Description:
Using the lens of the "commons" this book highlights the key development interests and challenges that members of ASEAN collectively recognize. The concept of "regional commons" involves three dimensions: the management of common resources; cooperation in the production of common goods; and cooperation in overcoming common challenges. Contributors to the collection discuss the ways in which the Plus Three arrangements that ASEAN has with China, Japan and South Korea address or complicate these three dimensions.
Review Quotes:
East Asia is a region of great dynamism in the world due to two major elements: the economic growth of emerging countries including China; and the time-consuming efforts of promoting regional cooperation as we see in the activities of ASEAN. This book Advancing the Regional Commons in the New East Asia is a product of cooperation among the academic members of Asean Plus Three (APT), specifically the members of the Community of East Asian Scholars. As demonstrated well in the combination of co-editors coming from Thailand, Singapore and Japan, intellectuals in the region cooperate with each other to tackle regional key issues and challenges, including food security, energy security, the problem of illicit drugs, transnational migration in education and retirement, the cross-national scheme of education in the region, and ASEAN cooperation on marine environment. This book will provide readers with many suggestions and hints in prospecting the future of New East Asia in the era of APT.
Akira Suehiro, Professor of the University of Tokyo.
Written by top indigenous scholars from East Asia, this book is a good antidote to one-dimensional interpretation of East Asia as a turbulent and dangerous region driven primarily by great power politics. This is a "must read" book for all who are interested in ASEAN, APT and East Asian regionalism.
Lam Peng Er, Senior Research fellow, East Asian Institute, Natioanl University of Singapore