Material vs. ideational factors: Realist and constructivist approaches to theorize East Asia security (China, Japan, Taiwan, Imre Lakatos)

This dissertation deals with the tension between material and ideational factors in the international relation field by applying Imre Lakatos' understanding that science proceeds through constant competition among approaches to explaining security in East Asia. The purpose is to put the tension between them to productive use by examining the implication of constant competition among approaches and thus defining a new perspective on security in general and East Asian security in particular.; Lakatos sees different research programmes in competition with one another as a positive influence contributing to the advancement of science. Acknowledging an intellectual debt to Lakatos, I adopt his idea, referring here to competing approaches (rather than research programmes per se) as core to advancing knowledge of security in East Asia. Specifically, I show how following Lakatos' insights that different approaches may exist and compete with each other, rather than viewing them as mutually exclusive, is more appropriate for the explanation and prediction of East Asian security processes and outcomes by focusing on China, Japan, and Taiwan as major actors within the region.; By applying constructivist democratic peace theory from an ideational perspective and realist balance of power from a material perspective to security issues among China, Japan, and Taiwan, I argue that no one theory, either material or ideational alone, provides satisfactory explanations and predictions for the study of East Asian security. In terms of research methodology, my adoption of Lakatos' proposition is more practical and useful than others in the study of security, particularly East Asian security.; This makes this study a major departure from established practice to study the East Asian security beyond the material perspective of the realism school. This research effort, employing a specially designed 2 x 3 matrix inspired by my understanding of the work by Lakatos, breaks the monopoly of realist materialism in the study of East Asian security by introducing ideational factors of constructivist democratic peace theory for the purpose of achieving a more comprehensive understanding of the region and as noted in the text, supporting the view that “our vision of the world has not to be either-or.”...