The Political Economy of New Regionalism in Northeast Asia ― Dynamics and Contradictions

The book is the first attempt to offer a holistic and integrated exploration of the political-economic framework underpinning economic regionalism. In doing so it provides a much-needed contribution to the literature on international political economy, international relations and Asian political economy in relation to economic regionalism. The existing literature provides broad generalizations and limited discussion on economic integration (i.e. free trade agreements, FTA) with most analyses of regionalism generally contained to the field of economics with a focus on the welfare implications of FTAs, both for participating countries and the world as a whole. Readers of this book can view economic regionalism from a variety of perspectives with input from Chinese, Japanese and Korean research institutes, business and industry groups, and government officials. Drawing on the considerable country experience and expertise of the authors, the book attempts to unravel the paradox of the market-driven economic globalization process (regionalism) and address a serious gap in the current literature relating to the political-economic characteristics and strategies of China, Japan and Korea in relation to economic regionalism.

Chang Jae Lee is currently Visiting Senior Fellow at the Center for International Development (CID) of Korea Development Institute (KDI). He previously served as Vice President at Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP). His research interests include Northeast Asian economic cooperation and East Asian economic integration.

You-il Lee is Associate Professor of International Business and Director of the King Sejong Institute Adelaide at the University of South Australia. He has published research on socio-economic and political changes caused by globalisation and regionalism in Asia. He is currently working on another monograph, The Evolution of Korean Political Economy: From Growth to Maturity and The Impact of Foreign Multinational Corporations in Korea.

John Benson is Professor and Head of the School of Business at Monash University Malaysia and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Management, Monash University Australia. His most recent monographs include Teacher Management in China: The Transformation of Educational Systems (Routledge, 2016) with Dr Eva Huang and Professor Ying Zhu, and Employers’ Associations in Asia: Employer Collective Action (Routledge, 2017) with professors Ying Zhu and Howard Gospel (editors).

Ying Zhu is Professor and Director of the Australian Centre for Asian Business at the University of South Australia. He has been working as a business leader as well as an academic leader in China and Australia for more than 30 years. He has published widely in the areas of International HRM, International Business, and Economic Development in Asia.

Yoon-Jong Jang is Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Department of the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET). He is currently examining strategy shift of Korean industries faced with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. His publications include Globalization and the Korean Economy and Socio-economic Shocks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Policy Responses in Korea.