Regionalism In East Asia

Regional cooperation and integration have emerged as key issues for East Asia following the financial crisis. This book explores these issues, and examines the degree to which a new paradigm is emerging. It reviews the evolution of the concepts and practices of regionalism in East Asia, and considers the factors which are shaping new patterns of regional co-operation and integration. It includes discussions of historical developments, economic co-operation, socio-political factors, and defence and security. It considers the role of those states, including China and Japan, which have distinctive approaches to international relations, and assesses the role of regional international bodies such as ASEAN.

Regional cooperation and integration have emerged as key issues for East Asia following the financial crisis. This book explores these issues, and examines the degree to which a new paradigm is emerging. It reviews the evolution of the concepts and practices of regionalism in East Asia, and considers the factors which are shaping new patterns of regional co-operation and integration. It includes discussions of historical developments, economic co-operation, socio-political factors, and defence and security. It considers the role of those states, including China and Japan, which have distinctive approaches to international relations, and assesses the role of regional international bodies such as ASEAN.

Viewing the rise of China from Japan's perspective, the author elucidates Japanese policy responses and their implications for regional institution building. It fills a gap in knowledge about the development of East Asian regional institutions and Sino-Japanese relationships.

With its long history of internal divisiveness and its intersecting cultural and linguistic cleavages, East Asia is undoubtedly a complex area. However, the idea of East Asia as a regional entity is one that is relatively recent – a concept that gained momentum after the financial crisis that rocked the region in the 1990s. In recent years, East Asia has become considerably more interdependent, connected and cohesive. This increased cohesiveness has been driven by a dense network of trade and investments, technology sharing and communication, among many other variables and has been reflected in the increasing institutionalisation of regional mechanisms like the ASEAN. Regionalism is not, however, entirely about economic interdependence. In today’s day and age, it means not only overarching social networks and a regional identity, but also strategic thinking that recognises common security interests. This book takes into account the regional discourses of two of East Asia’s biggest players – the United States and China. While the former has been a power to reckon with, albeit “externally”, deeply entrenched in the region since the end of the Second World War, the rise of China in the 21st century and its emergence as the largest power in East Asia has brought a new perspective to East Asian regionalism. In 2010, the United States began reasserting itself in East Asia, bringing into sharp focus the ideological differences between itself and China as each vied to shape the architecture of East Asian security. There is no doubt that heightened American interest comes at a time when China’s own views of regionalism have become noticeably less cooperative. While balance of power politics is one way to look at the geopolitical tug-of-war in East Asia, there are questions that have not yet been answered. How do the two countries look at a region that is so important for them? How has that perception influenced their foreign policy within the same arena? More importantly, how do they define East Asia? This book studies American and Chinese regional discourses from the end of the Cold War to the present day in order to highlight the rationale behind the natural balance of power politics between an established power and a rising one, and its subsequent effects on security regionalism in East Asia.

This book examines the distinctive evolution of the political and economic relationships of East Asia. It does this by placing East Asian development in the unique historical circumstances that have underpinned its rise to power over the last few decades. This detailed analysis provides the basis for an assessment of a unified East Asian region.

Developments in East Asia have progressed rapidly in terms of regionalism since the 1997 crisis. The end of the Asian miracle called into question not only the capacity of regional states to meet the needs of their attendant peoples, but also challenged the viability of regional organizations, such as ASEAN, to adapt and respond to the changing circumstances. Advancing East Asian Regionalism looks at the ways in which ASEAN has expanded since the crisis, and evaluates the potential of East Asia to come together in a regional formation - one capable of representing the region as a whole - akin to the European Community. It draws upon the knowledge and perspectives of academics and policy makers actively engaged in the contradictory issues of regionalism. Coupling case study material on regionalism, institutions, and sectoral cooperation, with theoretical debates on regionalization, this book is an invaluable resource that pushes our understanding of East Asian regionalism forward.

Embedded in the evolving comparative regionalism literature, this book offers a systematic analysis of the factors positively and negatively influencing regional institution-building. The ruptures caused by the Eurozone crises, the coronavirus pandemic and by Brexit have renewed the interest in the impact of crises and critical junctures on regionalism here defined as regional institution-building. Drawing from critical juncture research and historical comparative analysis, this volume uses the cases of European and East Asian regional institution-building to systematically analyse institutional transformations during specific historical turning points and critical juncture moments. Wunderlich’s research offers an in-depth analysis of the interrelated drivers, spoilers and dissolvers of regional institution-building processes in Europe and East Asia, and addresses key questions including: Under what conditions does regionalism take hold? What is influencing the initial institutional design choices? What is the impact of historical experiences and well-entrenched norms and ideas? What are the roles of regional leaders? How do external factors influence regional institution-building? What turns a crisis into a critical juncture and are such junctures threats or opportunities? What accounts for variations in institutional responses to crisis events across different regional settings? This book will be a valuable resource for scholars of regionalism, region-building, regional governance and international relations of Europe and East Asia.