Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This is a study of APEC through unexpected processes it originated. It has indirectly provided a political space to emerging alter-APEC communities which presented alternative discourses on how to define and identify the Asia Pacific region.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Once depicted as a formidable driving force for integration in Asia and the Pacific, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) now mostly draws attention of critics who tend to consider it as a failure. This paper aims at bringing careful empirical evidence to a trial that has so far seriously lacked it. We contrast this evidence with the real nature of APEC, one that many have quickly forgotten. Doing so reveals that it may not be APEC that has derailed but those who have observed it over the years. Based on our evidence, it is clearly too soon to say that APEC is a failure and is currently in a chaotic situation. The grouping has experienced an expanding agenda but not without keeping some priorities. Furthermore, leaders’ declarations have been reasonably matched by a growing number of collective activities aiming at building a regional community.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: At first glance, trade and security seem to be positively correlated --countries that trade heavily with each other do not fight each other in the military realm. But the trade-and-security debate in the literature on International Relations resembles a chicken-and-egg problem: Does trade create a safer security environment between the trading partners? Or is it a safer security environment that enables countries to engage in trade? The debate over globalization and, more recently, over what new world order to build in the aftermath of the attacks against the United States have given more prominence to the question of the relationship between trade and security. This paper uses an analytical comparison of the European Union and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the two biggest trading entities in the world, in order to illustrate how and under what conditions regional economic integration contributes to security-building efforts. Existing comparisons between the EU and APEC have pointed to the differences between these institutions in terms of the degree of legalization and formalization. By contrast, we argue that the EU and APEC exhibit many similarities in their respective roles in the security arena. Although these groupings of countries have originated at historically distinct periods, their evolution reflects the effort to address the main security issues of their era, in particular the role of the major actors in the respective regions: Germany in Europe and, in Asia, the role of the United States, Japan, and China. Our analysis begins with a theoretical argument linking economic integration and international security, which builds on the peace-through-trade and globalization literatures. We argue that trade creates a more stable security environment, but that stable and constraining trading institutions provide a crucial and necessary institutional setting for security-building efforts. We apply this institutionalist argument to the cases of the EU and APEC. The paper uses a combination of quantitative and case-study methodology to analyze patterns of economic integration and their effects on security-building.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The paper examines patterns of policy responses to online privacy in three nation-states. Lessons is drawn for South Korea for her strategic positioning in the APEC where the notion of privacy is new, challenging its regulatory framework.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Chinese foreign policy changed significantly in the early 1990s with the end of the cold war. Unlike during the cold war time, when China was only involved in limited multilateral institutions, into the mid-1990s, we see a booming of Chinese involvement i