European Security Integration: Lessons for East Asia? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 7, No. 7, April 2007

Weber, Katja. (2007) European Security Integration: Lessons for East Asia? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 7, No. 7, April 2007.

Abstract

[From the introduction]. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relevance of the European integration experience for East Asia's future security architecture. Or, put differently, the study asks what the European experience can tell us about future East Asian security institutions. Tracing European cooperative efforts from the early post-World War II days to recent attempts of stabilizing the neighborhood via a European Neighborhood Policy, the paper argues that the process of European security integration provides useful lessons that can inform a similar process in East Asia. Given that there are significant differences between post-1945 Europe and 21st century East Asia--including the U.S.'s promotion of regional institutions in Europe versus bilateral alliances in East Asia (Hemmer and Katzenstein 2002); more or less equal power capabilities in Europe versus the huge power asymmetry with respect to China in Asia; a fairly homogeneous European culture versus a heterogeneous Asian culture; largely traditional security threats in Cold War Europe versus a whole range of non-traditional security threats in East Asia, etc.--the East Asians are unlikely to copy the exact same steps taken by the Europeans to improve their security, i.e., one model does not fit all. Nor does the promotion of stability/peace-building have to be unidirectional--economic cooperation, for instance, does not necessarily have to precede security cooperation. Since history--due to Japan's troubled past with its neighbors, and the creation of two Koreas and two Chinas--is still a "neuralgic point in East Asia" (Berger, 2006: 3), it is argued that Japanese, Koreans and Chinese can be expected to develop a distinct path to stabilize the region. And yet, considering the multi-faceted nature of security threats, the main ingredient of the European success strategy, namely the institutionalization of trust on multiple levels, and hence the creation of a complex web of governance (Hooghe and Marks 2003), is likely to be emulated in the long run.