Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Asia-Pacific economic cooperation (APEC)'

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 15, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study applies Deutsch’s security community framework to the states of Southeast Asia in order to assess whether or not, as at September 2002, there exist dependable expectations of peaceful change. The study has three primary goals. The first is to develop the framework so it may better reflect the realities of interstate and communal relations in Southeast Asia. The second is to assess whether or not Southeast Asia has in fact moved beyond the construction of a nascent security community where there exists adequate empirical evidence to suggest a future sustainable course towards ‘dependable expectations of peaceful change’. The third seeks to analyse the potential for Southeast Asia, as a community of states, to evolve to the higher tiers of integration and be characterised as a mature security community, where disputes between states and state-elites will be resolved without recourse to violence. In investigating these tasks, the dissertation considers a broad range of issues, including (but not limited to): the multilateral security frameworks embracing the region; the impact of ethnic and religious tensions as well as non-traditional security issues (with a focus here on narcotics and piracy); and the impact of terrorism and the recent economic crisis on the normative behaviours and ideologies of state elites throughout the region. It is found that while a substantial degree of interaction, integration and cooperation has developed in Southeast Asia, these developments have been insufficient to alleviate a number of traditional security issues and tensions (such as border and territorial conflicts). Consequently, there exists only a transient sense of expectations of peaceful change throughout Southeast Asia and this level of integration is characterised by the dissertation to represent nothing more than the embryonic phase of a security community’s evolution.

This thesis deals with interests of Japan, Australia and New Zealand in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The basis is an analysis of economic position of the APEC and of the three countries within the APEC and characteristics of the organisation. The thesis deals with the security and economic interests of the three countries in the Asia-Pacific area that implicate their interests in APEC.

Transposition juridique des proximités économiques entre les Etats bordant le pacifique, l'APEC s'ajoute à de nombreux dispositifs régionaux. En tant qu'espace institutionnel, son intérêt est incontestable car elle n'a pas d'équivalent à une si vaste échelle. Sa structure permet de mettre en œuvre les fonctions juridiques et diplomatiques rendues nécessaires par l'adoption d'un objectif de libre échange d'ici 2010/2020. En revanche, en tant que système normatif, la situation son apport plus incertain. D'une part, l'informalisme de ses outils rend difficile l'évaluation de leur rôle dans les transformations survenues dans les régimes juridiques des Etats membres durant cette dernière décennie. Ensuite, vis à vis des règles et des organismes de coopération existants en matière économique, l'APEC, semble se situer dans une position secondaire voire accessoire. Cette étude doit être replacée dans le contexte d'une recherche d'un modèle de coopération adapté au nouvel environnement international constitué de coopérations interrégionales sans cohérence politique ni homogénéité économique. En effet les modèles actuels, qu'ils reposent sur une logique conventionnelle (Accords OMC, UE/APC, UE/MERCOSUR et euro méditerranéens, accord de libre échange des Amériques) ou sur une logique institutionnelle (Communauté européenne), ne semblent pas des alternatives pertinentes. L'analyse des particularités de fonctionnement de l'APEC, fondé sur des initiatives unilatérales orientées, institutionnalisées et coordonnées présente dès lors un intérêt dépassant la seule région.

The study of regions in international relations has been a sometime thing, gaining scholarly attention in the 1950s and 1960s, dropping largely from view in the 1970s, and returning to focus quite dramatically in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is clear that the contemporary manifestations of regionalism (the completion of the internal market of the European Communities in 1992, Asia Pacific developments, and US-centred Western hemisphere moves) constitute a new and qualitatively different factor in both interstate relations and the international political economy. The growth in the development of regions in the 1980s also represents a new level of interstate collaboration in the international system. The question arises as to the causes of this 'new regionalism' of the 1980s, and the implications of these developments for international relations practice and theory. Investigating these issues is the main task of this thesis. ¶ This thesis involves three elements: a central contemporary element examining the re-emergence of regions in the 1980s; a second comparative element comparing the causal factors operating in three different regions; and lastly, a theoretical element examining the usefulness of current theory to the phenomenon of regionalism in the 1980s and 1990s. Chapters Two and Three discuss the relevant theoretical literature with a view to developing the propositions to be examined in the case studies. They examine three of the major streams of international relations theory - realism, liberal economics, and institutionalism - with a focus on what these contending theories have had to say about how regional groupings arise. Chapter Two looks at the relevant theoretical literature in the 1950s and 1960s while Chapter Three explores the more recent theoretical literature of the 1970s and 1980s. ¶ The rest of the body of the thesis tests propositions set out at the end of Chapter Three on the causes of the regionalist revival in the 1980s by way of three case studies, each one concerned with the actual development of regionalism in three different parts of the globe: Western Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific. ¶ In all three regions the move towards regionalism was clearly a reaction to negative developments in the international economic and political systems. It was in part a specific response to the undermining of the liberal international trading regime and the associated rise in protectionism, particularly in the US. It was also partly the result of an ideational shift in terms of economic doctrine away from keynesianism and import substitution industrialisation to economic liberalism and export-oriented economic growth. Yet it is also apparent from the case studies that the new regionalism was also to some extent the result of a kind of interactive chain reaction, a spiral of mutual anxiety, with regionalism in one area provoking an extension of regionalism in another. It is indeed difficult to establish which of these causal explanations is the principal one as it is clear from the case studies that they are in fact mutually reinforcing. ¶ The thesis concludes with an analysis of the insights provided by the case studies into the theoretical debates examined in Chapters Two and Three. Finally, there is an attempt to use these insights to construct a theory accounting for the rise of the new regionalism.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2005.
Submitted to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 417-443). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

