• Northeast Asia's New Institutional Architecture
• Asia's New Institutional Architecture
• Bilateral Trade Agreements in the Asia-Pacific
• EU Transregionalism Strategies in the New Economy
• Strategies for International Trade and Politics in Latin America

Northeast Asia's New Institutional Architecture

This project investigates the origins and evolution of Northeast Asia's new institutional architecture and community building, focusing on two sets of distinct but related aspects. The first concerns national strategies for a new institutional equilibrium and community building among key players in the region, including the U.S., China, Japan, the two Koreas, and Russia. The second examines the evolution of a new institutional architecture and community building in key functional issue areas, including trade, energy, environment, and security. We draw policy implications with attention to possible linkages among the key players across the functional issue areas. We believe that our scholarly efforts give us a unique perspective on the types of institutional solutions that may be feasible in Northeast Asia.

The results of this project were published in Northeast Asia? Ripe for Integration (2008), available for purchase at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Asia's New Institutional Architecture

Can regional and interregional mechanisms better institutionalize the increasing complexity of economic and security ties among the nations in Northeast, Southeast, and South Asia? As the international state system undergoes dramatic changes in both security and trade relations in the wake of the end of the Cold War, the Asian financial crisis, and the attacks of 9-11, this question is now uppermost in the minds of both academics and policymakers. Still, little research has been done to integrate the analysis of security and economic analysis of changes in the region within a broader context that will give us theoretically-informed policy insights. We believe that an academically informed approach to the links between trade and security institutions and issues, guided by input from civil society groups and government officials, will give us a unique perspective on the types of institutional solutions that may be feasible in Asia. In doing so, our hope is to provide policymakers and analysts with an institutional road map that lies ahead.

The results of this project were published in Asia's New Institutional Architecture: Evolving Structures for Managing Trade, Financial and Security Relations (2007), available for purchase at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

Bilateral Trade Agreements in the Asia-Pacific

Countries in the Asia-Pacific have become increasingly unreceptive to multilateral trade forums like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) because of fears that such organizations cannot work effectively at mediating such a contentious issue. Instead, countries in the Asia-Pacific have begun to turn towards bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs). With this background in mind, our book explores three questions: Why does bilateralism develop? How will bilateralism evolve? And how will bilateralism affect other types of trade arrangements?

The results of this project were published in Bilateral Trade Agreements in the Asia-Pacific (2006), available for purchase at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

With the support of the Institute of European Studies at U.C. Berkeley, BASC initiated a project that considers "transregionalism" as an emerging level of international trade relations. In particular, it studies the effect on EU trade strategies of the growing importance of new economy firms and the halt in progress in global trade negotiations. Will the EU give priority to "bilateral" relationships with East Asia, Mercosur, and others in the absence of a new WTO round? This project analyzes whether incipient EU transregionalism will make a lasting impression on the changing face of international trade.

The results of this project were published in European Union Trade Strategies: Between Regionalism and Globalism (2005), available for purchase at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

The 1990s witnessed widening divergence among the responses of Latin American countries to trends in the international economy. Changes in the language of regional affairs, which increasingly differentiates between a North America that includes Mexico and a South America dominated by Brazil, indicate the profound impact Mexico's NAFTA membership may have on intra-American relations. In recent years, Mexico has signed free trade agreements with Costa Rica and Chile, and the European Union. Transregional free trade with Europe as well as other regions would provide some amount of balance in Mexico's trade profile, which is overwhelmingly dependent on the US market. A conference at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C. on September 24, 2001 convened experts from across the Americas to discuss the implications of these various alternatives, and offer their perspectives on the nature and implications of this increasing divergence in strategic policies.

The results of this project were published in The Strategic Dynamics of Latin American Trade (2004), available for purchase at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.