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The EU, Korea, and conflict transformation through regional integration

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Abstract

The post-World War II experience of conflict and regional cooperation in (Western) Europe and East Asia has been very different. Despite their differences in terms of receptiveness of, and preferences for, regional cooperation, regional cooperation and/or integration still remains one of the most promising avenues for achieving or at least institutionalising peace. Against this backdrop, we aim to assess the scope for EU–Korean collaboration in regional integration, outlining the European and the Korean perspectives on regional integration and conflict resolution, their similarities and differences in this process, and prospects of cooperation amid the intensifying US–China rivalry. We argue in this paper that although confronted with the spectre of global power politics heading for a new Cold War, both the EU and Korea have normatively and practically sought to pursue a policy of ‘hedging’, and that integration may be a testament to the power of integration in the peaceful transformation of international order than undermining its rationale. The paper thus argues that the future trajectory that regional cooperation for conflict transformation would be bound up by the spectre of power politics by the geostrategic rivalry between the US and China would not necessarily be the only one expected.

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Abbreviations

ARF:

ASEAN Regional Forum

ASEAN:

Association of South East Asian Nations

ASEM:

Asia-Europe Meeting

CSCE:

Cooperation on Security and Cooperation in Europe

EC:

European Community

EU:

European Union

KEDO:

Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation

NAPCI:

Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative

Quad:

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue

US:

United States

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Myongji University, Seoul, South Korea

    Moosung Lee

  2. University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Thomas Diez

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  1. Moosung Lee
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  2. Thomas Diez
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Moosung Lee (corresponding author); Thomas Diez (co-author).

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Correspondence to Moosung Lee.

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Lee, M., Diez, T. The EU, Korea, and conflict transformation through regional integration. Asia Eur J 21, 493–506 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-023-00685-7

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