The Asia-Pacific region is home to the world's largest economies and some of its most volatile strategic relationships. But for all its geopolitical importance, it has generally failed to develop the sorts of powerful and effective institutions that are found in Western Europe. This book explains why and considers the prospects for future institutional development in this pivotal region

The purpose of this book is to provide a consolidated collection of materials to facilitate comparison of the various national human rights institutions (NHRIs) already established in the Asia-Pacific region, against a background of selected international materials and with the assistance of several comparative tables. The latter are not intended to be exhaustive, but are designed to assist in identifying and considering the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the legislative mandates of each national institution. While the collection is primarily intended for teaching purposes, it should also be useful to countries considering establishing a national human rights commission or, for those which have already done so, strengthening its mandate. For this reason several sections have been included outlining the relationship which should exist between NHRIs, the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary and other related institutions and a short section on the importance of the process which should precede their establishment.

This collection examines change within the major regional organisations of the Asia Pacific: The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). It has two simultaneous foci: the nature of institutional change in regional organisations, and the process of regionalism in the Asia Pacific. It combines the views of both officials and practitioners, providing new insights into both its major questions.

This book examines the strategic interactions among China, the United States, Japan, and Southeast Asian States in the context of China’s rise and globalization after the cold war. Engaging the mainstream theoretical debates in international relations, the author introduces a new theoretical framework—institutional realism—to explain the institutionalization of world politics in the Asia-Pacific after the cold war. Institutional realism suggests that deepening economic interdependence creates a condition under which states are more likely to conduct a new balancing strategy—institutional balancing, i.e., countering pressures or threats through initiating, utilizing, and dominating multilateral institutions—to pursue security under anarchy. To test the validity of institutional realism, Kai He examines the foreign policies of the U.S., Japan, the ASEAN states, and China toward four major multilateral institutions, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Plus Three (APT), and East Asian Summit (EAS). Challenging the popular pessimistic view regarding China’s rise, the book concludes that economic interdependence and structural constraints may well soften the "dragon’s teeth." China’s rise does not mean a dark future for the region. Institutional Balancing in the Asia Pacificwill be of great interest to policy makers and scholars of Asian security, international relations, Chinese foreign policy, and U.S. foreign policy.

This volume discusses the relationship between economics, geopolitics and regional institutional growth and development in the Asia-Pacific region. How do states (re)define their relationships amid the current global power transition? How do rival actors influence the rules and formation of new institutions for their own benefit? What role will institutions take as independent actors in influencing and constraining the behavior of states? Institutional development in Asia is characterized by idiosyncratic and diverse motivations (both material and non-material), a variety of policy strategies (strategic and norm-based), and the looming question of China’s future depth of involvement as its economic position becomes more stable and its confidence in foreign affairs grows. The book reflects the broadening definition of Asia by examining multiple perspectives, including Japan, China, South Korea, the United States, Australia, India, Russia, and Taiwan. In addition to state actors, the contributors address several important regional institutions in development such as the ASEAN (+3, +6, and the East Asian Summit), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), existing security alliances, and other bilateral institutions. Ultimately, this volume describes the unique, slow, and diverse growth of a multitude of regional institutions, the complexities of generating cooperation, membership concerns, and competition between states and with existing institutions in the context of China’s increasing confidence and strength. This book will be of much interest to students of Asian politics, regional security, international organizations, and foreign policy.

East Asian countries are now pursuing greater formal economic institutionalization, weaving a web of bilateral and minilateral preferential trade agreements. Scholarly analysis of “formal” East Asian regionalism focuses on international political and economic factors such as the end of the Cold War, the Asian financial crisis, or the rising Sino-Japanese rivalry. Yet this work pays inadequate attention to the strategies of individual government agencies, business groups, labor unions, and NGOs across the region. Moreover, most studies also fail to adequately characterize different types of trade arrangements, often lumping together bilateral accords with minilateral ones, and transregional agreements with those within the region. To fully understand this cross-national variance, this book argues that researchers must give greater attention to the domestic politics within East Asian countries and the U.S., involving the interplay of these subnational players. With contributions from leading country and regional trade specialists, this book examines East Asian and American trade strategies through the lens of a domestic bargaining game approach with a focus on the interplay of interests, ideas, and domestic institutions within the context of broader international shifts. With respect to domestic politics, the chapters show how subnational actors engage in lobbying, both of their own governments and through their links to others in the region. They also trace the evolution of interests and ideas over time, helping us to generate a better understanding of historical trends in the region. In addition to scholars of East Asian and comparative regionalism, this book will be of interest to policy-makers concerned with international trade and U.S.-Asia relations, and those interested in understanding the rich trade institutional landscape that we see emerging in the Asia-Pacific.

This edited volume provides a framework for understanding academic public good and offers case studies and perspectives as in depth examples of the ways in which colleges and universities engage with the community to produce social benefits. Focusing on the Asia Pacific region, the authors discuss examples of engagement that produce consciousness, partnerships, and services that are broadly available to the public and enhance the progress of society. The authors argue that, unlike an individual degree, these are public benefits that should be focused upon and featured more readily so that the breadth of university benefits come to be better understood.