With the rapid rise of China and the relative decline of the United States, the topic of power transition conflicts has received high scholarly attention. While the discipline of International Relations offers much on why violent power transition conflicts occur, there are very few substantive treatments of why and how peaceful changes take place in world politics.

The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations (Oxford University Press, 2021) is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject of peaceful change in International Relations. The handbook contains 41 chapters, all written by scholars from different theoretical and conceptual backgrounds examining the multi-faceted dimensions of the subject.

RSIS, which had the honour of having the highest number of contributors to the book from a single institution, organised a launch event on 12 November 2021 to introduce the work. The event was organised in collaboration with the Global Research Network on Peaceful Change (GRENPEC), a worldwide research network comprising scholars and institutions engaged in the study of peaceful change at the international and regional levels.

Moderated by Professor Pascal Venneson, the panel discussion at the launch event featured five contributors to the handbook. Professor T. V. Paul (McGill University) discussed peaceful change from a conceptual perspective; Professors Ralf Emmers and Mely Caballero-Anthony (both from RSIS) applied the concept of peaceful change to Southeast Asia; Professor Rajesh Basrur (RSIS) explained how the concept of peaceful change could be applied to South Asia; and Associate Professor Bhubhindar Singh explained how peaceful change could be used to understand regional dynamics in Northeast Asia. Their presentations were followed by a lively discussion on the difficulties and prospects of applying peaceful change in East Asia.

The handbook will prove to be an important contribution to the field of International Relations.

Catch it here on the RSISVideoCast YouTube channel: