S1417 Comparing Regionalism: EU, ASEAN and East Asian Possibilities

In this course, we are going to compare the forms of macro-regional institutions and their policy making/implementation processes in Europe, Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific, from economic, political, legal and socio-cultural perspectives. Specifically we will compare the EU, ASEAN and the various forms of intergovernmental cooperative frameworks in the Asia-Pacific (eg. APEC). In order to facilitate the comparison, we will classify the forms of macro-regional cooperation between the governments into three basic models: the least legalised institutional model (APEC), the most legalised institutional model (the EU), and the semi-legalised institutional model (ASEAN). Students will be encouraged to discuss the historical, economic and political reasons why the EU, the ASEAN and the APEC were established; how much those background reasons affect the legal form of those bodies; and finally whether it is desirable to create an East Asian macro-regional institution in the near future, and in what (legal) form it would be feasible.

Outcomes
Students can acquire deeper understandings of the specific features of EU integration and ASEAN integration from a comparative perspective; they will also become aware of the merits and demerits of various legal techniques of establishing a macro-regional institution. European students will be able to put their EU integration into a comparative context and to realise some non-universal, unique, aspects of their integration methods.

Teaching and evaluation methods
Seminar style course: presentation of the general topic by the lecturer, followed by students' presentations and discussions of each specific topic.

Text: the basic textbook is my edited book (Nakamura 2009). Other additional materials are compiled and edited by the lecturer.