Brendan Taylor
Biographic Data
| ID | 3776960 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brendan Taylor |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brendan |
| FAMILY NAME | Taylor |
| SIGNATURE | TAYLOR B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1567-525X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Australian agency and the China–US contest for supremacy
This article revisits the widely held assumption that small and middle powers lose substantial agency during periods of strategic competition and hegemonic (re)ordering. Focusing on Australia’s foreign policy over the past decade and a half, it also challenges the prevailing narrative that Canberra has resigned itself to the role of a ‘Dependent Ally’ of the United States amidst intensifying Sino-American rivalry. Instead, the article finds evide…
Same bed, different nightmares
Despite the consistently positive rhetoric surrounding the Trans-Tasman alliance, this article identifies three trends contributing to a growing strategic divergence in the relationship that threaten its very viability. First, Australia's engagement with numerous new security groupings over the past decade has diminished the relative importance of its ties with New Zealand. Second, the ‘strategic personalities' of these antipodean allies are dive…
Taiwan
Australian strategic studies
Australian strategic studies scholars have traditionally made an outsized impact on the world stage. This reflection upon the past, present and future of their field begins by seeking to explain why. It then takes stock of Australian strategic studies today, finding a flourishing field that stacks up remarkably well, even when measured against the exploits of its illustrious past. The essay concludes by identifying the main challenges and opportu…
Contested Concept
Australia is among the most prominent advocates of the Indo‐Pacific concept that increasingly serves as a new point of convergence between the United States and its Asian allies and partners. In contrast to this upgraded Indo‐Pacific orientation, however, a vigorous debate is playing out in Australia regarding the merits of this concept and its supporting pillars, such as the idea of a rules‐based international order and the resuscitated Quadrila…
Is Australia's Indo-Pacific strategy an illusion
Australia has been among the most prominent advocates of the increasingly popular Indo-Pacific concept. This article argues that Canberra's enthusiasm for the concept stems from its appeal to the two dominant traditions of Australian foreign policy-a 'dependent ally' tradition and a 'middle power' approach. While these two traditions are typically seen as being in tension, the Indo-Pacific concept provides a rare point of convergence between them…
After American Primacy
Dangerous Decade
Taiwan’s position looks increasingly precarious, and tensions threaten to grow into a major strategic crisis. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made reunification with Taiwan a central pillar of his vision for China, and has ramped up diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan. Its inhabitants are increasingly estranged from the mainland, and Tsai Ing-wen’s administration refuses to conduct relations with China on Beijing’s terms. Taiwan could tak…
Dangerous Decade
After American Primacy
The Four Flashpoints
Asia is at a dangerous moment. China is rising fast, and its regional ambitions are growing. Reckless North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un may be assembling more nuclear weapons, despite diplomatic efforts to eradicate his arsenal. Japan is building up its military, throwing off constitutional constraints imposed after World War II. The United States, for so long a stabilising presence in Asia, is behaving erratically: Donald Trump is the first US p…
Unbreakable Alliance? Anzus in the Asian Century
The alliance between the United States and Australia (Australia New Zealand United States or ANZUS), while one of America's least problematic Asia‐Pacific strategic relationships at present, could face a series of new challenges as structural change in this region continues apace. This article analyzes five such challenges facing ANZUS: the rise of China; changing American expectations of its allies and partners; the intensification of Australia‐…
Northeast Asia's New ‘History Spiral’
The remembered history of the Second World War continues to infect contemporary relations between China and its Northeast Asian neighbours. This article argues that a ‘history spiral’ has taken hold in Northeast Asia as a result of the region's changing strategic order and domestic politics in China, Japan and South Korea. Using the case studies of the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands territorial dispute, the Dokdo/Takeshima territorial disputes, and Sino‐…
China's Engagement with Regional Security Multilateralism
Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs - Volume 37, Number 1, April 2015
The South China Sea is Not a Flashpoint
Two important anniversaries arrive in 2014 for protracted South China Sea disputes. January 19 marked 40 years since Chinese and Vietnamese forces clashed over the Paracel Islands, resulting in the
Does China Still Back North Korea
China's relationship with North Korea has long been likened to the closeness between lips and teeth. Since the 1960s, North Korea has been China's most important ally. But relations between Beijing
Insurgent Intellectual
Insurgent intellectual
Japan and South Korea
It is tempting to attribute the recent downturn in Japan–South Korean ties solely to domestic dynamics, but this underestimates powerful structural constraints on deepening security relations
The Korean Crises and Sino-American Rivalry
For much of the past two decades, America's approach toward the Asia-Pacific has been seen by many as highly disjointed, the product either of strategic inattention or the push and pull of US domes
Asia's century and the problem of Japan's centrality
Japan has long been regarded as a central component of America's grand strategy in Asia. Scholars and practitioners assume this situation will persist in the face of China's rise and, indeed, that a more ‘normal’ Japan can and should take on an increasingly central role in US-led strategies to manage this power transition. This article challenges those assumptions by arguing that they are, paradoxically, being made at a time when Japan's economic…
The Shangri-La Dialogue and the institutionalization of defence diplomacy in Asia
The gradual institutionalization of defence diplomacy is becoming an increasingly prominent and potentially important feature of security dialogue in the Asian region. This stands in marked contrast to Asia's recent history, where across the region multilateral defence or military interactions have traditionally been regarded with suspicion. This article examines the emergence of Asia's most prominent exercise in defence diplomacy: the Shangri-La…
What is Asian security architecture
‘Architecture’ has emerged as the new catchphrase in Asian security politics. Despite its growing centrality, insufficient attention has thus far been given to defining the term, often leading to its imprecise usage. This article seeks to redress that shortcoming. It reviews the ways in which various scholars and practitioners have employed the term ‘security architecture’ and highlights the anomalies that their often differing employment has cre…
The Bush administration and Asia Pacific multilateralism
This article challenges the presumed multilateral aversion of the George W. Bush administration. It argues that, at least in its approach toward the Asia-Pacific, this administration has been a more active and stimulatory advocate of multilateral approaches than is commonly acknowledged. The article begins by documenting the Bush administration's multilateral activism in the Asia-Pacific and examines those factors which appear to have contributed…
Carrying China's Torch
Additional informationNotes on contributorsRobert Ayson Robert Ayson and Brendan Taylor are scholars with the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Brendan Taylor Robert Ayson and Brendan Taylor are scholars with the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre
The Shangri-La Dialogue and the institutionalization of defence diplomacy in Asia
The gradual institutionalization of defence diplomacy is becoming an increasingly prominent and potentially important feature of security dialogue in the Asian region. This stands in marked contrast to Asia's recent history, where across the region multilateral defence or military interactions have traditionally been regarded with suspicion. This article examines the emergence of Asia's most prominent exercise in defence diplomacy: the Shangri-La…
What is Asian security architecture
‘Architecture’ has emerged as the new catchphrase in Asian security politics. Despite its growing centrality, insufficient attention has thus far been given to defining the term, often leading to its imprecise usage. This article seeks to redress that shortcoming. It reviews the ways in which various scholars and practitioners have employed the term ‘security architecture’ and highlights the anomalies that their often differing employment has cre…
Asia's century and the problem of Japan's centrality
Japan has long been regarded as a central component of America's grand strategy in Asia. Scholars and practitioners assume this situation will persist in the face of China's rise and, indeed, that a more ‘normal’ Japan can and should take on an increasingly central role in US-led strategies to manage this power transition. This article challenges those assumptions by arguing that they are, paradoxically, being made at a time when Japan's economic…
Track 2 Security Dialogue in the Asia-Pacific
This article critically reviews the literature on Track 2 security dialogue in the Asia‐Pacific and suggests a number of possible avenues for further research. From almost a standing start, Track 2 security dialogue in this part of the world has burgeoned over the past decade and a half. As these institutions and activities have grown, so too has a body of scholarship grown around them which has striven to stay abreast of them and – at least in t…
Australian agency and the China–US contest for supremacy
This article revisits the widely held assumption that small and middle powers lose substantial agency during periods of strategic competition and hegemonic (re)ordering. Focusing on Australia’s foreign policy over the past decade and a half, it also challenges the prevailing narrative that Canberra has resigned itself to the role of a ‘Dependent Ally’ of the United States amidst intensifying Sino-American rivalry. Instead, the article finds evide…
