On 31 October 2008, the book, Institutionalizing Northeast Asia: Regional Steps towards Global Governance, co-edited by TIMA VP Martina Timmermann (with Jitsuo Tsuchiyama), was presented to the public in a book launch, organized by United Nations University Press.

The launch was held at the United Nations University Headquarters, Rose Hall, in Tokyo. Nine of the altogether 22 authors from four regions of the world were present during this event which was followed by a reception with the editors and several authors from Japan and Europe. The event was especially honored by the attendance of the rector of UNU, Prof. Konrad Osterwalder, and Prof. Masashi Nishihara, President of RIPS, who commented on the volume during the launch.
Institutionalizing Northeast Asia: Regional Steps towards Global Governance Edited by Martina Timmermann and Jitsuo Tsuchiyama

978-92-808-1156-8
428 pages; paper; US$39.00
November 2008

• Institutionalizing Northeast Asia: Challenges and opportunities, Martina Timmermann
• The introduction of the book “Institutionalizing Northeast Asia: Regional Steps towards Global Governance” can be downloaded as  MPRA paper 1156 (IDEAS) at: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/11556/

• Institutionalization in Northeast Asia: Is outside-in regionalization enough? Yoshinobu Yamamoto

• Institutionalizing East Asia: Learning lessons from Europe on regionalism, regionalization, identity and leadership,
  Richard Higgott and Martina Timmermann

• Normative regionalism in East Asia, Baogang He

• Northeast Asian regionalism at a crossroads: Is an East Asian Community in sight? Gilbert Rozman

• Overcoming a difficult past: The history problem and institution building in Northeast Asia, Thomas Berger

• The function and dysfunction of identity in an institutionalizing process: The case of Northeast Asia, Takashi Oshimura
• Do alliance networks in Northeast Asia contribute to peace and stability? The US-Japan alliance in focus, Jitsuo Tsuchiyama
• Northeast Asian security community: From concepts to practices, Shin-wha Lee
• The Chinese approach to regional security institutionalism, Seiichiro Takagi
• The Proliferation Security Initiative from an institutional perspective: An “outside-in” institution? Chiyuki Aoi
• Institutional linkages and security governance: Security multilateralism in the Korean peninsula, Tsutomu Kikuchi
• Institutionalizing trade and investment in East Asia – The FTA and BIT strategies of Northeast Asian powers, Keisuke Iida
• Firebreak: East Asia institutionalizes its finances, T. J. Pempel
• China and its neighbours: Patterns of trade and investment, John G. Weiss
• Institutionalizing Northeast Asia: The energy market, Stuart Harris
• A small leap forward: Regional cooperation for tackling the problems of the environment and natural resources in Northeast Asia, Hiroshi Ohta
• Multilevel regionalization through think-tanks, higher education and multimedia, César de Prado
• International migration and human rights: A case for a regional approach in Northeast Asia, Tsuneo Akaha and Brian Ettkin
• Human security and Northeast Asia: Seeds germinating on hard ground, Brian Job and Paul Evans
• Conclusion: Challenges and potentials for institutionalization in Northeast Asia, Jitsuo Tsuchiyama

• This impressive volume brings together many leading experts to provide a collective portrait of the logic and future of Northeast Asian regional cooperation. The result is a wide-ranging exploration of the ways that the countries in this transforming part of the world are grappling with new forms of governance and order. Compared to Europe, Northeast Asia is not highly institutionalized. But as the authors in this important book show, the region is following a path toward great institutionalizing – and doing so in its own distinctive way.

• This volume breaks new ground by analyzing the trends in and prospects for regional institutionalization in an area defined by long historical memories, simmering territorial conflicts, a shifting balance of power, and an uncertain global environment. It brings together a distinguished group of scholars who offer a full range of views on theories of institutionalization and on their application to issues of identity, security, economy, energy, environment, human rights, and human security. Institutionalizing Northeast Asia will serve as the point of departure for subsequent debates on this critically important subject.
  
  

• An illuminating, fresh approach to Northeast Asian regionalism. Reassessing the role of regional institutions such as the Six-Party Talks and ASEAN in promoting regional governance, the authors present indispensable food for thought for practitioners as well as theorists.
  
  

• This is a highly recommendable book, definitive as well as timely work on a most important subject. The book sums up and gives us a new perspective on the discourses which have been going on for the past several decades. It covers most of the topics related to the subject from analytical, normative as well as practical perspectives.
  
  

• The book makes a fine contribution to the international literature on regional cooperation in one of the world’s most conflicting regions. By bringing together an international panel of high ranking specialists, it provides a distinctive added value to comparative regionalist research and international relations. The readers will not only like the very rich empirical evidences regarding the ongoing multiple policy-cooperation and its limits. Moreover, the book’s conceptual clarity and internal coherence help also by further deepening a broader and more sophisticated concept of regional institutionalization, including typology, functions, norm setting, historical legacies, security challenges, and processes of identity building. It is extremely appealing to a wide audience of students and international scholars of political economy, security studies, and international relations.