The Government, Sovereignty and Regional Integration (A Comparison of East Asia and Europe)

Integration and regional cooperation have increasingly become an important trend in Asia and Europe. In the West five decades of integration in Europe has led to the formation of a regional government which is having the power to take legal and political decisions that are binding on its members. In the East of Asia, the regional cooperation had been on the basis of ASEAN methods and ideas. In Europe regional integration is based on a strong institutional and legal framework. The European commission, Ministerial Council, European Parliament, Central Bank of Europe and the European Hague Court, constitute the strong institutional infrastructure of European decision making. In East Asia integration is based on the principles of respect for sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs and not use of violence in regional conflicts. Why Europe and East Asia have approved different pattern of regionalism? How this pattern of regional decision making can bring change in Europe and East Asia? The present article points out that different and distinct feature of the constituting countries play important role in determining the pattern of integration and cooperation in each region. Besides that, different pattern of regional cooperation has led to adopting different approaches by regional countries to face specific challenges.