Contested Concept
Australia is among the most prominent advocates of the Indo‐Pacific concept that increasingly serves as a new point of convergence between the United States and its Asian allies and partners. In contrast to this upgraded Indo‐Pacific orientation, however, a vigorous debate is playing out in Australia regarding the merits of this concept and its supporting pillars, such as the idea of a rules‐based international order and the resuscitated Quadrila…
Is Australia's Indo-Pacific strategy an illusion
Australia has been among the most prominent advocates of the increasingly popular Indo-Pacific concept. This article argues that Canberra's enthusiasm for the concept stems from its appeal to the two dominant traditions of Australian foreign policy-a 'dependent ally' tradition and a 'middle power' approach. While these two traditions are typically seen as being in tension, the Indo-Pacific concept provides a rare point of convergence between them…
China's Engagement with Regional Security Multilateralism
Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs - Volume 37, Number 1, April 2015
The Bush administration and Asia Pacific multilateralism
This article challenges the presumed multilateral aversion of the George W. Bush administration. It argues that, at least in its approach toward the Asia-Pacific, this administration has been a more active and stimulatory advocate of multilateral approaches than is commonly acknowledged. The article begins by documenting the Bush administration's multilateral activism in the Asia-Pacific and examines those factors which appear to have contributed…
US-China relations after 11 September
This article traces the evolution of US - Sino relations in the period since the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. It argues that the resultant, largely unanticipated rapprochement that has occurred between Beijing and Washington is actually more robust than many analysts have thus far been prepared to acknowledge. While conflictual elements will remain a feature of this all-important bilateral relationship, the art…
Attacking North Korea
An air of complacency surrounds the continuing nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Many analysts assert that the chances of a second Korean War erupting are small, barring a serious act of miscalculation or misadventure on the part of Pyongyang. This paper confirms that there is indeed a range of important reasons why the United States would not wish to initiate hostilities on the peninsula in the short to medium term. However it also finds t…
Attacking North Korea
An air of complacency surrounds the continuing nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Many analysts assert that the chances of a second Korean War erupting are small, barring a serious act of miscalculation or misadventure on the part of Pyongyang. This paper confirms that there is indeed a range of important reasons why the United States would not wish to initiate hostilities on the peninsula in the short to medium term. However it also finds t…
Coral Bell's contribution to Australian foreign policy
She has been described as a ‘delightful white-haired lady’ and likened to such literary characters as ‘Miss Marples’ and Margaret Rutherford from Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. Yet if appear
US-China relations after 11 September
This article traces the evolution of US - Sino relations in the period since the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. It argues that the resultant, largely unanticipated rapprochement that has occurred between Beijing and Washington is actually more robust than many analysts have thus far been prepared to acknowledge. While conflictual elements will remain a feature of this all-important bilateral relationship, the art…
Track 2 Security Dialogue in the Asia-Pacific
This article critically reviews the literature on Track 2 security dialogue in the Asia‐Pacific and suggests a number of possible avenues for further research. From almost a standing start, Track 2 security dialogue in this part of the world has burgeoned over the past decade and a half. As these institutions and activities have grown, so too has a body of scholarship grown around them which has striven to stay abreast of them and – at least in t…
China's Rise in Asia
The Bush administration and Asia Pacific multilateralism
This article challenges the presumed multilateral aversion of the George W. Bush administration. It argues that, at least in its approach toward the Asia-Pacific, this administration has been a more active and stimulatory advocate of multilateral approaches than is commonly acknowledged. The article begins by documenting the Bush administration's multilateral activism in the Asia-Pacific and examines those factors which appear to have contributed…
Carrying China's Torch
Additional informationNotes on contributorsRobert Ayson Robert Ayson and Brendan Taylor are scholars with the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Brendan Taylor Robert Ayson and Brendan Taylor are scholars with the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre
The Shangri-La Dialogue and the institutionalization of defence diplomacy in Asia
