ASIAN REGIONALISM

This lesson looks at the mechanism of unique integration of the world’s biggest land
mass and population – the Asian region and how nation-states approach contemporary
challenges.

Trigger question: What problems do developing countries face today, and how
can individuals contribute to solutions rather than awaiting the generosity of the state or
other actors?

Today we shall look closely at the unique integration mechanism of the Asian region and
how nation-states therein approach the contemporary challenges and facets of world
homogenization, division, and pandemic. The lesson will conclude on the level of reflective
students’ personalization.

Critical Reading Activity

Direction: Find the key ideas and details in the following excerpts:

Governments, associations, societies, and groups form regional organizations and/or

networks as a way of coping with the challenges of globalization. Globalization has made
people aware of the world in general, but it has also made Filipinos more cognizant of specific
areas such as Southeast Asia. How, for instance, did the Philippines come to identify itself with
the Southeast Asian region? Why is it part of a regional grouping known as the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)?

While regionalism is often seen as a political and economic phenomenon, the term
actually encompasses a broader area. It can be examined in relation to identities, ethics,
religion, ecological sustainability, and health. Regionalism is also a process, and must be
treated as an “emergent, socially constituted phenomenon.” It means that regions are not
natural or given; rather, they are constructed and defined by policymakers, economic actors,
and even social movements.

Edward D. Mansfield and Helen V. Milner state that economic and political definitions of
regions vary, but there are certain basic features that everyone can agree on. First, regions are
“a group of countries located in the same geographically specified area” or are “an
amalgamation of two regions [or] a combination of more than two regions” organized to regulate
and “oversee flows and policy choices.” Second, the words regionalization and regionalism
should not be interchanged, as the former refers to the “regional concentration of economic
flows” while the latter is “a political process characterized by economic policy cooperation and
coordination among countries.”

Countries form regional associations for several reasons. One is for military defense.
Countries also form regional organizations to pool their resources, get better returns for their
exports, as well expand their leverage against trading partners. Moreover, there are countries
that form regional blocks to protect their independence from the pressures of superpower
politics. Finally, economic crisis compels countries to come together.

Official regional associations now cover vast swaths of the world. The population of the
countries that joined the Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC) alone comprised 37 percent of
the world’s population in 2007. These countries are also part of the “smaller” organizations that
include the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,
the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, and the
Union of South American Nations. Even “isolationist” North Korea is part of the Regional Forum,
which discusses security issues in the region. (Lisandro E. Claudio and Patricio N. Abinales)

Globalization and regionalization are the same for they refer to integration. Their
difference lies on the scope. Globalization is worldwide while regionalization focuses on a
specific geographical region. As a response to world homogenization and division, regionalism
that comes in various forms of regional alternatives to globalization spawned within and among
regions in Asia. Asian integration did not happen based on one historical event for there were
different factors that led to this alliance.

Asian regionalism is a new concept among the continental communities. New to

cooperation and collaboration goals, it has the 50-year-old ASEAN group and the failed East
Asia Economic Group (EAEG). The ASEAN community is comprised of three pillars – political
security community, economic community, and socio-cultural community.

ASEAN has also partnered with three EAST Asian countries – China, Japan, and South
Korea. It is called the ASEAN + 3. Its goal is to address the 1997 Asian financial crisis and help
each other cope with the crisis. In this context, ASEAN has concretized regionalism in the Asian
region.

There are some aspects that led to a greater Asian integration. First, integration has
been market-driven. Within Asia, there are a variety of systems, institutions, procedures, social
relations, and infrastructures that are put in place for countries to engage in exchange. Second,
formal institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) were established. Conceived in
the 1960a, ADB promotes social and economic development in Asia. Third, economic grants
and overseas development assistance are made available by better Asian economies. For
example, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) aims to work on human
security and quality growth. Fourth, production networks have expanded. Economies are mainly
on comparative advantage through the regional division of labor. Fifth, cooperation among the
ASEAN and East Asian countries ensued the ASEAN + 3 Financial Ministers’ Process that
established two economic structures – the Chiang Mai Initiative and the Asian Bond Markets
Initiative. The process aims to strengthen policy dialogue, coordination, and collaboration on
common financial, monetary, and fiscal issues. (Tumoroh C. Brazalote, Ryan M. Leonardo, and
Bernardino C. Ofalia)

Further Reading More detailed explanations on the above points are found in:

*Lesson 5 A World of Regions page 50 of The Contemporary World. C & E Publishing,

Inc. Quezon City Philippines. Lisandro E. Claudio and Patricio N. Abinales. 2018.

*Module 3 A World of Regions Section 2 page 79 Asian Regionalism The Contemporary

World Outcome-Based Module. Tumoroh C. Brazalote, Ryan M. Leonardo, and Bernardino C.
Ofalia. 2019.
Mandatory Reading/Research:

Sustainability of the ASEAN Integration, Competition Policy