Sohn, Injoo --- "Legitimacy and Power: The Political Dynamics of East Asian Financial Regionalism" [2011] ELECD 472; in Buckley, P. Ross; Hu, Weixing Richard; Arner, W. Douglas (eds), "East Asian Economic Integration" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: East Asian Economic Integration

Editor(s): Buckley, P. Ross; Hu, Weixing Richard; Arner, W. Douglas

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849808682

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Legitimacy and Power: The Political Dynamics of East Asian Financial Regionalism

Author(s): Sohn, Injoo

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

10. Legitimacy and power: the political
dynamics of East Asian financial
regionalism
Injoo Sohn

INTRODUCTION

The international monetary system is in a great flux. A series of interna-
tional financial crises have significantly undermined the legitimacy and
effectiveness of the relatively exclusive decision-making structure of the
Group of Seven (G7)-centered international financial architecture. The
rise of China and other key emerging economies has reshaped the inter-
national power configuration, lending great volatility to the existing
international monetary system. At the core of the profoundly evolving
international financial architecture are the issues of legitimacy and power.
The problems of legitimacy deficit and power shift have contributed to
challenging the post-World War II international financial architecture in
general and stimulating East Asian financial cooperation in particular.
The perceived deficiency of political legitimacy, even in the post-Asian
crisis global financial architecture, and East Asia's growing economic
power and power balancing have driven East Asian states to become
rule makers rather than rule takers through new regional financial
arrangements. This chapter will discuss the independent causal effects of
legitimacy and power on strategic choices made by East Asian states.
In recent years, clear progress has been made in East Asia's collective
efforts to create new regional financial cooperative mechanisms. The
main forum for such efforts became one composed exclusively of East
Asian countries, notably excluding the United States. The Association for
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries and China, Japan
and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) have ...