The South China Sea

What Everyone Needs to Know
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-19-066832-7
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 3 g

The South China Sea is well known as a hotspot of geopolitical tensions. But it is more than just that. It has been a critical node and nexus of trade, strategic rivalries, and the exchange of cultures and ideas for at least a millennium.

The South China Sea: What Everyone Needs to Know® unpacks the complex and textured history of this region and offers incisive and thorough, yet accessible and balanced, analysis of current issues and potential futures.
Why do small islands (and even reefs and atolls) matter so much? How and why do different players stake their claims? What is the environmental impact of all this? What are the prospects for conflict, or cooperation? Whatever one's particular area of concern, this volume delivers what's needed to understand the issues beyond the headlines, especially the troubled and multifaceted history and politics behind them.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hurst, William

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- I. General Introduction

- - Basic questions and issues

- - Plan of the rest of the book

- II. Overview and History up through 1945

- - Geography and basic facts

- - Discussion of all islands and features

- - Sections on colonial past and legacies for relevant Western powers in the region

- - Section on the Second World War

- III. Politics since 1945

- - Section on the road to independence and roots of current disputes

- - Sections on the political history of each South China Sea country and how that effects its stance on current issues

- IV. Law and Ongoing Disputes

- - Sections on each dispute and the legal cases, principles, and adjudication methods it has involved

- V. Economic and Environmental Issues

- - Section on shipping and trade

- - Section on implications for global markets

- - Section on fisheries, hydrocarbons and other resources

- - Section on unique, fragile, threatened or damaged ecosystems in the South China Sea

- VI. Prospects for the Future

- - Section on risks of war (how could a conflict start and who would it involve)

- - Section on prospects of either continuing status quo or lasting agreement or de-escalation

- - Section on implications beyond the region

- VII. Conclusion

- - Discussion of what the book has covered and where further research or study on aspects of the South China Sea could lead

- VIII. Suggestions for Further Reading and Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

William Hurst is the Chong Hua Professor of Chinese Development in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Co-Director of the Centre for Geopolitics, and Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge. He is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. In addition to international relations and the South China Sea, his research and teaching have focused on various dimensions of domestic politics in both China and Indonesia. He has published two other monographs, alongside dozens of articles and essays, and four edited volumes.