Review of Ellen L. Frost. 2008. 'Asia's New Regionalism'. London, UK: Lynne Rienner Publishers. 293 pp. $25. ISBN 978-1-58826-554-8

Abstract

Today, Asia faces various non-traditional and traditional threats, such as transnational crimes, corruption, intra-state conflicts, religious extremism, deforestation, pollution and so on, and realistically, multilateral forums provide opportunities to deal such challenges. The author of the book under review, Ellen L. Frost, expertly elaborates on achievements of regionalism in Asia, in particular with an in-depth analysis of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Frost also highlights the fundamental differences between regional organisations or the process of regional integration in Asia and Europe, so as to present a convincing argument that the European Union (EU) model should not be used as an analytical framework to understand regionalism in Asia, because the two regions are worlds apart.