Cultural commodities and regionalization in East Asia.

• Author: Otmazgin, Nissim Kadosh

Introduction

Regional formation ideas and theories have existed before and throughout the twentieth century. (1) However, it was only after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of its bipolarized world system that ideas of regional formation came to be espoused in many parts of the world (Mansfield and Milner 1999). The rise of regionalism in world politics has undergone further reappraisal in an area of globalization, both as a response and a challenge (Mittelman 1996; Hettne et al. 1999). Manifestations of this phenomenon are pronounced in the progress that the European Union has achieved, as well as in other ongoing regional formation attempts, such as in North America (NAFTA), South America (Mercosur), Africa (AU), Asia (ASEAN, EAEC), and the Asia-Pacific (APEC).

Throughout most of the twentieth century Asia was a relatively divided continent. In terms of regional formation, the term "Asia" itself was not much more than a matter of nomenclature, which merely indicated the continent's geographic location. Previous attempts to promote solidarity among Asians did take place, (2) but those seemed to have been futile or stagnant, at best. However, in the last two decades areas within Asia are increasingly being "pushed" towards each other. A new international manoeuvring away from the American and Soviet Union dominated Cold War era politics, together with the ever-evolving political and economic integrating forces, provided the right incentives for this region's governments and markets to come closer together. In addition, ideas and ambitious possibilities regarding the emergence of some sort of "Asian region" and sub-regions in Asia have been repeatedly mentioned and discussed. (3) During the period following the financial crisis of 1997-98, the necessity of cooperating in order to maintain political-economic stability was further realized. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, "Asia" and sub-regions within Asia have become more closely integrated within the last half century than ever before. This continues despite an obvious lack of formal regional institutionalization and an emphasis on the informal, negotiated, and inclusive approach in regional policy. (4) Regions in Asia might even now possess a few common, regionally shared characteristics.

In the field of culture, East Asia of the last two decades has experienced a renaissance rooted in the growth of its economies and booming consumerism, and manifested in massive new cultural innovation, production, dissemination, and consumption. In East Asia, as in other parts of the world, American popular culture continues to loom over the markets, reaching those who are able to pay the price. Local and regional cultural confluences have, however, developed and intensified, substantially decentralizing the world's cultural structure and refuting the notion that East Asia's cultural scene should be contagiously American. In this process of development, entrepreneurs, companies, and promoters in East Asia have collaborated to form alliances that endorse the emergence of a regional market for culture, facilitate transnational bypasses to connect individuals and communities, and provide cultural content to the imagery of a region.

The aim of this study is to examine cultural aspects of regionalization in Asia. The paper focuses on the confluences of popular culture in East Asia in the period surrounding the last two decades, analysing both the possibilities and the limits of regional formation that derives from the transnational commodification of culture. It argues that the confluences of popular culture and the activities of the newly emerging transnational media alliances propagate regionalization by facilitating a collaborative and integrative market for culture, and by providing platforms to enable the possible emergence of commonalities of identities and conceptions.

The first part of the paper briefly discusses and critiques the theories of regionalization and regional formation. It is suggested that these theories largely overlook cultural aspects of regionalization and are incomplete in conceptualizing related processes in East Asia. The second part then sets a new framework for the paper, highlighting the conspicuous characters of East Asia's regionalization. The final three parts are discussions arguing for an alternative view of regionalization in East Asia, based on the impact that popular culture, especially the media, generates.

The Study of Regional Formation in Asia

Theoretical literature in the field of international relations considers "regionalization" a technical term that describes the undirected process of regional organization and region-making in geopolitical domains greater than states. Regionalization is characterized by growing interdependence and increasing economic activities between markets and communities in a regional sphere. Political scientists further emphasizes that regionalization processes are mainly driven by market forces and actors from the private sector, rather than by governments. (5) This type of regionalization, arising from an interaction of growing economies in proximity, can be characterized as "market-led". It is stimulated and accelerated by the interaction of both market and nonmarket forces. A second type of regionalization can be characterized as "institution-led" and involves discriminatory formal and institutional arrangements, such as among governments and corporations.

Realist, institutional, and cultural theoreticians have all emphasized different aspects of regional formation. Realist theories claim that states interact in an anarchic environment and much of their behaviour is determined by the possibility of conflict. Therefore, in order to defend themselves and determine common enemies, they tend to group into alliances. For various institutional theories, institutionalization and economic activity (preceding, following, or concurrent to one another) are the main propulsive forces of regionalization and regional formation. Accordingly, the European Union, for example, has evolved from attempts to generate trade between Western European countries after World War II, to today's European Union with its own institutions, currency, and its own economic and political agendas. The rise of "culture" as well has aided the study of regional formation, stressing the subjective sense of belonging and identity as powerful motives in forming regions, and emphasizing the role of shared cultural and historical narratives in this process. A vigorously publicized yet simplistic work is Samuel P. Huntington's pronouncement about the clash of civilizations. Regarding Asia, for example, he has simply generalized the cultures of Asia and categorized the region that encompasses a wide and diverse area between Japan and India (excluding both "Japanese" and "Hindu") as simply having a "Confucian" civilization. (6)

Constructivist theories, which are highly inclusive of various factors, are more useful in understanding regional formation in East Asia. (7) They acknowledge a wider range of possible vessels and factors that effect regionalization and regional formation and do not solely base their argument on any one factor at the expense of many other crucial ones. In today's diverse and dynamic East Asia, it seems inconceivable to narrowly base regional formation in formal government agreements, institutions, or macro-culture as sole factors, while ignoring a range of various dynamic socio-economic centred processes and developments, such as in the fields of consumption, technology, and ecology. Moreover, with a specifically applied regional understanding, constructive theories categorize various vessels and factors that are linked to regionalization

and regional formation and usefully determine the balance between them, separating the important points from the insignificant points. That, too, is helpful in navigating among all the various political, economic, and social centred processes and developments in East Asia and evaluating their applied importance to the understanding of regionalization and regional formation.

In East Asia, there are those who argue for the formation of regions on the basis of identity. Proponents have leaned on Asian culture, values, or history in describing East Asians as going throughout processes that shape them as a collective. In many of these works the European Union is often mentioned as an example and a possible model. (8) The "Asian Values" discourse further presented an investigation into the imagery of "Asia" as a regional concept and stimulated the Asia-centred academic discourse (Kim 2004).

The search for Asian values, however, has been criticized as no more than an ideological gloss over political authoritarianism in East Asia's pseudo-democracies (Emmerson 2000). Even advocates acknowledge that the rise of a shared Asian consciousness and identity is a new creation and that a multitude of possible cultural references prevents "Asia" from being conceptualized as a completely homogeneous space. In the years following the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the project of constructing regional identity and an "Asian way" lost much of its lustre. Mahathir Mohamad is no longer in power in Malaysia, and Singapore has recently been pulling away from endorsing regional unity, engaging in discriminatory free-trade agreements with individual countries. Repeated economic, political, and cultural challenges, as well as East Asia's close interdependence and integration with the wider Asia-Pacific region, have brought the project of constructing an Asian identity to an obvious halt.

Another attempt to capture transnational spheres of influence is the soft power theory. The term "soft power" was coined by Joseph S. Nye, Jr., more than a decade ago to describe the growing importance of non-traditional ways, such as culture and values, a country can wield to influence another...