Amado Mendes, Carmen
(2010)
BOOK REVIEW : Institutionalising
Northeast Asia: Regional Steps Towards Global Governance.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 6 (1).
pp. 95-99.
ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243
Abstract
This book describes the current situation of integration and cooperation in
Northeast Asia (China, Taiwan, South Korea, the Korean Peninsula and
Japan), considered as "the most heavily militarised region in the world"
(p.1). With 19 chapters by different authors, it combines several approaches
to the attempts to create regional institutions, arguing that this is a process
that is still in its early stages. The theoretical part of the book defines
institutionalism and regionalism and includes a comparison of
institutionalisation in Northeast Asia and within the European Union,
showing the importance of identity building and regional leadership. The
chapters of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Richard Higgott and Martina
Timmermann, and Baogang He provide a framework for the empirical part
of the book, which focus on different case studies and make
recommendations related to Northeast Asia. There is a first section on
history, ideas and identity, which starts with a question "Northeast Asian
regionalism at a crossroads: Is an East Asian Community in sight?" In this
chapter, Gilbert Rozman, argues that "a search for 'community' means
recognition of the need to seek common values" and that "ignoring values in
order to concentrate on economic integration does not offer a way forward.
Instead, a joint effort in Northeast Asia should seek consensus on essential
values for regionalism" (p. 96). Rozman offers some orientations on how to
achieve that, rejecting a purely functionalist approach and favouring the
awareness of historical and cultural differences.
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