The gradual institutionalization of defence diplomacy is becoming an increasingly prominent and potentially important feature of security dialogue in the Asian region. This stands in marked contrast to Asia's recent history, where across the region multilateral defence or military interactions have traditionally been regarded with suspicion. This article examines the emergence of Asia's most prominent exercise in defence diplomacy: the Shangri-La…
What is Asian security architecture
‘Architecture’ has emerged as the new catchphrase in Asian security politics. Despite its growing centrality, insufficient attention has thus far been given to defining the term, often leading to its imprecise usage. This article seeks to redress that shortcoming. It reviews the ways in which various scholars and practitioners have employed the term ‘security architecture’ and highlights the anomalies that their often differing employment has cre…
The Korean Crises and Sino-American Rivalry
For much of the past two decades, America's approach toward the Asia-Pacific has been seen by many as highly disjointed, the product either of strategic inattention or the push and pull of US domes
Asia's century and the problem of Japan's centrality
Japan has long been regarded as a central component of America's grand strategy in Asia. Scholars and practitioners assume this situation will persist in the face of China's rise and, indeed, that a more ‘normal’ Japan can and should take on an increasingly central role in US-led strategies to manage this power transition. This article challenges those assumptions by arguing that they are, paradoxically, being made at a time when Japan's economic…
Insurgent Intellectual
Insurgent intellectual
Japan and South Korea
It is tempting to attribute the recent downturn in Japan–South Korean ties solely to domestic dynamics, but this underestimates powerful structural constraints on deepening security relations
Does China Still Back North Korea
China's relationship with North Korea has long been likened to the closeness between lips and teeth. Since the 1960s, North Korea has been China's most important ally. But relations between Beijing
The South China Sea is Not a Flashpoint
Two important anniversaries arrive in 2014 for protracted South China Sea disputes. January 19 marked 40 years since Chinese and Vietnamese forces clashed over the Paracel Islands, resulting in the
Northeast Asia's New ‘History Spiral’
The remembered history of the Second World War continues to infect contemporary relations between China and its Northeast Asian neighbours. This article argues that a ‘history spiral’ has taken hold in Northeast Asia as a result of the region's changing strategic order and domestic politics in China, Japan and South Korea. Using the case studies of the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands territorial dispute, the Dokdo/Takeshima territorial disputes, and Sino‐…
China's Engagement with Regional Security Multilateralism
Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs - Volume 37, Number 1, April 2015
Unbreakable Alliance? Anzus in the Asian Century
The alliance between the United States and Australia (Australia New Zealand United States or ANZUS), while one of America's least problematic Asia‐Pacific strategic relationships at present, could face a series of new challenges as structural change in this region continues apace. This article analyzes five such challenges facing ANZUS: the rise of China; changing American expectations of its allies and partners; the intensification of Australia‐…
The Four Flashpoints
Asia is at a dangerous moment. China is rising fast, and its regional ambitions are growing. Reckless North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un may be assembling more nuclear weapons, despite diplomatic efforts to eradicate his arsenal. Japan is building up its military, throwing off constitutional constraints imposed after World War II. The United States, for so long a stabilising presence in Asia, is behaving erratically: Donald Trump is the first US p…
After American Primacy
Dangerous Decade
Taiwan’s position looks increasingly precarious, and tensions threaten to grow into a major strategic crisis. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made reunification with Taiwan a central pillar of his vision for China, and has ramped up diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan. Its inhabitants are increasingly estranged from the mainland, and Tsai Ing-wen’s administration refuses to conduct relations with China on Beijing’s terms. Taiwan could tak…
Dangerous Decade
After American Primacy
Contested Concept
Australia is among the most prominent advocates of the Indo‐Pacific concept that increasingly serves as a new point of convergence between the United States and its Asian allies and partners. In contrast to this upgraded Indo‐Pacific orientation, however, a vigorous debate is playing out in Australia regarding the merits of this concept and its supporting pillars, such as the idea of a rules‐based international order and the resuscitated Quadrila…
Political science (23 works) · Law (18 works) · Law (17 works) · China (14 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (14 works) · Economics (12 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Political economy (10 works) · History (8 works) · History (8 works)