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Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been reorganizing itself, moving away from the global issues to other forms of international politics such as regionalism. The European Union (EU) is an example of successful regionalism. Asia, on the other hand, is often cited as a failure for regionalism: the strongest regional organization, ASEAN, is still weak. Yet this argument only makes sense in terms of formal institutions: European integration theory generally discusses the role of institutions in the broadening and deepening of regional structures. To understand regionalism in East Asia, it is necessary to look in a different place: informal socio-economic and socio-cultural regional networks. While many stress that informal regionalism in East Asia grows out of ethnic ties of Chinese communities in Greater China, this paper will stress the ethics of Asian regionalism. Rather than being regulated by rules (EU), or motivated by exclusionary ethnic ties (Greater China), regionalism in East Asia is best described in terms of the ethics of people-to-people relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the agency enjoyed by the margins in appropriating and resisting discourses of the center. Empirically, it examines how the category of ?European values? is used in foreign policy rhetoric in Central Europe ? defined here as the East-Central European countries that acceded into the EU in 2004. The link between ?European values? and EU enlargement is usually studied in terms of accession countries following western prescriptions in learning or adopting these values in spheres such as their relations with Russia. This paper examines how Central European states use that same category of ?European values? to justify policies that are not necessarily in line with western prescriptions. In theoretical terms, this highlights how the category of ?European values? is constructed not only in the power centers but also on the power margins of Europe. It illuminates the flexibility of broad normative concepts like ?European values?, as well as the capacity of the margins to use that flexibility to their advantage. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]