We are pleased to introduce the IAR Featured Event Series, a new monthly forum designed to bring together the IAR community for engaging conversations on broad and timely topics related to Asia.
The series will feature seven seminars throughout the 2026–2027 academic year, running from September through April, excluding December.
For our inaugural event, we are pleased to welcome Professor Kuik Cheng-Chwee from the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
About the event:
Hedging is a relatively new concept in International Relations, but it is not a new behaviour in world politics. This book talk unpacks the underlying logic of hedging as a form of human behaviour under conditions of high-stakes uncertainty at the international level. Conceptually, Professor Kuik defines hedging as an insurance-seeking behaviour comprising three interrelated elements: active neutrality, inclusive diversification, and adaptive offsets. Theoretically, he develops a two-level model to explain shifts and variations in states’ alignment choices. At the structural level, certainty or uncertainty about “harming hands” (a clear and present threat) and “helping hands” (credible allied support) combine to determine when non-hedging shifts to hedging, and vice versa; at the domestic level, a separate set of factors explains why some hedgers hedge more heavily than others. He will conclude by considering what this means for the future of middle power diplomacy. Growing uncertainty in U.S.-China relations is pushing both established middle powers (such as Canada) and emerging ones (such as ASEAN and several of its core members) to work more closely together to hedge against growing risks on multiple fronts. But the direction and prospects of this collaboration will depend on whether, and to what extent, they can bridge the cognitive and interest gaps between their alliance-centric and alliance-allergic worldviews.
Short Bio:
Dr. Kuik Cheng-Chwee is Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). He is concurrently a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Foreign Policy Institute. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program. His research focuses on non-great-power alignment behavior, Southeast Asian international relations, and Asian security. He is the author of Theorizing Hedging: Explaining Shifts and Variations in Alignment Choices (Cambridge University Press, 2026), co-author (with David Lampton and Selina Ho) of Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia (2020), and co-editor (with Alice Ba and Sueo Sudo) of Institutionalizing East Asia (2016). A regular speaker at international conferences and closed-door policy roundtables, he serves on the editorial boards of Contemporary Southeast Asia, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Journal of East Asian Studies, and several other international journals. He also served as Head of the Writing Team (2019–2020) for Malaysia’s inaugural Defence White Paper. Dr. Kuik holds an M.Litt. from the University of St Andrews and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He has been listed among Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists in the subfield of International Relations for 2023, 2024, and 2025.
This event is presented by the Institute of Asian Research (IAR).
