Institutional divergence and convergence in the Asia-Pacific? ASEAN in practice and in theory

This paper gives attention to the geopolitics related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an alternative model of regionalism in theory and practice. Offering a rough periodization of ASEAN in IR theory, it considers interacting theoretical and empirical developments, and their geopolitics as one way to think about, first, ASEAN, its defining dynamics and processes of change, and, second, ASEAN's relationship to a larger IR theory literature defined by US preoccupations and the institutional trajectory of the European Union. Three periods are considered: a Cold War period, when ASEAN norms and practices developed relatively insulated from great power expectations and theorizing about ASEAN was minimal; the 1990s, when constructivist theorizing encouraged new thinking about alternative institutional models; and the 2000s, a period characterized by correlating great power pressures and a ‘functional’ turn in academic and theoretical debates about ASEAN. Special attention is given to the United States as a major, leading actor in both world politics and the institutionalization of international relations as a discipline, as well as the possibilities and constraints of institutional divergence in theory and practice.     

Goals for a Global Economy

正The annual work conference on China’s economy was convened in Beijing in mid-December 2016. The outcomes are important for two reasons: the huge unpredictability in the current global political and economic situation, and the preparations being made for the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late 2017.On the overall assessment of where China now stands, the economic front is deemed as being OK.     

BritainandBrexit:AnyClearer?

<正>The UK Government sets the stage for the nation’s high-risk gamble to unfold After months of enigmatic silence,British Prime Minister Theresa May has announced how her government plans to manage Britain’s exit from the European Union(EU)following the nation’s referendum on June 23 last year.     

BELT AND ROAD DIPLOMACY

正China’s proactive and communicative foreign policy stance works within the global system In the era since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization(WTO)in2001,the country’s boom in productivity has brought massive benefits in terms of delivering prosperity and material wealth to the Chinese people,and indeed through GDP growth contributions to the outside