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NATO, APEC and ASEM: triadic interregionalism and global order

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Abstract

Among the three core regions in today's world, Europe, North America and East Asia, interregional arrangements have been developed in various forms. Transatlantic relations were institutionalized in the form of a security alliance (NATO), although not in the field of economic relations. The transpacific relations were institutionalized in the economic field with the creation of APEC in late 1980s. The Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM) emerged in 1996, with an aim to strengthen the ‘weak leg’ in the triadic interregional relationship. Although the three sets of triadic interregional arrangements display discernable differences, they tend to share some identical functions, such as balancing, governance and identity building. Interregionalism rests on and promotes multi-polarization, complementing the multilateral system, and could be seen as an indispensable element of the world order, which may be better characterized as a multi-level governance system.

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Notes

  1. Björn Hettne, ‘Interregionalism and World Order’, Paper presented to Section 33, States, regions and regional world orders, SGIR, Fifth Pan-European International Relations Conference, Netherlands Congress Centre, the Hague, September 9–11, 2004.

  2. Jürgen Rüland, ‘Inter- and Transregionalism: Remarks on the State of the Art of a New Research Agenda’. University of Freiburg National Europe Centre Paper No. 34. Paper prepared for the Workshop on Asia-Pacific Studies in Australia and Europe: A Research Agenda for the Future,Australian National University, 5–6 July 2002.

  3. Christopher M. Dent From inter-regionalism to trans-regionalism? Future challenges for ASEM, Asia Europe Journal (2003) 1: p.224.

  4. Heiner Hänggi, ‘Interregionalism: empirical and theoretical perspectives’. Paper prepared for the workshop “Dollars, Democracy and Trade: External Influence on Economic Integration in the Americas”Los Angeles, CA, May 18, 2000.

  5. Jürgen Rüland, ‘Inter- and Transregionalism: Remarks on the State of the Art of a New Research Agenda’.

  6. see Rob de Wijk, NATO on the Brink of the New Millenium: The Battle for Consensus (London: Brassey's, 1997). pp.5–6.

  7. Mark A. Pollack and Gregory C. Shaffer, ‘Transatlantic Governance in Historical and Theorectical Perspective’, in Mark A. Pollack and Gregory C. Shaffe(eds), Transatlantic Governance in the Global Economy (New York and Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001), p.3.

  8. Anthony Gardner, A New Era in US-EU Relations? The Clinton Administration and the New Transatlantic Agenda (Aldershot, UK: Avebury, 1997), p. viii.

  9. APEC's 21 Member Economies are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Republic of the Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; Viet Nam. See http://www.apec.org/apec/about_apec.html.

  10. Douglas Webber, “Two funerals and a wedding? The ups and downs of regionalism in East Asia and Asia-Pacific after the Asian crisis”, The Pacific Review, Vol. 14 No. 3 2001. p.352

  11. Simon Lee, “Asia-Pacific Economic Regionalism: Global Constraints and Opportunities”, in Christopher M. Dent (ed.), Asia-Pacific Economic and Security Cooperation: New Regional Agenda (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003), p.21.

  12. N. Woods, ‘Global governance and the Role of Institutions’, in David Held and A. McGrew(eds), Governing Globalization: Power, Authority and Global Governance (London: Polity, 2002). P.38/

  13. Sung-Hoon Park, “ASEM and the future of Asia-Europe relations: Background, characteristics and challenges”. Asia Europe Journal, (2004) 2: p.341.

  14. Yeo Lay Hwee, Asia and Europe: The Development and Different Dimensions of ASEM,( London and New York: Routledge, 2003). P.84.

  15. Jürgen Rüland, ‘ASEM-Transregional Forum at the Crossroads’, in Wim Stokhof and Paul van der Velde, (eds), Asian-European Perspectives: Developing the ASEM process (UK: Curzon Press, 2001). 61

  16. Hanns W. Maull, Nuria Okfen, “Inter-regionalism in international relations: Comparing APEC and ASEM”,Asia Europe Journal (2003) 1: pp.239–242.

  17. Jürgen Rüland , ‘ASEM-Transregioanl Forum at the Crossroads’, p.62.

  18. Heiner Hänggi, “ASEM and the Construction of the new Triad”, Journal of the Asia PacificEconomy (1999) 4, no. 1, pp. 56–80.

  19. On February 20th, 2005, during his reaching-out visit to Europe, US President George W. Bush delivered a keynote speech to European Union and NATO leaders in Brussels in which he highlighted the transatlantic relationship. He said, “The alliance of Europe and North America is the main pillar of our security in a new century. No temporary debate, no passing disagreement of governments, no power on earth will ever divide us.”, Financial Times, February 22, 2005.

  20. Hanns W. Maull, Nuria Okfen, “Inter-regionalism in international relations: Comparing APEC and ASEM”, p.244.

  21. Christopher M. Dent From inter-regionalism to trans-regionalism?Future challenges for ASEM, Asia Europe Journal (2003) 1: p.224

  22. Yeo Lay Hwee, Asia and Europe: The Development and Different Dimensions of ASEM, (London and New York: Routledge, 2003). Pp.110–114.

  23. Stuart Croft, Jolyon Howorth, Terry Terriff and Mark Webber, “NATO's Triple Challenge”, International Affairs 76, 3 (2000), p. 496.

  24. Kenneth Waltz, “Structural Realism After The Cold War”, International Security; Summer 2000, p.27.

  25. Statements made by Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic, during his joint press conference with Gerhard Schroeder, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, and Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium, Paris, April 30, 2003.http://www.info-france-usa.org/news/statmnts/2003/chirac_defense043003.asp

  26. Samuel Huntington, “The Lonely Superpower”, Foreign Affairs; March/April 1999, pp.35–50.

  27. See K. P. Thomas and M.A.Tetreault(eds), Racing to Regionalize (London: Lynne Rienner, 1999).

  28. Brigid Gavin and Luk Van langenhove, ‘trade in a world of regions’, in Gary P. Sampson and Stephen Woolcock (eds), Regionalism, Multilateralism, and the Economic Integration: The Recent experiences (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2003), p.277.

  29. WTO: “Regional Trade Agreements: Facts And Figures”, http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/region_e/regfac_e.htm.

  30. Gary P. Sampson and Stephen Woolcock (eds), Regionalism, Multilateralism, and the Economic Integration: The Recent experiences . pp.229–338

  31. Andrew Gamble and Anthony Payne, ‘ Conclusion: The New Regionalism”, in Andrew Gamble and Anthony Payne(eds), Regionalism and World Order (London: MacMillian, 1996),p251.

  32. Shang-Jin Wei And Jeffrey A. Frankel, “Open Regionalism in a World of Continental Trade Blocs”, International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, v45, no3, Spring 1998. pp.440–53.

  33. Linda Low, “Multilateralism, Regionalism, Bilateral and Crossregional Free Trade Arrangements:All Paved with Good Intentions for ASEAN?” Asian Economic Journal, 2003, Vol. 17 No. 1. pp.70–71.

  34. Björn Hettne, ‘Interregionalism and World Order’, Paper presented to Section 33, States, regions and regional world orders, SGIR, Fifth Pan-European International Relations Conference, Netherlands Congress Centre, the Hague, September 9–11, 2004.

  35. Brigid Gavin and Luk Van langenhove, ‘trade in a world of regions’, p.286.

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  1. Department of International Politics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Zhimin Chen

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Chen, Z. NATO, APEC and ASEM: triadic interregionalism and global order. AEJ 3, 361–378 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-005-0005-7

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