East Asian Regionalism

The study of East Asian regionalism has developed along several lines of inquiry. As New Regionalism approaches materialized in the wake of the Cold War and as regional integration or community-building initiatives emerged through the 1990s and 2000s, scholarly interest in East Asian regionalism rose. Two key debates in the scholarship focus on the juxtaposition of inclusive and exclusive regionalism, and soft (or informal) and hard (or formal) regionalism. The literature has also examined the drivers of East Asian regionalism, which could be grouped into four broad categories: economic factors, strategic and security considerations, normative frameworks, as well as domestic politics. While economic imperatives have been regarded as particularly important in spurring East Asian regionalism, other factors have also contributed toward the form and function of regional integration initiatives. Nevertheless, these drivers are not mutually exclusive, and their effects oftentimes overlap. Another major theme in the study of East Asian regionalism has focused on the actors. The actors that have played crucial roles in regionalism could be categorized into three groups, namely: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its associated platforms; non-ASEAN countries such as Australia, China, and Japan; and the smaller Northeast Asian groupings and U.S.-led minilateral arrangements. Not all the proposals by ASEAN and non-ASEAN actors have always been welcomed or accepted wholesale by other regional counterparts, but they have shaped the imperatives for and outcomes of regionalism. Ultimately, the evolution of East Asian regionalism has been a product of the negotiations and contestations among these actors, variously driven by their respective considerations in shaping a region conducive to their own interests.