An Asian renaissance? (economy)

While Europe ponders NATO expansion and a common currency, the Asia-Pacific region continues to shun multilateral institutions as inappropriate and Western. Out of Asia's economic miracle has grown a debate about "Asian values," one subset of which was the existence of an Asia-Pacific approach toward institution building. Advocates of this approach contend that informal structures based on consensus are better suited to Asian practices than the more formal and legalistic models favored in Europe. The primary instrument for regional economic cooperation is so informal that its name - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) - seems to imply a state of affairs rather than an organization.

Now the ongoing currency crisis has dispelled many of the region's most cherished notions of Asian exceptionalism. Asian leaders can no longer credibly advance myths about the benign nature of deficits. Nor can these leaders maintain that consensus and dialogue are a viable alternative to well-developed multilateral institutions. The "Asia-Pacific way" failed to prevent a series of narrowly self-interested decisions …