by Wong Tze-Kin.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-199).
Abstract also in Chinese.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.i
ABSTRACTS --- p.ii
LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAM --- p.ix
ABBREVIATIONS --- p.x
Chapter PART ONE: --- APEC AND THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
CHAPTER
Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- Background: the First APEC Meeting in 1989 --- p.1
Chapter 1.2 --- Thesis Statement --- p.4
Chapter 1.2.1 --- Propositions of Thesis --- p.6
Chapter 1.3 --- Conceptual Framework --- p.9
Chapter 1.3.1 --- Premises --- p.10
Chapter 1.3.2 --- The Political Economy of Globalization and Regionalization --- p.12
Chapter 1.3.3 --- International Cooperation and the Differentiation between Strong Regimes and Weak Regimes --- p.14
Chapter 1.3.4 --- "Functions of Regimes: Information, Institutional Nesting and Cross Issues-Linkage" --- p.16
Chapter 1.4 --- Sources of Materials and Organization of the Study --- p.20
Chapter II. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.22
Chapter 2.1 --- Concepts of Globalization and Regionalization --- p.22
Chapter 2.2 --- Theories of Cooperation Among States --- p.25
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Realist Theories --- p.25
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Neo-Liberal Institutional ism --- p.27
Chapter 2.2.3 --- Remarks --- p.32
Chapter 2.3 --- The Study of APEC --- p.33
Chapter 2.3.1 --- Objectives of APEC --- p.33
Chapter 2.3.2 --- Constraints on APEC --- p.35
Chapter 2.3.3 --- Theoretical Implications of APEC --- p.37
Chapter 2.4 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.39
Chapter PART TWO: --- "INTERDEPENDENCE, INDIVIDUAL VISIONS AND THE BIRTH OF APEC"
Chapter III. --- THE CREATION OF APEC AND INCENTIVES OF ORIGINAL PLAYERS --- p.40
Chapter 3.1 --- Interdependence and the Development of Non-governmental Organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region --- p.40
Chapter 3.1.1 --- Historical Development of Non-governmental Organizations --- p.41
Chapter 3.1.2 --- Problems of Economic Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region --- p.43
Chapter 3.2 --- Interests of Founding Members in the Formation of APEC --- p.46
Chapter 3.2.1 --- Australia: an Endeavor from a Middle-Power --- p.46
Chapter 3.2.2 --- Japan: Easing Trade Tensions and Sustaining Growth Momentum --- p.48
Chapter 3.2.3 --- The United States: Engagement and Economic Benefits --- p.51
Chapter 3.2.4 --- ASEAN: Changing Environment and Cautious Participation --- p.54
Chapter 3.3 --- Concluding Remarks: Initial Demands on APEC --- p.57
Chapter PART THREE: --- CHALLENGES OF COOPERATION AND DIVERGENT PREFERENCES OF THE MEMBERS
Chapter IV. --- FORMATION OF REGIONAL GROUPS AND POLITICO-STRATEGIC INTERDEPENDENCE --- p.60
Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.60
Chapter 4.2 --- "The Participation of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong" --- p.61
Chapter 4.3 --- The East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC): Dividing the Asia-Pacific? --- p.66
Chapter 4.3.1 --- "Malaysia's Proposal for an ""Asian-only"" Core" --- p.67
Chapter 4.3.2 --- Responses of Major Actors --- p.69
Chapter 4.3.3 --- Nesting of Issues and the Importance of U.S. Engagement --- p.76
Chapter 4.4 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.79
Chapter V. --- THE INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF APEC AND THE PROVISION OF INFORMATION --- p.82
Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.82
Chapter 5.2 --- Structure of APEC and Facilitation of Communication --- p.83
Chapter 5.2.1 --- Meetings and Working Groups --- p.84
Chapter 5.2.2 --- The APEC Secretariat --- p.85
