Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Ken Doerr, Phil Candreva. Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-77). Also available online.

By integrating system theories, geopolitics, strategic studies and historical sociology, this dissertation gets a research approach of dynamics of system changes, to explore the modern East Asian System: patterns, changes and dynamics. As the aspect of system changes, the Opium War (1839) between the British Empire and the Qing Empire led the collapse of the Tributary System, marked the beginning of modern East Asia System. All the Perry¡¦s Black Ship, the Great Game between Britain and Russia, Qing-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, the Pacific War, the collapse of Soviet Union and so on affected the changes of modern East Asia System, and gradually shaped into the current East Asian system: the coexistence of trade exchanges and military confrontation. As the aspect of system patterns, after the Opium War, the British became the dominant state of East Asia, and the operating principles of the West European State System replaced the Tributary System. The Great Game brought the first sea-land power game of the East Asia System. Japan Russo-Japanese war let Japan establish a sphere of influence. United States replaced Japan¡¦s sphere after the Pacific War. While the collapse of the Soviet Union, China could rebuild new Tributary System on the base of geopolitics of the Tributary System, and Beijing could become the new vertex in East Asia. Finally, the dissertation argues that the technological innovation, codes of geopolitics and join of numbers which were outside system, are the main dynamics of changes of modern East Asia System. However, with the recovery of the East Asian geo-economy and the rise of China, we should discuss the new dynamics of the future East Asia System.

What does the global situation look like after the end of Cold War? To the scholars on the international politics, what they put focus on is the establishment of global order and the configuration of the international society. Compared with the situation during the Cold War era, the changes of political conflicts, development of technology and the nature of human culture have been getting intense and frequent in the past ten years. The main trend of international relationship is the move toward global integration, and that gradually replaces the notion of putting the nation on the center of issues. The importance of transnational units and un-military forces is getting more impressive and powerful. As a result, besides nations, many non-nation units gradually occupy the global stage. The words like non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations and transnational financial institution all become popular in the post- Cold War era as well. That the occurrence of these non-nations stands for the collapse of the boundary of nations has caused impact on the international system consisting of sovereign nations, and the result the impact might cause is the main issue of global change and globalization. What foreseeable is that nations aren¡¦t the sole unit of global politics anymore. The activities of international non-governmental organizations have gradually affected the foreign policy-making of these nations; the expansion of transnational corporations has also directly influenced the change of global economy. Meanwhile, with the move of capitals these transnational corporations need, the role played by the global financial institution deserves more attention. In this dissertation, the words, globalization and globalism, will be properly defined and reviewed. Then, on the basis of understanding the birth of sovereignty and nations, I will discuss the operational rules and the essential parts of nations. Finally, what impact the nations will face in the process of globalization will be analyzed