Suchergebnisse

On 11 September 2006 the leaders of 38 Asian and European countries and the President of
the European Commission concluded the ASEM 6 summit in Helsinki. The ASEM-Process,
initiated in 1996, has often been criticised for not achieving its full agenda-setting potential
in global negations in the issue-areas of trade and finance. Despite these shortcomings, the
Asia-Europe Meeting seeks to brush up on its meagre contribution to global discourses by
setting up a virtual secretariat as a means to mould common positions. A case in point is
the Declaration on Climate Change, which is a clear indication of an improved multilateral
utility of ASEM. Yet, informality and frequent clashes of European and Asian conceptions
of cooperation weaken the potential negotiation power of the Asia-Europe Meeting.

Bilateralism looms large in International Economics in general and in East Asia specifically.
Here bilateral trade agreements and bilateral currency cooperation are both regional
manifestations of this global trend. Yet, is bilateralism a constant pattern of economic cooperation
in East Asia or just a transitional phenomenon? This paper argues that currently
East Asian states are still eager to conclude bilateral trade and currency agreements, but
only up to the point where multilateralism promises more gains than the ever growing
complexity of bilateral networks, especially in the issue area of trade. Since both trade and
currency cooperation show a drift towards multilateralism it is concluded that bilateralism
may be conceived as both transitional phenomenon and constant pattern in East Asian
Regionalism.

Um die Konsolidierung der philippinischen Demokratie auf der Ebene der politischen Institutionen zu analysieren, untersucht der Autor in einem ersten Schritt, welchen Einfluss das autoritäre Marcos-Regime und der Verlauf des Demokratisierungsprozesses auf die Entstehung der konstitutionellen Strukturen zeitigten. Zweitens geht es um die Beschreibung der Struktur des Regierungs- und Verwaltungssystems gemäß der 1987 verabschiedeten Verfassung. Drittens wird das Konsolidierungsniveau der Verfassungsinstitutionen anhand obiger Kriterien ermittelt. Schließlich geht es in einem vierten Schritt darum, den Beitrag der Verfassungsinstitutionen zur Konsolidierung des gesamten demokratischen Systems zu bestimmen. (Südostasien aktuell/DÜI-Jos)