Coalition-building and the politics of hegemonic ordering in the Indo-Pacific

US–China great power competition in the Indo-Pacific is intensifying, with important consequences for the conceptualisation of regional order. However, many debates remain largely wedded to binary analysis, failing to capture the complexity and fluidity of an evolving Indo-Pacific order. This Special Issue posits instead that the US and China are seeking to establish coalitional hegemonies through the competition for power, position and influence across multiple and often overlapping legitimating constituencies in the Indo-Pacific. It is driven by four research questions: (1) How are the US and China engaging in coalition-building in the Indo-Pacific; (2) What is the scale and evolution of these coalition-building projects; (3) How have regional middle powers responded to American and Chinese coalition-building efforts; and (4) What are the implications for regional alignments in the Indo-Pacific? By investigating the nature, extent and effects of US and China's coalition-building in the Indo-Pacific, this Special Issue yields important conceptual and empirical insights into the politics, processes and practices of regional hegemonic (re)ordering in the Indo-Pacific.