The Palgrave Handbook of EU-Asia Relations
Edited by Thomas Christiansen, Emil Kirchner and Philomena B. Murray
Palgrave Macmillan 2013
This edited book fills a gap in the literature on EU-Asia relations. The European Union and Asia are two regions undergoing significant changes internally while at the same time developing stronger relations with each other. In the context of an emerging multi-polar world, Europe and Asia are seen as major actors, making their relations increasingly crucial for the understanding of global politics. The Handbook is distinctive because it constitutes a thoroughly comprehensive collection of more than 40 contributions from a variety of disciplines and perspectives, bringing together leading authors in their respective fields.
Contributors come from Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, thereby providing a genuinely global perspective on this important topic.
The Handbook is structured along several key dimensions in the relationship, ensuring that bilateral relations, multilateral contexts, institutional aspects, the comparative dimension and the global perspective, are all covered – a unique set of contributions. In addition, sections look specifically at political, economic and cultural relations between the two regions.
Editors
THOMAS CHRISTIANSEN is Jean Monnet Professor ad personam of European Institutional Politics at the faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. EMIL KIRCHNER is Jean Monnet ad personam Professor, University of Essex, UK. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2002, and was elected an Academician of the Social Sciences by the Academy of Social Science in 2009.
PHILOMENA MURRAY is Jean Monnet Professor in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She holds honorary positions at the Institute for International Integration Studies at Trinity College Dublin; the College of Europe; United Nations University – Institute for Comparative Regional Integration Studies in Bruges and National Centre for Research on Europe at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Endorsements
For all the talk of globalisation, Europe and Asia remind us that regions continue to matter enormously. What we have lacked thus far, however, is a detailed analysis of their interaction and comparative development. This wide-ranging, comprehensive and authoritative volume brings together an impressive group of regional specialists to produce what will be the definitive statement on EU-Asia relations for the foreseeable future – Mark Beeson, Wintrhop professor in Political Science and International Relations, The University of Western Australia, Australia
This handbook is a first of its kind. Based upon a series of preparatory conferences and workshops, about 50 scholars from various disciplines tackled the many aspects of EU-Asia relations. The result is a comprehensive volume that serves as an impressive introduction and indespensable resource for anyone interested in the inter-regional relations between Europe and Asia. – Professor Luk Van Langenhove, Director of the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, Brugges, Belgium
‘This impressive Handbook is destined to become the standard reference book for anyone with an interest in EU-Asia relations. The thirty-nine chapters in the volume cover different dimensions of these relations, set against the backdrop of wider global developments. The editors have commendably resisted any attempts to simplify the key drivers of mutual relations by acknowledging that different factors generate cooperation or conflict between the two sides. The result is a handbook that is critical but ultimately balanced. The contributors, who are both Europe and Asia-based, are not only prominent scholars in their own rights but collectively represent the cream of an expanding network of scholars, proving that the days of EU and Asian scholars talking past each other are well and truly over. This Handbook will serve to inspire the next generation of EU-Asia scholars’. – Simon Duke, Professor, European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht, Netherlands
It is natural for EU and Asia to strengthen their relation in several fields under the recent globalization. Moreover, it is much more important to consider roles of two regions (EU and Asia) and their cooperation in the current global situation where the United States has no longer enough governance over itself and the rest of world. This volume conducts comprehensive and insightful studies regarding not only EU-Asia relations in the future but also their impacts on the globalized society. – Professor Eiji Ogawa, Hitotsubashi University and EU Studies Institute in Tokyo, Japan
This volume is a cutting-edge collection of articles on the relations between Europe and Asia. It epitomises and brings to life, the rich cross-fertilizations of three sets of literature that started interacting intensively – along with Asia and the EU – in the 21st century: European integration, Asian regionalism and inter-regionalism . The editors should be congratulated for having assembled such an impressive cast of leading scholars, journalists and policy analysts across Europe, Asia and the Pacific to examine the various issues and questions that animate the dense and growing political, economic and cultural linkages between Europe and Asia.The book offers an original framework for making sense of the myriad interactions between a rising Asia and an EU that is not yet past its prime, and is likely to be an invaluable reference for scholars and students of European integration, Asian regionalism, inter-regional cooperation and global governance for many years to come.” – Reuben Wong, Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore
