APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism (review)

APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism fills a gap in the international- relations literature on collaboration by offering an international-political-economy approach to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group (APEC) and the issue of "open regionalism." APEC, formed in 1989, has evolved into a unique institution. It now comprises twenty-one members whose leaders meet once a year. It proposes to achieve free trade by 2010 for members that are developed countries and by 2020 for member countries that are less developed. It offers an open-regionalism approach in the sense that trade concessions will be extended to members outside the group.

In this five-chapter book, John Ravenhill addresses four sets of questions: why APEC succeeded when other initiatives did not, why APEC chose open regionalism over discriminatory trade practices, how APEC has shaped regional identity, and whether APEC has advanced other liberalization efforts.

In chapter 1 the author reviews the literature on regional governmental collaboration and identifies the factors that can influence a government's decision to enter agreements such as APEC. He then discusses, in the second chapter, how the interaction of these factors played a role in the establishment of APEC. Ravenhill traces the historical and political roots of APEC back to 1965 when Japanese economist Kiyoshi Kojima proposed a Pacific Free Trade Area, thus underscoring Japan's interest in Pacific regionalism from the outset. Other precursors to APEC include the Organization for Pacific Trade and Development and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference. APEC ultimately succeeded because of the changing systemic distribution of power at the end of the Cold War along with the growth of economic interdependence across the Pacific and the advent of new ideas and intellectual leadership that followed the economic crisis of the early 1980s.

Chapter 3 examines the evolution of APEC with an emphasis on the motivations of its member governments. This is the most fascinating chapter in the book, because as it reveals how the particular interests and motivations of governments have helped shape the APEC agenda over time it also sheds light on where APEC is today and where it is going. It was only with the Clinton administration that the United States embraced the idea of APEC as an instrument to further advance trade liberalization—at a time when the Uruguay Round had reached a stalemate—and to use as leverage in its trade disputes against the European Union. Japan, on the other hand, saw APEC essentially as an institution to facilitate trade and technical cooperation, where consensual decision making would take precedence over negotiation. For Japan, as for most other Asian governments with the notable exception of Singapore, trade liberalization was never a primary goal of APEC. These nations share the view that economic and technical cooperation should precede trade liberalization. In fact, according to Ravenhill, Japan's APEC policies have been defined largely by a desire to preserve good relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to protect the interests of Japanese companies operating in those countries. An interesting case study is provided by China. China joined APEC in 1991 as a result of changing perspectives on belonging to regional economic organizations and in an effort to build ties with other Asian countries. At the same time that China was working to join the World Trade Organization it was also taking a very a proactive role in APEC to prevent trade and financial liberalization. Ambivalence also characterizes Australia's behavior when it comes to APEC. On one hand it consistently sides with East Asia in its trade disputes with the United States in an attempt to "draw closer to Asia," and yet it also strongly advocates trade liberalization.

Interesting also is the author's attempt to explain the different policy preferences and attitudes of these governments as an outgrowth of their economic and political systems, and to link them...