Overlapping regionalism in East Asia: determinants and potential effects

Abstract

Once considered severely under-institutionalized, East Asia has experienced a rapid process of institution-building since the end of the Cold War resulting in a significant degree of organizational overlap, both in membership and mandate. This paper examines the drivers and potential effects of institutional overlap in East Asia. It argues that the informal nature of Asian institutions coupled with competing visions of regionalism among member states make the region especially prone to overlapping regionalism. The consequences of such overlap for the time being have been positive. However, Asian policymakers must consider issues of institutional design to avoid steering the regional architecture in a direction which fosters regional rivalries and institutional competition in the long run. To illustrate the process of institutional overlap, I draw examples from a sub-set of regional organizations emerging out of the ASEAN family of institutions: the ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit, and the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat.