ASEAN and AFTA: Slow but Steady Progress through Managed Evolution

摘要

Paul Bowles' summer 1997 Pacific Affairs article, which used the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) as case studies, was a landmark assessment of the emergence of "new regionalism."1 His main argument was that "new regionalism" and its two most important characteristics, "North-South regionalism" and "multiple regionalisms," were essentially the product of a marked increase in global capital flows. This argument has resonated with scholars over the years. Bowles' analysis paved the way for those of us interested in economic regionalism to explore the interrelationship between the global political economy and the development of the regions of the Global South.