APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism

Examines APEC's establishment, the paths it has followed, and the causes of its failures.

John Ravenhill (Author)

9780521667975, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 January 2002

308 pages
22.9 x 15.4 x 2.1 cm, 0.457 kg

'Ravenhill's account of APEC's development is balanced, thoughtful and timely … If a serious attempt were to be made to grapple with how to reinvigorate APEC, John Ravenhill would certainly deserve to have a seat at the table.' Asian-Pacific Economic Literature

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping is the first comprehensive economic arrangement to link countries from around the Pacific Rim. Since its establishment in 1989, APEC has graduated from a ministerial-level gathering of nine countries to an institution that stages annual summits, has a permanent secretariat, and whose twenty-one members have committed themselves to establishing free trade in the region. A decade after its foundation, however, members have been increasingly frustrated with the grouping's progress. In this timely book, John Ravenhill examines the reasons for APEC's establishment, its evolution, and the causes of its failures. His conclusions address central questions in international relations about international collaboration and regionalism. The book will interest all those concerned with broader questions about regional economic and political cooperation.

1. The construction of regional inter-governmental collaboration
2. The construction of APEC
3. The institutionalization of APEC
4. Regimes and compliance
5. APEC as a regional regime
6. APEC and multilateralism.

Subject Areas: Economic systems & structures [KCS], Political economy [KCP], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], International relations [JPS]