Title of Paper

'Institutional Evolution in the Asia-Pacific Region'

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Abstract

The Asia Pacific Region is undergoing rapid transformation, not least in the institutionalisation of economic and security relations. This paper argues that this is a transitional period characterised by structural instability arising in part from the gradual dissolution of the institutional framework created by Pax Americana. The partial loss of US hegemonic control coincides with tentative steps towards greater regional cooperation on the one hand and intense political and economic competition on the other. The various attempts at institutional innovation reflects these contradictory trends together with the widening of the security agenda which is itself in part a reflection of the accelerating expansion  and interpenetration of national economies.