[Discussion Paper]
Regionalism and Nationalism in Northeast Asia
Chung-in Moon(Yonsei University)
1.Puzzle
The demise of the Cold War and a successful launching of the European Union
have precipitated the proliferation of preferential regional trading arrangements around
the globe. However, the outcomes of region-building efforts have not been even, but
varied across regions (Katzenstein 2000a). While Europe has shown a wide and deep
pattern of regional cooperation through strong institutionalization (i.e., the European
Union), the Asia-Pacific region has been characterized by a situation that is limited in
scope, thin in depth, and weaker in institutionalization (Katzenstein 1997, 2000b;
Haggard 1997; Higgott 1997; Grieco 1997).
An interesting puzzle arises when the Asia-Pacific region is further
disaggregated into subgroups such as Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Asia
Pacific
Economic
Cooperation
(APEC).
The
performance
of
regional
institutionalizations varies among subgroups in the region. While Southeast Asia has
shown a relatively decent performance by forming the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA),
APEC as a mega regional cooperative scheme has not moved beyond the consultative
stage for forming a free trade area (Ravenhill 2001). ASEAN plus Three has just
begun to discuss the feasibility of the East Asian Free Trade Area as a meso-regional
trade arrangement.
Of these sub-regional groups, Northeast Asia has been the least successful.
There are neither bilateral free trade arrangements nor sub-regional preferential trade
arrangements among the countries in the region. As Scollay and Gilbert (2001) argue,
the proliferation of bilateral and sub-regional preferential trading arrangements could
Prepared for presentation at the annual convention of the American Political Science Association,
Marriot Hotel, Philadelphia, August 27-31, 2003. Please direct comments to ## email not listed ##.
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