With particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region, this book examines the rise and fall of sea powers. In the Asia-Pacific region there has been significant expansion of sea-based economies together with burgeoning naval power. Many claim that these processes will transform the world’s future economic and security relationships. The book addresses the question of to what extent the notion of ‘Asia rising’ is reflected by and dependent on its developing sea power. A central theme is the Chinese challenge to long-term Western maritime ascendency and what might be the consequences of this. In order to situate current and future developments this book includes chapters which analyse what sea power means and has meant, as well as its role, both historic and contemporary, in the rise and fall of great powers. This book will be of much interest to students of naval power, Asian politics, strategic studies, war and conflict studies, IR and security studies. "This is an important collection of detailed high-quality essays on the dynamics of various national and regional aspects of sea power which deserve serious scholarly attention." - Dennis Rumley, International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 24, 1, June 2012 Patrick C. Bratton is Assistant Professor of political science and Program Chair for Political Science and International Relations at the Hawaii pacific University, Honolulu. Geoffrey Till is the Director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies at King’s College London. He is the author of a number of books, including, most recently, The Development of British Naval Thinking (Routledge 2006), Globalization and the Defence in Asia (co-ed. with Emrys Chew and Joshua Ho, Routledge, 2008), and Seapower: A Guide for the 21st Century (2nd edn, Routledge 2009).