Abstract
This paper contributes to the debate on the multidimensional phenomenon of Asian regional integration. Considering one case study - a regional grouping known as 'ASEAN+3' - this paper offsets it against relevant achievements on the European continent. Admitting that direct application of the EU's model to the ASEAN+3 frame- works is fruitless, this study uses a different approach, treating the EU's legal composition as a leading tool to assess if the European 'know how' in regional integration could be applied to facilitate the inter-relations within the ASEAN+3. Three barriers to regional integration are explored: differing democratic practices, dominating intergovernmental interactions, and the globally (vs. regionally) orientated China. Yet, this paper argues that the aforementioned challenges have a potential not only to subvert, but, paradoxically, reinforce the Asian integration process, particularly within the ASEAN+3 grouping.
Highlights
The on-going wave of the European integration has never been caused by a pleasant breeze of prosperous life in a quiet neighborhood
While trying to contribute to the international scholarly debate on Asian regional integration, this paper argued that the European Union (EU)’s legal portrait could well be used by Asian nations as a tool in the process of assessing the EU’s achievements in building inter-relations on the European continent
Our work considered one particular group of Asian countries – the ASEAN+3 – that currently represents an advanced example of the region-building in Asia
Summary
The on-going wave of the European integration has never been caused by a pleasant breeze of prosperous life in a quiet neighborhood. This study is clear that an attempt to directly apply the EU’s model to foster the process of integration within the ASEAN+3 framework is counterproductive, primarily due to historical differences between the two regional groupings (Murray 2010a:309), as well as different interpretations of the concept of liberal democracy This analysis uses a different approach, treating the EU’s legal composition as a leading tool to assess if the European ‘know how’ in regional integration could be applied to facilitate the inter-relations within the ASEAN+3. The Asian scholarship noted that European experience revealed that identical ideas and consensus did not complete the set of preconditions of “regional formal integration’s taking-off [...]” (Wang:110–111) This argument echoes the postulates of modern functional theory, which argue that the establishment of initial cooperational linkages could be made without having “institutional structures, or even in the absence of deliberate efforts to coordinate policy” (Smith:). With non-hegemonic China’s ‘imaginary return’ to Asia, the idea of the enhanced Asian integration could become a much easier task
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