Drivers of Integration and Regionalism in Europe and Asia

Comparative perspectives

Louis Brennan, Philomena Murray, Louis Brennan, Philomena Murray

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138714519
• eBook ISBN: 9781317591382
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book examines the drivers of regionalism and integration in both Europe and Asia and seeks to forge comparative perspectives between the two regions.

Comprising contributions from scholars, analysts and policymakers, this volume explores and debates how and why regional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are formed and sustained. Furthermore, it examines the drivers of, and impediments to, regionalism and integration. The debates regarding what and who constitute drivers are presented in a fresh, thematic and comprehensive manner. Leadership and core states are also critically examined, whilst material, ideational and normative factors are all assessed comparatively. Significantly, in light of the global financial crisis, the book considers the role of crisis as a driver of regionalism and integration.

This book will be of interest to students, scholars and policymakers interested in Asian and European politics and comparative politics.

Part I

Drivers of regionalism

The European and Asian cases compared

1 Introducing drivers of integration and regionalism in Europe and Asia

Louis Brennan and Philomena Murray

This chapter sets out the aims of this edited volume. It illustrates that the book critically examines the drivers of integration and regionalism in Europe and Asia, developing comparative perspectives regarding the two regions. It asks how and why regional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are formed and sustained over time, addressing the following questions: How do we understand the drivers of integration and regionalism? What types of institution-building take place? What type of community-building is or has been required? How and why are regional bodies such as the EU and ASEAN formed and sustained over time? To what extent, if any, has the movement towards regional integration been driven by the goal of capitalising on strengths and advantages, or, alternatively, compensating for and overcoming weaknesses? Who and what are the drivers? What are the motivations for regional integration? How are regions conceptualised? What are the narratives and intellectual histories regarding regionalism and integration? How are ideas spread? How do ideas and visions shape region-building? What, if any, regionalism or regional integration is driven as a response to perceived threats (real or otherwise)? What impact do crises have on regionalism and integration in Asia and Europe? What factors are internal to the ‘region’ and which are external to the ‘region’? To what extent, if any, is there a balance between endogenous and exogenous factors driving this phenomenon of regionalism, and indeed interregionalism? What is the role of interregionalism in driving regional integration? Is there anything to learn from the EU experience or the Asian experience? What new research agendas are called for?

The aim of this volume is to critically examine the drivers of integration and regionalism in Europe and Asia, and to develop comparative perspectives regarding the two regions. The book examines how and why regional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are formed and sustained over time. It compares scholarly perspectives and engenders fresh debates regarding the drivers of regional integration. It explores these deliberations in a multi-disciplinary setting, addressing the following questions: How do we understand the drivers of integration and regionalism? What types of institution-building takes place? What type of community-building is or has been required? How and why are regional bodies such as the EU and ASEAN formed and sustained over time? To what extent, if any, has the movement towards regional integration been driven by the goal of capitalising on strengths and advantages, or, alternatively, compensating for and overcoming weaknesses? Who and what are the drivers? What are the motivations for regional integration? How are regions conceptualised? What are the narratives and intellectual histories regarding regionalism and integration? How are ideas spread? How do ideas and visions shape region-building? What, if any, regionalism or regional integration is driven as a response to perceived threats (real or otherwise)? What impact do crises have on regionalism and integration in Asia and Europe? What factors are internal to the ‘region’ and which are external to the ‘region’? To what extent, if any, is there a balance between endogenous and exogenous factors driving this phenomenon of regionalism, and indeed interregionalism? What is the role of interregionalism in driving regional integration? Is there anything to learn from the EU experience or the Asian experience? What new research agendas are called for?

The preparation of this volume brought together scholars, analysts, policymakers and the wider community to a three-day symposium in July 2013, held at Trinity College Dublin. This symposium provided a dynamic and interactive setting, in which participants explored and debated how and why regional bodies such as the EU and ASEAN are formed and sustained, and compared perspectives and debates. Research in the fields of European integration studies, Asian regionalism and comparative regional integration analysis was presented at the symposium.

The book is distinctive in seeking to compare scholarly perspectives and engender new debates regarding the sources of regional integration. The study of drivers of regional integration has not been fully undertaken in the existing literature and scholarly debates in a comprehensive manner. This book comprises contributions from a broad range of experts, encompassing a variety of disciplines, including political science, international relations, economics, international business, history and sociology. They examine complex challenges surrounding this issue, including those arising from history and from cultural and economic differences. An important insight from the book relates to the enhancement of trust among states and key actors in order to form, and maintain, a regional body and to achieve closer cooperation on a regional and global scale.

The content of the book is presented within a structured approach, offering what we consider to be a timely contribution to the growing literature on comparative regionalism with a focus on Europe and East Asia. The emphasis on the multifaceted nature of the driving factors of regionalism and integration in both regions is innovative. This book seeks to make a novel contribution to ongoing debates. Of particular interest are the explicit discussions of crisis as a driver of regional integration, as well as the role of traditional and non-traditional security factors. Based on a combination of new research and the innovative treatment of more familiar themes, this volume offers perspectives on European integration and East Asian regionalism, and on regionalism as a general phenomenon.

Our approach is to examine the drivers – and impediments – to regionalism and integration, in a thematic and conceptual context. Whilst regionalism has received considerable attention in conceptual terms, less scholarly attention has been focused on investigating the motives and drivers of regionalism, both within Europe and Asia and comparatively across regions. The book seeks to overcome those shortcomings by examining a large number of empirical themes that affect the progress of regionalism. By choosing a comparative perspective regarding Europe and Asia, this volume has sought to contribute to a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of regional integration and inter-regional cooperation. Much of the existing literature either treats the two regions (Europe and Asia) separately, due to relevant specialisations, or has displayed a tendency to regard European integration as an example for Asian regionalism. Our book has assiduously attempted to avoid both of these approaches. Rather, it has examined first, the lessons learned in either region from historical events or from coping with economic, financial, cultural and political strains; and, second, the drivers (such as ideas, institutions, core states or global forces) that promote or impede regional integration.

In so doing, we have developed a conceptual focus on the drivers of regional integration and of interregional cooperation, seeking to provide a fresh research orientation, capturing not only historical, cultural, political and economic factors, but also critically examining the impact of the current financial and economic crises. This focus on what and who drives regionalism has been systematically applied throughout the chapters, thereby providing the book with a common framework of analysis. Of course, given the diversity of themes covered in the book, the methodology has ranged from qualitative to quantitative oriented methodologies.

We are aware that integration and regionalism remain much contested terms and conceptual paradigms (Murray 2009). Fawcett and Gandois (2010) distinguish between regionalism (a political project of region-creation), regionalisation (a process of region-formation, which may be bottom-up), and regional integration (regarded as a broader and more complex process of economic and social transformation). This is useful in order to understand the processes of region-building (Murray and Warleigh-Lack 2013: 111). Yet the conceptualisation of regionalism and integration can lead to many (often divergent) pathways of research across and within academic disciplines. We draw on the previous work of one of the editors to suggest that ‘regional integration can be used as a catch-all device or broad framework to describe the process and products of region-building, so long as it is understood in a pluralistic, fluid way’. In this way, this chapter seeks ‘to avoid the often circuitous debates on definition and the disciplinary narrowness of some of the discussions’ (Murray and Warleigh-Lack 2013: 111).

With regard to our comparative agenda, this volume asks which type of ‘integration’ or regionalism is most relevant – economic, financial or other? How might regional community be defined and assessed? Might an integration or regionalism paradigm necessarily encompass governance? Is a security community the most or least appropriate type of community-building? This book responds to a recognition that research is required regarding which factors influence the choices of states and regions in attempting regionalism or integration. Who are the important actors? What are the drivers of integration in the regionalising states? (see Murray 2009).

Objectives

This edited book is distinctive in its examination of the drivers of regionalism and integration in Europe and Asia. It seeks to forge comparative perspectives between the two regions. It contains contributions from scholars, analysts and policymakers, exploring and debating how and why regional bodies such as the EU and the ASEAN are formed and sustained. In so doing, the edited volume seeks to investigate and compare policy and scholarly perspectives and debates.

This book examines the drivers of, and impediments to, regionalism and integration. As the focus on regionalism in Asia increases, the EU is still regarded by some observers as a putative model for other regions, although the EU itself remains in crisis. The edited book is also timely because the East Asia Summit (EAS) is being regarded as the pre-eminent regional forum in the region. At the same time, the EU is excluded from the EAS and is not regarded as a serious international actor by many of its interlocutors in the Asian region.

The debates regarding what and who constitute drivers are presented in a thematic manner. The chapters examine historical contexts; intellectual initiators; crisis; external threats; institutions; multilateralism; common problems; ideas and narratives as drivers, or on occasion, as inhibitors of regionalism and integration in Asia and Europe. This collection also takes alternative views on what drives regionalism, such as multilateral forums or the experiences and promotion of other regions – so here exogenous factors, including other regions, multilateralism, crisis or threat perception, are crucial elements in our analysis of drivers. Leadership and core states are also critically examined and material, ideational and normative factors are all examined and assessed comparatively.

Despite the significance of the topic, it remains relatively unexplored in scholarly discourse and policy analysis. This book, combining conceptual and empirical material, seeks to fill this gap and as such it represents a novel and innovative contribution.

The structure and content of the book

The conceptual focus on the drivers of both regional integration and interregional cooperation provides a novel research orientation, capturing not only historical, cultural, political and economic factors, but addressing also the impact of the current financial and economic crisis. This focus on what and who drives regionalism is systematically applied throughout the book. As an edited collection, the methodological basis of the volume is pluralistic. The spread of the chapters has enabled the editors to generate a thorough and synoptic view of a range of key variables. In addressing the topic, we illustrate that a systematic examination is required of why and how certain factors operate as drivers and their effects on regionalism and integration.

In terms of effects, there is the wider issue of the dependent variable: the book is about ‘regionalism and integration’ yet these are not interchangeable concepts. Indeed, there is clearly a difference, and one that is not only semantic but also conceptual, and that may in fact impact on the search of drivers. These distinctions – the similarities and differences – of integration in Europe and regional cooperation in Asia are discussed and problematised in this book. The book seeks to evaluate these points, given the need for a more theoretically-informed exercise in identifying potential drivers and the conceptual clarification between integration and cooperation.

The book is divided into seven parts, each addressing distinct themes that come together in a coherent volume. The first part examines the drivers of regionalism, focussing on the European and Asian cases in comparative perspective. Parts II, III and IV focus on specific drivers, namely in Part II the role of crisis, in Part III traditional and non-traditional security and in Part IV economic and business considerations. Part V offers a reconsideration of regionalism; interregionalism and multilateralism, while in Part VI, we examine what Europe and Asia can learn from each other’s experience. We conclude in Part VII with a final chapter that weaves together the insights and analysis from the preceding chapters and explores a new research agenda.

We now provide a brief overview of the content of each chapter. In Part I, dedicated to the drivers of regionalism, the European and Asian cases compared, Philomena Murray’s chapter (Murray 2015) examines the drivers of regional integration with a consideration of some comparative considerations. The chapter seeks to explore how drivers of regional integration are analysed in a comparative context. It seeks to understand what, or who, drives or motivates regionalism and attempts to comprehend the factors that lead to regionalism and those that help to sustain it. These include historical and conceptual factors. The chapter draws on the experiences of the EU and the ASEAN.

The chapter by Louise Fawcett (2015) examines the historical and comparative perspectives of the drivers of regional integration. The chapter asks ‘what can we learn about regional integration by contrasting the history and experience of different regions?’ Although regionalism and integration have been measured using different sets of economic, political or security criteria, regional histories are often neglected. In calling for a ‘historical turn’ to studies of regionalism, the chapter seeks to demonstrate how a historically informed approach can benefit comparative study. Evidently, regionalism is far from being a linear or uniform process. Rather it has emerged in stages, shaped by a variety of internal and external factors alike. In comparing three different drivers – ideas, institutions and core states – of regionalism over time and space, the chapter draws widely on different examples, while also seeking to illuminate some distinctive aspects of European and Asian regionalisms. The chapter contributes a more nuanced understanding of comparative regionalism and patterns of institutional success and failure.

The contribution by Hartmut Mayer (2015) on historical narratives as normative drivers of integration and disintegration in Europe and Asia analyses the historical narratives of war, reconciliation and regional integration as a ‘peace project’ in Europe and Asia. Standard historical accounts have traditionally served as normative drivers of integration in Europe. They then served as role models for integration in other regions. The chapter takes a fresh look at such standard narratives in the light of the fact that the severe European crisis has now altered the picture in several ways. First, the old ‘war and peace’ story no longer resonates with the electorate as the normative driver for deeper integration. Second, rapid steps towards deeper integration with enhanced fiscal supervision of national budgets have been portrayed in some parts of Europe as the exact opposite of a peace project, i.e. as drivers of ‘conflict and disintegration’. The chapter asks whether the new ambivalence over the historical narratives on Europe will have an impact on similar narratives in other regions, in particular in Asia. It addresses the question as to how historical readings could be preserved in order to function as normative drivers of integration rather than disintegration.

The chapter by Edward Moxon-Browne (2015) examines the role of institutions in regional integration, undertaking a comparative reflection. The chapter starts from the assumption that ‘institutions matter’ in the creation, maintenance and future prospects of regional integration projects. It is argued that governments create regional integration institutions to enhance the predictability of interactions with other governments, and of the outcomes emanating from those interactions. However, institutions, once established, have a habit of taking on ‘a life of their own’ in the sense that they evolve in ways not foreseen by their creators, and generate ‘path dependencies’ that not only constrain national actors, but also constitute ‘normative vessels’ imbued with their own beliefs, procedures and values. These assumptions are then explored in the ‘thick’ institutional framework of European integration, as well as the ‘thin’ institutio...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Notes on contributors
• Preface and acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• PART I Drivers of regionalism: the European and Asian cases compared
• PART II The role of crisis as a driver of regional integration
• PART III Traditional and non-traditional security as drivers of regional integration
• PART IV Economic and business perspectives on drivers of regional integration
• PART V Rethinking regionalism, inter-regionalism and multilateralism
• PART VI What could Europe and Asia learn from each other’s experience?
• PART VII Conclusions
• Index