Asia-Pacific Crossroads : Regime Creation and the Future of APEC

It focuses on the likelihood for APEC to become smoothly 'nested' within the World Trade Organization and considers how subregional groupings in the Asia-Pacific might in turn become nested within APEC.

As perhaps the worlds most economically dynamic region, the Asia-Pacific is generating increasing attention from academic, business, and policymaking circles alike. At a time when the area is projected to continue its unprecedented economic growth well into the 21st century, it is ironic that the Asia-Pacific regional institutional framework is incommensurate with developments in other parts of the world. The most ambitious attempt at regime creation in this region began in 1989 with the formation of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC). Institutionalizing the Asia-Pacific provides a novel theoretical approach to examine the interplay of economic, political, and security factors in APECs evolution. It focuses on the likelihood for APEC to become smoothly "nested" within the World Trade Organization and considers how subregional groupings in the Asia-Pacific might in turn become nested within APEC. The essays draw on the examples of the OECD and the EU to explore APECs future prospects for fostering economic liberalization in the Asia-Pacific and across the globe. Institutionalizing the Asia-Pacific offers the first rigorous and systematic theoretical and empirical examination of the APEC forum by a multinational, interdisciplinary group of scholars.