Katsumata's book offers a thorough investigation and valuable insights into ... questions which are critical to any understanding of contemporary Asian security order...[the] book is an important counterpoint to the conventional realist view of international and regional institutions as mere adjuncts of balance of power dynamics. His rejection of the view of the ARF as a mere 'talking shop' will ... Read moreboth provoke and persuade. Combining valuable empirical research and tight argumentation, Katsumata systematically demonstrates the effects of the ARF on the US, China, and Australia. His book offers several interesting insights into how the region's two major players, the US and China, came to accept the ARF from an initial posture of skepticism and even rejection...He has emerged as the best Japanese scholar on the ARF, and his work is sure to be regarded as one of the most important contributions to Asia Pacific security multilateralism - From the foreword by Amitav Acharya, Professor of International Relations, American University, Washington DC, USA Show Less