Contemporary Europe Research Centre
Conference - Europe and Asia: Regions in Flux

Europe and Asia: Regions in Flux

This major international conference will take place in Melbourne in December 2006 and will be an investigation of the external impact of the EU on the East Asian region.

Europe and Asia are both at different trajectories of development and integration, and there are some hard choices to be made that will decide the future of two regions – the roles they will play globally, the type of influence they will have on their immediate neighbourhood and in the international arena.

Much more than a simple examination of EU-Asia relations, Europe and Asia: Regions in Flux examines the European experience of integration and considers to what extent the European model can provide lessons and inspiration for East Asian attempts at community building. It explores East Asia’s admiration for the EU’s achievements, as well as East Asian scepticism regarding the relevance of the European experience to the Asian context. Among other things, it looks at EU links with Asia in the Asia Europe Meetings (ASEM); the role of formal and informal integration and networks within the region; the new wave of regionalism in Asia in the aftermath of the Asian Currency crisis of 1997-8; and the role of institutions, state and non-state actors.

Some key questions to be addressed include: how have the recent constitutional crisis and enlargement debates affected the way East Asia views the EU? Do East Asians regard the EU as a model of reconciliation, peace and prosperity? Can the EU be viewed as an effective global player? Does it exercise considerable soft power in the East Asian region? How has the Asian financial crisis affected the way East Asia views the EU and vice-versa? Has the aftermath of the financial crisis led to new debates on formalising links between Asian countries? How will tensions between Japan and China affect regional groupings and interregional relations with the EU?

Europe and Asia: Regions in Flux is being run from the Contemporary Europe Research Centre (CERC) at the University of Melbourne, Australia and is funded by a grant from the European Union (Contract number 2005-2762/001-001), with additional support from the University of Melbourne, the University of Limerick, Keio University and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

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