1st Edition

How Weak Regionalism in East Asia Works Well Beyond the Flying Geese Model

By Luna Ge Lai Copyright 2025
    232 Pages 52 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book investigates the reasons why regional integration in East Asia has been much weaker than in other parts of the world. It focuses particularly on economic factors, examining the economies of the different countries in the region, the linkages between them and between other parts of the world, and the economic sectors which are strong in East Asia. It concludes that the economic factors which make for strong regional integration are not prevalent in East Asia, with each national economy having specific sectoral focuses and priorities for their individual economies which in turn determine the extent to which each country engages with regional institutions such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) or the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The book argues that these economic factors which are specific to each national economy override other factors which might make for regional integration, such as political choices or the strength of the regional institutions.

    Abstract         

    List of Figures

    List of Tables 

    List of Abbreviations 

     

    Chapter 1 : Introduction        

    Chapter 2 : Structural Forces and East Asian Regionalism  

    Chapter 3 : Design and Organization of Empirical Investigation and Analysis         

    Chapter 4 : East Asia in the Global Economic Structure      

    Chapter 5 : East Asian Economies in Transnational Production Networks        

    Chapter 6 : Sectoral Focuses and Institutional Choices over Economic Structures of CP/TPP, RCEP 

    Chapter 7 : Findings and Implications          

    Chapter 8 : Conclusion          

     

    Bibliography  

    Appendices    

     

    Biography

    Luna Ge Lai is an Assistant Research Fellow at the Institute for International Affairs, Qianhai, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China