“Currency and Contest in East Asia：The Great Power Politics of Financial Regionalism” (Cornell University Press 2009)

William W. Grimes (Associate Professor of International Relations & Director of the Center for the Study of Asia)

It is a great honor to receive the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Award for my book Currency and Crisis in East Asia: The Great Power Politics of Financial Regionalism. Former Prime Minister Ohira was a true statesman who dedicated his life to serving Japan and to contributing to peace and stability in the Pacific Basin, and I feel grateful to receive an award that bears his name.
This is an important time in the development of the Pacific Basin community. After years of regional economic integration and discussion about how to configure regional institutions, we have reached the point where these institutions are having significant political and functional impacts across the region. As we look at the developing regional “architecture,” which will likely continue to consist of a variety of institutions with overlapping functions and memberships, it is essential to think not only about the functional impacts of key regional institutions, but also their political implications.

My book attempts to uncover the political factors and impacts of ASEAN+3 financial regionalism. With trade cooperation fragmented into a variety of bilateral and subregional agreements, ASEAN+3 financial regionalism is the best example of truly regional economic cooperation in Asia. Aspects of financial regionalism, particularly the Chiang Mai Initiative, have progressed in ways that seemed unimaginable a decade ago. Moreover, the various initiatives that comprise financial regionalism constitute an ambitious and coherent response to some of the most important economic questions facing ASEAN+3 countries, such as currency issues and financial regulation. The way in which ASEAN+3 participants structure their cooperation will have profound effects on their future financial stability. These institutions also reflect the different interests and capabilities of leading states, including not only ASEAN+3 leaders such as Japan and China, but also the United States.

In my book, I analyze the development and future implications of ASEAN+3 financial regionalism from the perspective of power politics. This perspective has been largely obscured in previous studies, which have focused on functional arrangements or on the potential for development of a regional identity. By looking at financial regionalism as a contest among China, Japan, and the United States, I have tried to shed new light on this important area of regional cooperation. The contest for power does not preclude effective cooperation. But I believe that only by taking this contest seriously will policy makers be able to develop durable and effective regional cooperation.

Profile
William W. Grimes is associate professor of international relations at Boston University and the founding director of the Boston University Center for the Study of Asia. He is the author of Currency and Contest in East Asia: The Great Power Politics of Financial Regionalism (Cornell University Press, 2009) and Unmaking the Japanese Miracle: Macroeconomic Politics, 1985-2000 (Cornell University Press, 2001), as well as co-editor (with Ulrike Schaede) of Japan’s Managed Globalization: Adapting to the 21st Century (M.E. Sharpe, 2002). He has also published articles on the impacts of financial globalization in Japan, monetary policy making in Japan, Japanese economic policy in the bubble and post-bubble periods, East Asian financial regionalism, and Japan’s relations with the United States and East Asia. He has been a visiting researcher in the research institutes of both the Japanese Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan.