1st Edition

Regional Integration in East Asia and Europe Convergence or Divergence?

Edited By Bertrand Fort, Douglas Webber Copyright 2006
    352 Pages
    by Routledge

    352 Pages
    by Routledge

    A fascinating insight into how regional organizations in Europe and East Asia are currently grappling with a striking number of essentially similar challenges.

    This issue-based overview of political integration focuses on the differences and similarities in regional integration levels and processes in the two regions, to examine how the long-term future, role and impact of organizations such as the EU and ASEAN may depend heavily on how well they deal with complex and conflict-laden issues in the next few years.

    This volume analyzes the historical development, current state and prospective future evolution of political integration in the two regions. These leading authors identify key variables that account for the contrasting political integration levels, clearly demonstrating and explaining why the rhythm of integration in both regions varies. With contributions from both Asian and European scholars on each topic, this book delivers:

    • comparative rather than a single region focus
    • breakdowns of regional integration into key issue areas
    • analysis of monetary cooperation and integration
    • incisive assessments of institutional reform
    • key topics of enlargement, including: identity, distributional equity, the distribution of power and effectiveness or decision-making efficiency
    • discussion of regional and international security crises
    • expert scholarship from both European and Asian perspectives

    This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of IPE, international relations, political science, contemporary history and European studies and Asian studies.

    List of contributors

    Acknowledgements

    List of abbreviations

     

    Introduction

    Douglas Webber and Bertrand Fort

     

    PART I

    The international context of regionalism

    The theory and practice of region: Changing global context

    Richard Higgott

     

    PART II

    Leadership and power in regional integration

    France and Germany: The evolution of a European partnership

    Ulrike Guérot

    Leadership in the history of Southeast Asian integration: The role of

    Indonesia in ASEAN

    Dewi Fortuna Anwar

    Leadership in institution building: The case of ASEAN+3

    Shiping Tang

     

    PART III

    Economic and monetary cooperation and integration

    The origins, launching and consequences of ‘1992’ and the Euro: The politics of economic and monetary integration in Europe

    Jonathan Story

    The Chiang Mai Initiative and prospects for closer monetary integration in East Asia

    Natasha Hamilton-Hart

     

    PART IV

    Conflict over institutional reform

    The EU from Amsterdam via Nice to the Constitutional Treaty: Exploring

    and explaining recent treaty reforms

    Finn Laursen

    The development of ASEAN’s diplomatic and security culture: Not beyond

    ‘flexible engagement’

    Jürgen Haacke

     

    PART V

    Post-Cold War Enlargement

    The challenge of asymmetry: origins, issues and implications of enlarging the European Union

    Christian Tuschhoff

    The Indo-Chinese enlargement of ASEAN: Enhancing or undermining regional economic integration?

    Helen E.S. Nesadurai

    The birth and growth of ASEAN+3

    Takashi Terada

     

    PART VI

    Security and regional crisis management

    The elusive quest for a European security and defence policy: From crisis

    management to security strategy

    Jean-Yves Haine

    Regional institutions and regional crises in East Asia: Moving away from the

    ‘comfort zone’?

    Mely Caballero-Anthony

     

    PART VII

    Conclusions

    Regional integration in Europe and Asia: A historical perspective

    Douglas Webber

    Europe and Asia: Reflections on a tale of two regionalisms

    Amitav Acharya

     

     

    Biography

    Bertrand Fort is Director for Intellectual Exchange at the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), Singapore.
    Douglas Webber is Professor of Political Science at INSEAD’s Europe campus in Fontainebleau, France, and was based at the school’s Asia campus in Singapore from 1999 to 2005.

    'One of the great virtues of this valuable collection is to highlight the different institutional capacities that exist in Asia and Europe and the very different contingent historical circumstances that have shaped them.' - International Institute of Asian Studies  

    'The text impresses through the topicality of the subject areas chosen and of the research presented.' - Journal of Common Market Studies