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Contributors
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Introduction
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The article provides a thematic and theoretically informed introduction into this EJEAS issue on East Asian regionalism. Its point of departure is the obvious paralysis of East Asian regionalism during and after the Asian financial crisis. It examines as to what extent the subsequent efforts towards damage control and revitalization have lead to a re-invention of East Asian regional institutions as frequently urged in the region. By reviewing the more recent literature and the contributions assembled in the issue, the article notes that despite the crisis the trend towards institutionalist and constructivist theoretical approaches continues. These approaches however often tend to exhibit a certain cooperative bias which may blur the proclivity of foreign policy-makers in the region for political realism. Subsequent sections examine the cohesion of regional institutions and horizontal institutional differentiation. The article concludes that despite a proliferation of regional institutions, there has been no marked deepening of regional groupings and that regime building, as a approach to the management of inter-dependence, has not made noteworthy progress in a broad array of policy areas contending with border-crossing policy problems.
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ASEAN After the Bali Summit 2003: From Paralysis to New Life?
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The question whether ASEAN has managed to recover from the Asian crisis has received much interest over the last years. The present contribution to the debate is made through an analysis of the prospects for change after the Bali Summit in 2003, with a focus on attempts to enforce stronger regional cohesion. In a joint effort to revive Southeast and East Asian regionalism, the ASEAN states proclaimed the goal to become an 'Economic and Security Community'. While the indicated reforms concentrate mainly on the economic and, secondarily, on the security sectors, the papers argues that matters of social cohesion are also a relevant factor in the making of a regional community. After a short introduction on post-crisis politics, the article examines the concrete measures proposed in the Bali Declaration and their potential to reform ASEAN. The main argument is that regional co-operation can only be successful if internal divides are mitigated and if a stronger normative consensus can be found so as to create a collective identity among the member states.
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Political Leadership, Informality, and Regional Integration in East Asia: The Evolution of Asean Plus Three
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Since the late 1990s, moves towards regional integration and cooperation have gained momentum in East Asia. The regional countries have expanded and deepened integration initiatives under the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) framework that consists of ASEAN countries, China, Japan and South Korea. What factors have promoted the development of regional integration and economic cooperation in the region? This article addresses this question in terms of collectively shared norms and political leadership. Informality, a representative common norm, played a catalytic role in first nurturing communication for regional cooperation and inducing a reluctant state to join the cooperative framework. Importantly, the development of regional cooperation under the APT framework was accompanied by a shift in emphasis from informal to formal settings. Moreover, leadership shown by China and Japan has played a crucial role in promoting the regional integration initiatives. While China has taken the initiative in propelling regional free trade agreements and economic development and integration in the Indochina countries, Japan has taken the lead in developing financial and monetary architectures and other cooperative mechanisms. Rivalry for political leadership has induced the two countries to provide regional public goods in a positive-sum game manner.
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The Evolution of APEC and ASEM: Implications of the New East Asian Bilateralism
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The traditional institutional equilibrium in East Asia—the embrace of the WTO at the multilateral level and a focus on market-driven, informal integration at the sub-multilateral level—is under heavy strain. Increasingly, East Asian countries are pursuing greater institutionalisation at the sub-multilateral level, weaving a web of preferential arrangements in response to similar strategies pursued by the US and the EU. This article examines the likely path of trading arrangements in Northeast Asia, its implications for East Asia and the future of APEC and ASEM. We propose an institutional bargaining game approach, focusing on goods, countries' individual bargaining situations and the fit with existing arrangements, and allowing an exploration of the evolution of trading arrangements in East Asia. An East Asian trading bloc has both benign and pernicious elements, depending on the ideas and beliefs held by regional actors. The contribution of a prospective East Asian bloc to APEC and ASEM primarily depends on the balance of interests between the US and the EU concerning East Asia. In view of the tremendous political and economic uncertainty in the global economy, the path to freer trade in Northeast Asia, East Asia and the world system is likely to be a bumpy one.
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Sub-Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia: The Mekong Basin
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The paper analyses the security dimension of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) by taking into account traditional as well as non-traditional security issues. The Greater Mekong Subregion, which was established in 1992 at the initiative of the ADB, emerged after the Cold War in the wake of the so-called new regionalism as one of the growth triangles within ASEAN. Participating countries/regions are China's Yunnan province, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The article places the discussion of the Greater Mekong Subregion within the debate on post-Cold War sub-regionalism and sets out to discuss the development of regionalism in the Mekong Basin. The article shows how economic cooperation is followed in the pursuit of security and stability in a formerly conflict-ridden area and assesses the relevance of the GMS towards the issue of conflict reduction in the Mekong Basin.
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Bilateral Free Trade Agreements: Boon or Bane for Regionalism in East Asia and the Asia-pacific?
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Since the late 1990s there has been a rapid proliferation of bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) projects in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific, regions previously largely devoid of FTA activity by comparison to others. As this trend has intensified, so have discussions on whether it will help advance regional co-operation and integration. This paper examines the nature of FTAs themselves and the main causes of East Asia and Asia-Pacific FTAs. The 'lattice regionalism' hypothesis is considered: whether dense economic bilateralism provides a sub-structural foundation on which economic regionalism (i.e. co-operation and integration) can build. Closely related is the issue of competing FTA models and modalities in the Asia-Pacific, and special attention is afforded to the 'asymmetric neoliberal' FTA model of the United States and the 'developmental–industrial' FTA model championed by Japan. It is argued that the contrasts between these make the emergence of an Asia-Pacific FTA unlikely in even the distant future. Japan's FTA model is also considered relative to perhaps East Asia's most important FTA project, the ASEAN–China FTA (ACFTA), and we discuss how bilateral FTA developments in the region more generally may or may not lead to enhanced regional economic co-operation and integration in East Asia.
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Book Reviews
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