Regionalisation trends in Europe and the Asia-Pacific: a comparative study, 1965-1990

Abstract

This paper has two objectives. First, it seeks to identify regional systems between 1965 to 1990 within the European and Asian-Pacific economic spaces based on the trade connectedness of the respective countries. In this regard, the concept of subsystems is particularly useful. Regions encapsulate economic and political relations which vary in strength and scale. The Asia-Pacific, for instance, is collectively described as a region. In reality, it is hardly homogenous. The region is defined by a hierarchical complex of economic relationships. It also contains both autarchic and liberal regimes, as well as some of the world's wealthiest and poorest nations. All these suggest that a strong sense of regional entity is lacking, and that it may be more meaningful to conceptualise the Asia Pacific in terms of subsystems. Second, internationalisation and increased interdependencies imply that extra-regional propensities are important features of worldwide regionalisation. This second objective therefore seeks to study and compare the extra-regional trading propensities of the two regions in terms of the general differences between European and Asian-Pacific regionalisation.