This graduate-level seminar will examine the political and economic dynamics surrounding the rise and evolution of Asian regionalism. A major objective is to determine the relevance of various theories of regionalism to East Asian, Southeast Asian and other sub-regional experiences. Broadly speaking, this course covers various regime-building projects in Asia region, including East Asian regionalism, Southeast Asia regionalism, China-centered regional projects, US Indo-Pacific strategy, Russia-China-US competition in Central Asia, India-China-US engagement in South Asia. Issues surrounding power transitions, geopolitics and geoeconomics, South China Sea conflicts will also be explored.

The emergence of East Asian regionalism is complex: First, it reflects the desire of countries to realize the benefit of deeper economic integration. Second, it is a response to regionalisms in Europe and the America. Third, it is a regional reaction to problems caused by globalization and the incompetence of multilateral institutions on global governance. Finally, it is a manifestation of the intense leadership competition between Japan and China, as well as the power transition between the U.S. and China in the region. We will first review the literatures on dynamics of "regionalization" (the de facto integration of trade, clustering of foreign direct investment, etc.) vs. "regionalism" (the formalization of institutions at intergovernmental level and development of a shared regional identity). We will then look at the various catalysts for regionalism in recent decades. Two factors, the Asian financial crisis and the rise of China, clearly served as a catalyst to provide a new momentum to development of regional institutionalization minus the US. We will pay attention to the ARF, ASEAN+3, ASEAN +6 and the movement toward consolidating regional free trade agreements and financial cooperation in Asia. Nonwestern regional settings, such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization, will be examined as well. In the end, we will look at the leadership struggles ahead among US, China, Japan to the centrality of ASEAN. Whereas addressing these substantive topics, we also pay attention to IR’s major schools of thoughts and perspectives, namely realism, liberalism and constructivism, in making sense of Asian regional development.