UNESCO

That the Asia Pacific region is so frequently spoken of as a single entity says more about its existence on the margins of Western thinking rather than the reality of its historical, political, social or even economic homogeneity. This chapter examines a region whose boundaries are constituted by East and Southeast Asia and island countries of the Pacific ranging from small states, such as Tuvalu and Nauru, to New Zealand and Australia. This geographical delineation of the Asia Pacific is not entirely arbitrary but reflects an emerging set of institutional structures. Recent economic and political developments and the increasing global economic importance of many countries in the region have coincided with the creation of overlapping regional networks such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), APEC (the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum) and the Pacific Islands Forum. Unlike the European Union, these institutions lack the same national membership. Nevertheless they reflect a desire for greater economic and political cooperation in a region characterized by extensive social, cultural and historical diversity. One of the major pragmatic arguments considered in this book for facilitatin