Comparing States and Regions in East Asia and Europe: Is Southeast Asia ever part of East Asia ?

Abstract

This essay considers ways in which China and an “East Asia” which includes Southeast Asia can both be compared to Europe in ways that help us appreciate the limitations of conceptualizing political processes largely through practices pioneered in European history. Contrasts between political institutions in China and Europe historically and today in turn suggest the flexible ways in which “region” can mediate between the global and the local levels of analysis. Through historical and comparative arguments this essay simultaneously reframes the debates on area studies and on regionalism and regional integration in ways that open up new lines of inquiry and a new agenda for research under the rubric of “East Asia.” The essay argues that we need to attend to patterns of spatial similarities and connections, as well as differences, to better understand how regions were historically constructed and how these constructions shape the possibilities and limits of regionthinking and making.