Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements

Despite the existence of region-wide economic networks and the proliferation of regional cooperation processes in the 1990s and 2000s, East Asia is still one of the under-institutionalized regions in the world. In the absence of a single regional organization covering all regional states, the region...

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Huvudupphov: Ermeydan, Burcu
Materialtyp: Online
Språk:engelska
Utgiven: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego 2025
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author Ermeydan, Burcu
author_browse Ermeydan, Burcu
author_facet Ermeydan, Burcu
author_sort Ermeydan, Burcu
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Despite the existence of region-wide economic networks and the proliferation of regional cooperation processes in the 1990s and 2000s, East Asia is still one of the under-institutionalized regions in the world. In the absence of a single regional organization covering all regional states, the region is fragmented among regional organizations/groups, most of which geographically overlap due to multi-membership. In the literature on regionalism, this phenomenon has been recently conceptualized as “overlapping regionalism,” which has been observed worldwide. Indeed, East Asia constitutes a special example of overlapping regionalism with its current regional setting because of the high number of overlaps under regional organizations, initiatives, and agreements. Yet, the region has not been extensively examined in the emerging literature on overlapping regionalism. This paper aims to discuss overlapping regionalism in East Asia and its effects. It asks two central questions: why do regional states implement regional initiatives that geographically overlap, and how do overlapping regional initiatives affect regional states’ positions in the current setting of regional architecture in East Asia and vice versa? In order to answer these questions, it first proposes an analytical framework to examine overlapping regionalism. Later, it focuses on selected geographically overlapping free trade agreements like Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). It evaluates political and economic factors and determinants of the emergence of these overlapping regional initiatives within the East Asian context. East Asia constitutes a distinctive example in terms of overlapping regional initiatives. It argues that rivalry among the big powers of the region, hedging strategies of middle and small powers, and the looselyinstitutionalized structure of the regional governance are the primary reasons behind their emergence.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1562512025-03-07T15:06:04Z Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements Ermeydan, Burcu South China Sea People Republic of China United States Asia Cambodia Humanized birth Taiwan issue cross-strait relations crisis ASEAN diplomatic mission Despite the existence of region-wide economic networks and the proliferation of regional cooperation processes in the 1990s and 2000s, East Asia is still one of the under-institutionalized regions in the world. In the absence of a single regional organization covering all regional states, the region is fragmented among regional organizations/groups, most of which geographically overlap due to multi-membership. In the literature on regionalism, this phenomenon has been recently conceptualized as “overlapping regionalism,” which has been observed worldwide. Indeed, East Asia constitutes a special example of overlapping regionalism with its current regional setting because of the high number of overlaps under regional organizations, initiatives, and agreements. Yet, the region has not been extensively examined in the emerging literature on overlapping regionalism. This paper aims to discuss overlapping regionalism in East Asia and its effects. It asks two central questions: why do regional states implement regional initiatives that geographically overlap, and how do overlapping regional initiatives affect regional states’ positions in the current setting of regional architecture in East Asia and vice versa? In order to answer these questions, it first proposes an analytical framework to examine overlapping regionalism. Later, it focuses on selected geographically overlapping free trade agreements like Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). It evaluates political and economic factors and determinants of the emergence of these overlapping regional initiatives within the East Asian context. East Asia constitutes a distinctive example in terms of overlapping regional initiatives. It argues that rivalry among the big powers of the region, hedging strategies of middle and small powers, and the looselyinstitutionalized structure of the regional governance are the primary reasons behind their emergence. 2025-03-07T15:06:02Z 2025-03-07T15:06:02Z 2023 chapter ONIX_20250307_9788383313108_1901 9788383313108 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/156251 eng image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://www.press.uni.lodz.pl/index.php/wul/catalog/book/602 Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego 10.18778/8331-310-8.08 10.18778/8331-310-8.08 83bfe9c9-323d-4283-b087-d859fd9af314 9788383313108 149-166 open access
spellingShingle South China Sea
People Republic of China
United States
Asia
Cambodia
Humanized birth
Taiwan issue
cross-strait relations
crisis
ASEAN
diplomatic mission
Ermeydan, Burcu
Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements
title Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements
title_full Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements
title_fullStr Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements
title_full_unstemmed Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements
title_short Chapter Overlapping Regionalism in East Asia: A Critical Review on Mega-Free Trade Agreements
title_sort chapter overlapping regionalism in east asia a critical review on mega free trade agreements
topic South China Sea
People Republic of China
United States
Asia
Cambodia
Humanized birth
Taiwan issue
cross-strait relations
crisis
ASEAN
diplomatic mission
topic_facet South China Sea
People Republic of China
United States
Asia
Cambodia
Humanized birth
Taiwan issue
cross-strait relations
crisis
ASEAN
diplomatic mission
url ONIX_20250307_9788383313108_1901
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