Regional Integration in East Asia and Europe : Convergence or Divergence?

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.

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.