Introduction: Eastphalia Emerging?: Asia, International Law, and Global Governance

In the late eighteenth century, as part of his effort to stop British imperial despoliation of India, Edmund Burke argued that the people and civilization of India were moral equals of Europe, deserving of British respect rather than rapacious exploitation. “I assert,” Burke argued, “that their morality is equal to ours as regards the morality of Governors, fathers, superiors; and I challenge the world to shew, in any modern European book, more true morality and wisdom than is to be found in the writings of Asiatic men in high trusts, and who have been Counsellors to Princes.” 1 Burke further argued that “in Asia as well as in Europe the same Law of Nations applies, the same principles continually resorted to, and the same maxims sacredly held and strenuously maintained” and that “Asia is enlightened in that respect as well as Europe.” 2 Burke’s words fell on deaf ears; British imperialism in India proceeded apace. In the nineteenth century, other Asian cultures and states of ancient origin, especially China and Japan, found their traditional cultural and political practices determined by Western imperial powers to be “uncivilized” 3 and subject to dramatic changes at the hands of European nations and commercial interests. The twentieth century witnessed Asian countries emerge from colonialism into independent, sovereign states, but they often faced political and economic challenges in international affairs from a position of weakness. Not long ago, Asia’s subjugation, exploitation, and vulnerability through its incorporation into the modern international system made the idea that Asian countries would one day reshape international politics from a position of strength a very distant dream.