Introduction

This chapter presents a comparative analysis of the middle power behaviour of Australia, Indonesia and South Korea in the formation of APEC and the EAS, and traces the empirical developments back to the differentiated structure of regional politics. Building on the works of Albert et al and Donnelly, the understanding of structure here focuses on stratificatory and functional differentiation (Donnelly, 2009; Buzan and Albert, 2010; Albert et al, 2013; Donnelly, 2013). This structure forms the basis for middle power behaviour in multilateralism, although the eventual effects would be activated through negotiations of social, relative and relational power politics (Barkin, 2010, pp 18– 20). The key argument is that as a way to ensure their own place and relevance in the region, middle powers have sought to dilute major-power stratification and undertake functionally differentiated roles in regional multilateralism. These are broad objectives across all three middle powers, although, as we will discuss later, the specific details and considerations for each middle power initiative vary. The discussion will also reinforce the importance of context for middle power behaviour, by highlighting briefly two other scenarios of Asia Pacific multilateralism in which middle power initiative was apparently absent. The behaviour of middle powers in regional multilateralism is thus conditioned, but not determined, by the structure of differentiation.

This chapter is organized as follows. It starts off with a section that looks at each middle power’s behaviour across both APEC and the EAS. The analysis here will draw out similarities and differences for each middle power in their approaches towards the two instances of regional multilateralism. The objective is to find out if there are consistencies or discrepancies in the strategies of each middle power in regional multilateralism at different times, and what drives such considerations. This is followed by a section that recalls the book’s theoretical framework proposed in Chapter 3. It will discuss how the behaviour of Australia, Indonesia and South Korea could be understood through the lens of differentiation, as well as explain how all three countries tried to shape power politics to their advantage in the formation of APEC and the EAS.