Publications

Hoon Jang, Yuichi Morii (eds.)
Tokyo: Shinzansya-Verlag, 2004

Preface

The articles in this volume were originally presented at an international conference on "Learning from History: Comparing Cooperation Experiences in Europe and East Asia", held in Tokyo from November 8-10, 2003 sponsored by DESK (Deutschland- und Europastudien in Komaba / German and European Studies in Komaba) program of the University of Tokyo and the Japan Foundation. The conference was a part of multi-year joint research efforts among Japanese and Korean specialists on European politics. Yuichi Morii of the University of Tokyo and Hoon Jaung of Chung-Ang University initiated the collaborative research with the purpose of enhancing academic cooperation between Korean and Japanese students of European politics and the EU.

After a few mutual visits to Seoul and Tokyo, the two-nation team chose the theme of 'comparing regional cooperation in Europe and East Asia' as its first joint work. It was natural and timely that participants to this joint project were drawn to this topic given the coming age of East Asian regionalization. The researchers shared the notion that European experiences do not provide a model but offer lessons for East Asian regionalization. Thus, three specialists on East Asian regionalism from Hong Kong, Japan and Korea joined our study.

Then, revised papers from Tokyo conference were presented at the second major meeting in Fukuoka, held on December 19-20, 2003 at Kyushu University. The meeting, which was supported by the Research Center for Korean Studies at Kyushu University, Chung-Ang University and the Japan Foundation, brought together European specialists and Asian specialists. The one and half day meeting was filled with serious, enlightening, and at times heated, debate. For this meeting, Professor Young-Jak Kim of Kookmin University not just served as the moderator for a full day meeting tirelessly but also offered insightful comments on each paper.

The editors are grateful to all the contributors to this volume for their cheerful cooperation. We found that academic cooperation in East Asia will be as vibrant and crucial as in economic and other key spheres of regional cooperation. We also would like to acknowledge supports of several individuals and institutions for this joint effort: Mr. Osamu Honda of Japan Foundation Seoul Office, the DESK program at the University of Tokyo, the Research Center for Korean Studies at Kyushu University, and Chung-Ang University.