May 23,2014

Multilateralism in East Asia: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In his masterpiece, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Italian film director Sergio Leone constructed a surreal cinematic space through microscopic close-ups of his movie characters juxtaposed against the vast macroscopic landscape of the greater American West. These characters were not merely captured by the camera; they were monumentalized by it, a flirt with parody to boldly over-accentuate..

Jochen Prantl
East Asia , EU , formal-informal continuum , global-regional next , great power management , layered hierarchy of states , the state as market actor
May 23,2014

ASEAN-led Multilateralism and Regional Order: The Great Power Bargain Deficit

The post-Cold War East Asian and Asia-Pacific strategic landscape has been dominated by three factors: 1) the United States’ military preponderance underpinned by its hub-and-spokes San Francisco system of bilateral alliances; 2) China’s seemingly inexorable resurgence economically as well as diplomatically and militarily; and 3) the proliferation of multilateral regional dialogues, initiative..

Evelyn Goh
ASEAN , great power bargain deficit , inclusivity , institution-racing , minimalist norms , multilateralism , regional order , restricted scope , small state voices
May 23,2014

China’s Regionalism in Asia

President Obama’s “tour around China” and China’s response that “China is right here whether he (Obama) comes or not”1 reflect a delicate US-China estrangement. The China-Japan Diaoyu Island dispute is further complicated by Prime Minister Abe’s Yasukuni Shrine visit, fanning the flames of nationalism. Is geopolitics returning to Asia, or has it never gone away? Can Asian regionalism..

Zhang Xiaotong* , Li Xiaoyue*
community of common destiny , community of common interest , evolving attitudes toward regionalism , expanded FTAs , regionalism with Chinese characteristics , TPP