Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC): The First Decade, and: Trade Liberalization and APEC (review)

Fourth, the analysis as a whole was confined in this book to the period before 1997. The references used appear to be outdated though not necessarily obsolete. Nevertheless, it does not appear to be interesting to read a book empirically-based and written more than seven years ago. The book was published in 2004 and I wonder why updates on data, empirical analyses and references were not provided. In recent years, the Asian financial crisis, for instance, has badly affected agricultural development and economic growth in these countries, especially Thailand and Indonesia, but this issue, which is very much related to economic development, has been largely neglected. It is of interest to know the extent to which the rural sector in these countries was affected by the financial crisis. I believe that further updates and analysis are warranted. Other rural developments since the financial crisis could also be identified and discussed. JAN P. VOON Lingnan University, Hong Kong Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC): The First Decade. Edited by J. Ruland, E. Manske, and W. Draguhn. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002. Pp. 226. Trade Liberalization and APEC. Edited by J. Okamoto. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. Pp. 271. These two edited volumes provide both beginner and seasoned APEC scholars and researchers with a rich documentation and analysis of its evolutionary process and progress. Unsurprisingly, thirteen authors and editors in the first volume and another eight more in the second, as eminent regional and international experts in the field, are in consensus about the lack of progress of APEC, the Asian crisis notwithstanding. Basically, the political economy dimension of economic co-operation ultimately weighs more heavily in all regional and global fora and pacts, even or more so, in the multilateral GATT/WTO. Economic co-operation may be the intention and primary goal of all architects in designing regional co-operation. But the practical reality cannot dismiss the politics, not even the normative social and cultural dimensions which can be as distracting as posing as possible deal-breaker in extreme circumstances. The first volume with lead editor Jürgen Ruland, well-versed in European and Asian political economy studies, comprise ten chapters. The first two chapters surveyed the successes and failures of APEC within the group and as a forum in international relations, one chapter more dismal in its assessment than the other which tries to point out some realistic utility and expectations, especially in community-building. The Europeans, for their history and advance to the EU, may still be surprised how the Asia-Pacific as a "region without regionalism" could yet have some value to represent and balance the theory and practice of regional blocs. The next six chapters take a regional context, two are on APECs relationship with regional players, ASEAN and EAEC on one hand, and Latin America on the other, the rest featuring the United States, China, Australasia, and Japan. The new world order, heralded by the 1989/90 collapse of the bipolar Cold War and the merger of Asia and the western rim of the Pacific in APEC, has failed to live up for very familiar reasons ranging from the infamous ASEAN way to the Asian crisis. The Asian crisis as the turning point for APEC, with a tantalizing allusion whether rebuilding the Asian economies need APEC or a more ASEAN+3 as the "driving engine" may leave APEC proponents in dismay over the possible demise of a truly Asian Pacific sub-engine. In hindsight, the Asian crisis may have been a critical wake-up call both for the heedless speed and quality of "drunk-driving" Asian economies and the resultant version of Asian regionalism, not quite the likes of Western moulds. The concluding chapter echoes the first that it has been "all talk, no walk" as high politics and security seem to have hijacked the economics of ASEAN Economic Bulletin 245 Vol. 22, No. 2, August 2005 APEC with normative social and cultural issues muddying the waters. Like the conclusion drawn from the Asian crisis, APECs domination by Western powers, the United States in particular, seems a closed chapter. The guarded caution that the APEC process may still benefit from Western lines of institutionalized co-operation is traded-off against...