Assessing APEC's Progress

Assessing APEC's Progress
Author: Richard E. Feinberg
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2001
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9812301437

In its first ten years, what has the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) accomplished? Has the 21-member forum - including the United States, Japan, China, Mexico, and most of Southeast Asia -- fulfilled its promise? To answer these vital questions, leading scholars at APEC Study Centres from thirteen APEC member economies undertook detailed studies of such central issues as trade in services, investment policy, human resource development, food and agriculture, energy, and financial stability.The findings are summarized in a policy report, "Learning From Experience", that has received wide praise and close scrutiny from senior government officials. The report concludes that APEC has successfully established itself as a world-class forum that has contributed to the affirmation of a coherent set of positive ideas. However, the report notes shortcomings in each of the critical areas of trade and investment liberalization, economic and technical cooperation, and institutional structure, and offers remedial policy recommendations to improve APECs future performance. This volume contains both the policy report and the issue studies. It is the product of the APEC International Assessment Network (APIAN), a collaborative, independent project among participating APEC Study Centres to track and assess the design and execution of key APEC initiatives.

Institutions of the Asia-Pacific

Institutions of the Asia-Pacific
Author: Mark Beeson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2008-08-18
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1134039174

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

APEC as an Institution

APEC as an Institution
Author: Richard E Feinberg
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2003
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9812302093

Assesses the strengths and weaknesses of APEC's 'soft' institutionalism, and its capstone policy report, identifies reforms that would close the credibility gap between APEC's promises and accomplishments. Leading scholars at APEC Study Centres investigate APEC's core agenda and delve into the inner workings of bureaucracy.

APEC at 20

APEC at 20
Author: K Kesavapany
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2009
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9814279269

Spanning 20 years of history, the achievements of APEC may seem uneventful in the eyes of some observers. Yet careful deliberation will point to APEC's many remarkable high points as well as some of the challenges. The foundations of APEC were set in place about 40 years ago based on the achievements of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). One of the cornerstones of APEC's vision is to achieve a free and open trade area among its member economies. This vision is anchored in the Bogor Goals that remain the centrepiece of the APEC process. The Bogor Goals represent a cause for celebration as well as angst. Celebration because the region has moved towards achieving a much more liberalized environment of trading and investment since 1989, angst because the deadlines for achieving the goals have not yet been fully realized. Today, APEC embraces many of the world's dynamic developed and developing economies that are better poised to meet the new challenges of this century. For those seeking to get a quick sweep of APEC, this book recalls, reflects and provides enough food for thought on the possible remake of APEC. The chapters are carefully written by experts who have been directly involved in the APEC process one way or another. The invaluable insights serve to place the whole APEC process in a balanced perspective, yet with candid deliberations.

APEC and Liberalisation of the Chinese Economy

APEC and Liberalisation of the Chinese Economy
Author: Peter Drysdale
Publisher: ANU E Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2012-12-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1922144576

"This book assembles papers that were produced under a three year collaborative research program on 'China and APEC' undertaken by the AustraliaJapan Research Centre, in the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management at The Australian National University and the APEC Policy Research Center, in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ... The work on this project and the papers in the volume provide a base for developing ideas that could be helpful to the policy agenda for APEC 2001."--Preface.

APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism

APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism
Author: John Ravenhill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2001
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521667975

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping is the first comprehensive economic arrangement to link countries from around the Pacific Rim. Since its establishment in 1989, APEC has graduated from a ministerial-level gathering of nine countries to an institution that stages annual summits, has a permanent secretariat, and whose twenty-one members have committed themselves to establishing free trade in the region. A decade after its foundation, however, members have been increasingly frustrated with the grouping's progress. In this timely book, John Ravenhill examines the reasons for APEC's establishment, its evolution, and the causes of its failures. His conclusions address central questions in international relations about international collaboration and regionalism. The book will interest all those concerned with broader questions about regional economic and political cooperation.

Institutional Balancing in the Asia Pacific

Institutional Balancing in the Asia Pacific
Author: Kai He
Publisher: Taylor & Francis US
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2009
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 041546952X

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.

New Regional Trading Arrangements in the Asia Pacific?

New Regional Trading Arrangements in the Asia Pacific?
Author: Robert Scollay
Publisher: Peterson Institute
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2001
Genre: Trade blocs
ISBN: 9780881323023

What are the choices the Asia-Pacific community will face if it proceeds further down the path of developing preferential regional trading arrangements? Fragmentation of the region into preferential trading arrangements on a bilateral or subregional basis promises relatively little economic gain and considerable risk of increased trade conflict. Larger preferential trading blocs, spanning the whole of East Asia, the Western Pacific, or the APEC membership, offer greater potential economic benefits but also face formidable political obstacles. In this study, Scollay and Gilbert weigh the economic consequences of the increased use of preferential trading arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region, whether these develop on the basis of trans-Pacific cooperation or solely within the East Asian or Western Pacific sub-regions. They evaluate the economic effects of both the existing proposals for new bilateral and multilateral agreements and of more far-reaching developments involving the creation of a substantial trading bloc or blocs in the region. Comparisons between the economic effects of establishing such bloc(s) in the region and the effects of achieving APEC's Bogor goals on the basis of "open regionalism" suggest that the latter approach continues to offer a worthwhile alternative. The study demonstrates that the benefits of global free trade dominate those available from establishment of any combination of major blocs or from APEC's "open regionalism".

APEC

APEC
Author: Ippei Yamazawa
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9814311634

APEC is a crucial trans-regional arrangement that draws the US into constructive economic engagement with East Asia. This book makes it clear why APEC remains such a crucial element of regional economic architecture and defines an agenda doing forward to which regional leaders should aspire.

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Author: Sandra L. Downing
Publisher: Nova Publishers
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2003
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781590336984

In 1989, President George Bush was President of the United States the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum was established to promote economic integration around the Pacific Rim and to sustain economic growth. APEC currently has 21 members: Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Republic of the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; USA; Vietnam. The United States, recognising the value of top-level meetings to advance the work of creating a Pacific community, invited member economies' leaders to Blake Island, Washington, to meet informally to discuss major issues in the APEC region. This gathering of economic leaders has become the single most important institution in the Asia Pacific region. It brings top level attention to APEC's vision of free trade and investment as well as providing a forum for leaders to meet on a regular basis both as a group and bilaterally to discuss current issues and resolve disputes. The economic health of the APEC region is vitally important to America's continued prosperity. Economic growth across the APEC region waned this year, largely in response to the slowing US economy and the weakening global demand for many of the Asian members' exports (particularly electronics). Many members have lowered their 2001 growth projections in light of poor performance during the first half of the year, although most will still post positive results. This compelling book about APEC and its background, goals and problems, provides the reader with the necessary information on the crucial role that it plays. A revived Asia-Pacific region means more exports from and investments by U.S. companies, more jobs for Americans and more U.S. economic growth.