Reconfiguring East Asia: Regional Institutions and Organizations After the Crisis

The recent economic crisis in East Asia has profoundly altered both the way the region is now perceived and expectations about its future. Even though the initial crisis has abated somewhat, its impact on the region has been profound. Although much attention was initially paid to rather narrow questions of crisis management and debates about ‘crony capitalism’, less attention has been given to the way the crisis has impacted on, and been mediated by, regional institutions and organizations. It is this absence that the book seeks to address. It focuses both on specific regional organizations like ASEAN, The Asian Development Bank and APEC, as well as on key institutions such as East Asian legal systems, the media, organized labour, Asian business systems, and the developmental state. It shows how these institutions are linked to national, intra- regional and inter-regional forces, and develops a multi-dimensional picture of the regions and the complex array of forces that are shaping it. The book concludes by addressing the key question of whether regional institutions and organizations are encouraging ‘convergence’ on western lines, or whether the region is sticking to a divergent path which is institutionalized in its own distinctive ways. Contributors include Javed Maswood, Griffith University; Kanishka Jayasuriya, City University of Hong Kong; Mukul Asher, University of Singapore; Gary Rodan, Murdoch University; Mark Beeso