Transnational Network and Global Governance: Trends and Challenges of the East Asian Political Economy

　　Abstract: Most academic and policy discussions of East Asian integration take the nation-state as their starting point.This article puts forth two main arguments: First, the nation-state framework can no longer provide an adequate explanation for the phenomena that accompany rapid economic growth, especially deep-seated changes brought by cross-border flows of people, practices, ideas and capital.This article suggests that the geo-cultural concept of Transnational Asia might be considered as one potential means of filling the gap left by mainstream research guided by a nation-state lens.Secondly, this article transcends the traditional state-society dichotomy and rigid theoretical distinctions between the state and institution by employing transnational network and governance as an analytical tool to understand East Asian political and economic developments.As the state interacts with broad and multilayered cross-national networks, the networked state plays an increasingly critical role, impacting or constraining the domestic and international affairs of nation-states through a wide range of coordinating mechanisms.

　　About the Author:Liu Hong is the Tan Kah Kee Endowed Professor of Asian Studies at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore