Counter Terrorism and International Power Relations: The EU, ASEAN and Hegemonic Global Governance

A dialogue between established International Relations theory and global governance literature may promote a novel synthetic framework for understanding the "Global War on Terrorism" (GWOT). The author wishes to explore and develop a new security studies perspective which will restate and reinterpret George W. Bush's GWOT. The argument promoted here centres around the claim that in its GWOT the USA has engaged in the creation of an under-researched form of global governance, hegemonic governance, by which the hegemon persuades and coerces states across the globe to cooperate in the battle against sub-state terrorism. This requires a new understanding of global governance, as usually the main strand of global governance literature theorises and describes global governance as heterarchic, with equal partners interacting to order their common affairs (Miura 2004; McGrew 2000).1 The main purpose of this study is to challenge this particular assertion.[From author's introduction].