동아시아 지역통합과 리더십이슈: 유럽통합의 시사점을 중심으로

Abstract

It has been almost two decades since regional integration began to accelerate in East Asia. Despite earlier enthusiasm for regionalism, it is yet to achieve a region-wide FTA, let alone formal institutionalization. Advancing a functional approach to leadership, this paper argues that the limited supply of political, financial and institutional leadership has hindered deeper regionalism. Political leadership to promote regional integration exists, albeit weakly. However, rising political and diplomatic discomfort in the region has raised the question of whether commitments and agreements for deepening regional integration forged at the regional level are only a rhetorical gesture. This paper found that there is a limited supply of stable, coherent, and cooperative financial leadership: Japan’s financial leadership has been intersubjectively challenged, while China’s growing economic activities in the region have intensified financial leadership competition. Institutional leadership, which has been traditionally provided by ASEAN through the channel of ASEAN centrality, has also weakened in recent years over growing tension and waning unity among the ASEAN member states and the inherited constraints of the institution in the world of power politics. Korea has emerged as an alternative, but its credentials are still to be proven. In addition, this paper examined how the limited supply of leadership was attributed to the emergence and intensification of three sets of leadership competitions in East Asia, and drew a temporary conclusion that the success of regional integration will ultimately depend on regional efforts to create an environment where rivalries are attenuated and leadership is provided.