Ajit Singh: "Globalisation and Economic Nationalism: An Asian Perspective"

This keynote talk considers the question of economic nationalism through the lens of economic openness. The latter, which connotes close or total integration of a country with that of the world economy, is the antonym of economic nationalism. The talk argues that economic openness is a multi-dimensional concept. A country can be open, or not so open to all or some of the following: trade, exports, imports, finance, science, culture and education, migration, foreign investment, investment by its citizens and companies abroad, among other things. There is no economic theory that suggests that a country has to be open in all dimensions simultaneously. Given its economic and geo-political situation, a country may choose to be open in some areas and not in others. The talk examines the analytical question: what is the optimum degree of openness for an economy? This theoretical framework is used to illustrate and explain the Asian experience, specifically of India, Japan and Korea. The implications for policy of these and other national economies as well as those for the global economy are outlined. The main policy message of the paper is that countries should seek, whenever they can, "strategic" rather than close integration with the international economy.

Mark Selden: "Nationalism and Regionalism in Contemporary East Asia"

This keynote talk offers historical perspective on the conflicting forces of nationalism and regionalism at play in contemporary East Asia in an effort to chart regional dynamics within a global non-Eurocentric framework. A brief survey of East Asia in the era of the Sinocentric tributary trade system (16-18th century) and the era of system disintegration, colonial rule, world wars, and anti-colonial wars and revolutions (1840-1970) sets the stage for analysis of the resurgence of East Asia. Since the 1970s there have been signs of the emergence of a third epoch notable for progress toward the formation of a new East Asian regional order resting on foundations of dynamic economic growth. From the perspective of East Asian integration, the US-China opening of 1970 marked both the end of a century of war and polarization and the emergence of economic complementarity and geopolitical restructuring that have transformed both East Asia and the world economy. In assessing the resurgence of East Asia and the emerging character of East Asian regionalism, emphasis is placed on relations among China, Japan and Korea as ascending regional-global powers and the position of the United States as a powerful but declining superpower. The ability to frame a new regional order, however, is challenged by latent nationalist conflicts pivoting on unresolved tensions of colonialism and war, including territorial conflicts that are a legacy of a postwar Cold War calculus played out in the San Francisco Treaty, and in the perpetuation of national divisions involving China and Taiwan and the Korean peninsula. New forces at work in the region have their foundation in the increasingly interdependent economies of East Asian nations, the waning of American power in the post Cold War order, and the recent interest of East Asian leaders in promoting regional accommodation and overcoming the national divisions involving China/Taiwan and the Korean peninsula.