Constructivist Regionalism and Liberal Regionalism:A Comparison of Western Europe and East Asia

　　Abstract: As the process of globalization continues, regionalism has developed rapidly along with regional integration. In their process of integration, Western European states have focused on legal agreements, on the integration of functions, and on the development of supranational institutions. The European experience might be categorized as one of constructivist regionalism. In East Asia, integration has emphasized the principle of non-intervention, emphasized the supremacy of state sovereignty, and resisted the development of supranational institutions, opting for a liberal regionalism characterized by weak institutions. The different characteristics of the two regionalisms were shaped by unique historical developments in Western Europe and East Asia, which resulted in different types of economic and political institutions, different understandings of collectivism and different values with respect to the sovereignty of the nation state among member states of each respective region. Since the financial crisis, the European debt crisis has exposed the structural ills of the rigidity of constructivist regionalism, while in East Asia the process of integration has seen the creation of an array of frameworks for dialogue at different levels, including ASEAN, the 10+1 framework, the 10+3 framework, and the East Asia Summit. However this also illustrates the low level of efficiency characteristic in a region which lacks institutional norms.

　　Author: Qiu Fahua, Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences of Shanghai University of Technology