Associate Professor Derek McDougall

A/Prof Derek McDougall
University of Melbourne, Australia

The East Asian Experience of Regionalism

Abstract:

This paper assesses the East Asian experience of regionalism in the light of the changing dynamics of international politics within the region. It takes the major manifestations of regionalism in East Asia and asks what have been the driving forces and what has regionalism amounted to. Where regionalism has been weak or non-existent why has this been the case? The major manifestations of regionalism to be examined are the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation (APEC), the ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN + 3 and the East Asia Summit. Although ASEAN does not embody regional integration, it is the strongest of the regional groupings, reflecting some of the features of international politics in Southeast Asia. There is nothing comparable in Northeast Asia, which is dominated by the interactions of the US, China and Japan, with Taiwan and Korea as key zones of conflict. “Asia-Pacific” and “East Asian” conceptions of regionalism have competed to some extent, with the latter receiving a fillip in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Institutionalization is weak in both instances, reflecting the domination of the major powers in both the “East Asian” and “Asia-Pacific” contexts.

Biographical note:

Derek McDougall is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Melbourne. His focus of interest is Asia Pacific international politics, with particular reference to Australian engagement and changing conceptions of security. His most recent books are Australian Security After 9/11: New and Old Agendas (Ashgate, 2006) (co-edited with Peter Shearman) and Asia Pacific in World Politics (Lynne Rienner, 2007).

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