One of the apparent contradictions which has puzzled observers of East Asian politics is why, despite the region's considerable economic integration, economic governance institutions remain largely underdeveloped. This book stems from the observation that the study of actual forms of economic governance in Asia has been impeded by the dominance of a regionalism problematique. Scholars have focused on the emergence or not of regional multilateral institutions, seeking to evaluate these institutions capacities to enforce disciplines on Asian states.

However, they have also neglected...