European Integration – Sharing of Experiences – By J. Ø. Møller

European Integration – Sharing of Experiences , by J. Ø. Møller ( Singapore : Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Publishing , 2008 , ISBN 9789812307774 ); xxxii + 512 pp., US$49.90 hb . This book is one of the most unusual new treatments of the scope and effects of European integration to have come out in recent years. It can be recommended to scholars of EU integration, and – with some reservations – to those interested in comparative regional integration and in the implications of the European experience for policy-makers in Asia. Offering a perspective from the (Asian) ‘outside in’ of the EU, the volume seeks to link directly into one of the most intensively mined intellectual seams of EU–Asia scholarship: the validity of the EU's ambitions, methods and instruments of integration as ‘models’ for Asian countries, regions and political groupings. From the vantage-point of Singapore, the author hinges this substantial, sometimes wordy, text around terms such as ‘globalization’ and ‘geo-politics’ and contributes a refreshingly different investigation of his subject, and of the key characteristics of EU integration. The text is sub-divided into nine chapters with titles such as ‘Grand Designs’, ‘The Mechanics’, ‘Rationale behind the Enlargements’, The European Union's Role in the World’, ‘Constraints – Risks – Challenges’ and ‘Building Trust’, providing in each of them a well-informed, concise, behind-the-scenes look into EU power and bargaining mechanisms. The book works as a wide-ranging, introductory survey and encompasses numerous aspects of European integration, from history to economics, enlargement to languages, research and development, and many other topics. Given the breadth of coverage, there is some – perhaps unavoidable – overlap between chapters, for instance on some of the external functions of the EU. There are some noticeable omissions with regard to some overarching EU concerns, for example in the area of human rights. Also, given the genesis and viewpoint of the volume, the small amount of space devoted to EU–Asia relations is both surprising and regrettable. This is not a text for scholars in this subject area. I also think that – given the book's avowed function in drawing out ‘lessons’ from the EU integration experience for Asia and ASEAN – there should have been a dedicated section in each chapter doing just that. How will Asian integrative ambitions learn from such experiences as the EU ENP, enlargement and the CFSP? Are there concrete lessons to be learned or avoided? How can Asia learn from EU negotiations and power-games? Is there a case to be made for ‘legalistic institutionalism’ on the side of the EU, versus ‘gradual incrementalism’ across Asia? Although touched upon at various intervals throughout the text, this central dimension of the book ought to have been made much more explicit. Overall, this is a useful addition to the general survey literature on EU integration, written from an attractive perspective, but a book that does not live up to the comparative potential suggested by its subtitle

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