Resumo de Remapping East Asia: The Construction Of A Region

Many works on regionalintegration has retained its Euro-centric, state-led analysis. However,RemappingEast Asia offers a theoretically informed, empirically based explanationon regionalism and regionalization. It skillfully examines the historical, political,economic, and social conditions upon which regional linkages are continuouslybeing established. With chapters making conscious efforts to be comparative andcritical, the book offers a synthesis of explanations, understandings, and casestudies of the dynamic changes in the region. It specifies the historicalcontext of the emergence of regional institutions, identifies the severalactors driving the integration project, and produces a credible discussion ofthe direction of the process. Intergovernmental cooperation, or regionalism,and societal-driven integration, or regionalization, are illustrated throughreferences on the cases of military security, economic inter-linkages,environmental protection, and the rise of Islamic movements most especially inSoutheast Asia. The bookis divided into three parts. First, the book compares regional institutionalizationwith institutions in Asia Pacific, such as the ARF, APEC and APT. In doingthis, it uses two analytical lenses: domestic coalition-building anddemographic changes. Second, the book problematizes the rigid conceptualizationof regional integration by refining our understanding of the agency overstructures as units of analysis. Here,four chapters concisely demonstrate the ways governments, businesses, and adhoc problem-solving coalitions affect the institutional context of regionalcooperation. Chapter 4 explores the changes within national economies and inthe regional dynamics which have largely shaped inter-state relations. Morespecifically, it explains the trend of firm relocation in East and SoutheastAsia and the demise of the so-called ?flying geese? model, due to China?s riseboth as an economic actor and as a large market. Chapter 5, analyzes variousregional cooperation schemes from the Japanese perspective. The interest of theUnited States,the transnational transactions/communications, the domestic constraints andopportunities are critical factors affecting the outcomes of regionalcooperation. Interestingly, chapter 6 moves away from intergovernmental actionsto businesses as the analytical tool in understanding integration. The claim isthat regional integration occurs outside governments through economic linkagesbrought about by business strategies and institutional environments. In chapter7, this argument is sustained by showing the dynamic linkages of SoutheastAsian businesses in the East Asian region. As observed, companies implement oldand new strategies to adapt to local conditions. In this way, trade andinvestments are diversified, informal processes and networks created, andinter-governmental cooperation facilitated. The third part of the book is aboutregional linkages among institutions, interests and identities. Chapter 8 isessential in this volume because it focuses the discussion on an importantactor driving integration: policy networks or what is known as ?epistemiccommunities?. Policy networks share beliefs based on internationalism,rationalism and economic liberalism. Evans argues that they have served aspolitical entrepreneurs carefully crafting East Asian institutions,characterized as an American-based regional architecture and open economic regionalism.This makes the prospects for change more difficult for China who sees multilateral regional frameworksas a potential counter balance against USassertiveness in Asia. On a different issue,chapter 9 makes a similar argument that institutions in Asiahave been weak in resolving environmental concerns. However, Campbell attributes this limited environmentalregionalism to the lack of environmental priorities and concerns aboutcompetitiveness based on the differences in environmental standards. Finally,the last chapter makes the claim that Islamic movements especially in SoutheastAsia have significantly redefined security and identity in Asia.Not only did the regionalization of local struggles (the creation ofinter-linkages of various local conflicts through a regional and global networkof terrorism) complicate the resolution of the conflict, it has furtherchallenged the ways elites construct identity both in nationalist andregionalist terms. In sum, regionalism and regionalization in East Asia arecomplex processes fundamentally different from the experiences of Europe and Latin America. This uniqueness is highlighted by thetensions over leadership, the amorphous future role of external powers in theregion?s affairs, and the long-standing defense on national sovereignty andnational identity against regional institutionalization and identity-building.The future of the regional integration project is uncertain as it is a processunder construction.

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