findings – Owing to the limitations of socio-economic transformation

and interdependence the impact of the spread of commerce is felt more at

Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal, and Political Perspectives

Contributions to Conf‌lict Management, Peace Economics and Development, Volume 14, 169–184

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ISSN: 1572-8323/doi:10.1108/S1572-8323(2010)0000014014

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a socially constructed rather than rational cost–benef‌it level. Peace in

Northeast Asia has not come through trade, but trade has facilitated

improved conditions for the construction of a peaceful regional

community.

Originality/value – This chapter offers grounds for cautious optimism

with regard to the relative stability of the peace regime in a region

considered one of the most dangerous in the world. However, it also warns

levels of economic development and interdependence which are insuff‌icient

to take an econophoric determinist stance.

INTRODUCTION

Authoritarian regimes and realist analysis during and after the inter-war

20-year crisis have seemingly condemned the notion of peace through trade

to the dustbin of history, along with the rest of the liberal internationalist

social engineering project. Nonetheless, the concept may be seen as a

paradigm born before its time, the tenets of which hold increasing relevance

in a modern and interdependent world. This is particularly the case in the

security environment of Northeast Asia. Here there are few successful

examples of diplomatic success in securing peace (the repeated collapse

of the Six Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear and missile weapons

programs, the failure of Japan and South Korea and Japan and China to

resolve historic tensions and geographical borders, and the impasse over the

status of Taiwan being just some of the high-prof‌ile failures). The other

sides of the virtuous triangle (democracy and international organisation)

seem in particularly scant supply. Yet a remarkable econophoria, where all

problems are seen as surmountable through development and growth, has

emerged alongside the dynamic economic success stories of most states

in the region (Buzan & Segal, 1998). This econophoria may even be seen as

empirically justif‌ied given that war has been absent from the subregion for

50 years despite ongoing tensions and insuff‌icient democratic dyads and

regional international organisations. However, we must not be too quick to

jump to causal conclusions regarding the source of regional peace.

To paraphrase Richard Cobden (leader of the Anti-Corn Law League,

known as the ‘Apostle of Free Trade’), this chapter addresses the limitations

of the ‘labour of cabinets and foreign off‌ices’ in securing peace in Northeast

Asia. It f‌irst traces the intellectual origins of the link between trade

and peace. The chapter also assesses the extent to which the ‘spread of

BRENDAN HOWE170