Ideational Consensus and U.S. Alliance Management in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

This paper examines the role of collective ideas regarding foreign and national security policy - or what I refer to as a “security consensus” - on the direction of U.S. alliance relations and domestic security policy in Asia. I argue that elite ideas and beliefs about the nature of the U.S. alliance in relation to a state’s national security strategy shape or constrain the policy choices made by U.S. alliance partners. To demonstrate that policy choices are more than mere reflections of actors’ preferences or strategic interests, I operationalize the security consensus along the dimensions of breadth and depth. “Breadth” refers to the proportion of elites in the foreign policy and security establishment who support strong alliance ties to the U.S. “Depth” refers to the security consensus embodied in domestic institutions and ideology. Determining the breadth and depth of the security consensus helps us proximate the strength or weakness of the consensus, and the extent to which ideas matter in shaping policy outcomes.