Chapter 5.2.3 --- Advisory and Research Bodies --- p.86
Chapter 5.2.4 --- The Regime Function of APEC: Provision of Information --- p.88
Chapter 5.3 --- Controversies in the Institutional Development of APEC --- p.90
Chapter 5.3.1 --- Nature of APEC: Consultative Forum vs. Negotiating Forum --- p.91
Chapter 5.3.2 --- Decision-making Process in APEC: a Case Study of the Indonesian Meeting --- p.94
Chapter 5.4 --- Concluding Remarks: the Choice of APEC Model --- p.97
Chapter VI. --- POLITICS OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION: VISION AND TIME-FRAME --- p.102
Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.102
Chapter 6.2 --- The Initial Thrust of the First EPG Report (1993) --- p.103
Chapter 6.2.1 --- Open-Regionalism: From PECC to APEC --- p.104
Chapter 6.3 --- The Turning Point of APEC: the 1994 Bogor Declaration of Common Resolve --- p.106
Chapter 6.3.1 --- The Second EPG Report --- p.107
Chapter 6.3.2 --- Reactions and Considerations of Major APEC Members --- p.107
Chapter 6.3.3 --- Implications of the Trade Liberalization Program --- p.117
Chapter 6.4 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.121
Chapter VII. --- POLITICS OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION: IMPLEMENTATION --- p.123
Chapter 7.1 --- Introduction --- p.123
Chapter 7.2 --- Non-Discrimination --- p.125
Chapter 7.3 --- Comprehensiveness --- p.130
Chapter 7.4 --- Comparability --- p.135
Chapter 7.5 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.139
Chapter VIII. --- CONCLUSION --- p.142
Chapter 8.1 --- Introduction --- p.142
Chapter 8.2 --- Findings --- p.144
Chapter 8.2.1 --- Values of APEC to Developed Economies --- p.148
Chapter 8.2.2 --- Values of APEC to Developing Economies --- p.150
Chapter 8.2.3 --- Theoretical Functions Performed by APEC --- p.152
Chapter 8.3 --- A Theoretical Discussion on APEC --- p.155
Chapter 8.3.1 --- "The Significance of ""Open Regionalism""" --- p.155
Chapter 8.3.2 --- Theories of International Regimes --- p.157
Chapter 8.4 --- "Limitations of this Thesis and Some Reflections from the ""Asian Financial Turbulence""" --- p.159
APPENDICES
Chapter a. --- "A Brief Chronology of Related Events, 1989-1995" --- p.162
Chapter b. --- The Structure of APEC (1995) --- p.165
Chapter c. --- Seoul APEC Declaration --- p.166
Chapter d. --- Guide to the Osaka Action Agenda --- p.169
NOTES --- p.170
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.191

Ng Hoi Lam.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-149).
Abstracts in English and Chinese.
Abstract --- p.ix
Acknowledgments --- p.xi
List of Abbreviations，Tables and Figures --- p.xii
Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction: Summit in Sino-American relations --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- Magic Figure --- p.1
Chapter - --- 30th Anniversary of Rapprochement between the US and China
Chapter 1.2 --- Puzzle --- p.3
Chapter - --- The Central question
Chapter 1.3 --- Layout --- p.6
Chapter 1.4 --- Argument --- p.6
Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review: Linking the internal politics to decision-making process of foreign policy Rational model VS Power model in High politics --- p.8
Chapter 2.1 --- What is a Summit? --- p.8
Chapter 2.2 --- Who is/ are the person(s) in-charge of foreign policy making process? --- p.11
Chapter 2.3 --- Foreign Policy decision making model(s)
Chapter - --- Rationality model VS Power model --- p.16
Chapter 2.4 --- Linking internal and external politics
Chapter - --- Two-level game instead of realism --- p.21
Chapter 2.5 --- Value of summitry --- p.25
Chapter - --- A photo-taking arena
Chapter - --- Symbolism or substance?
Chapter 2.6 --- Summitry in APEC --- p.32
Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology & Theoretical Framework: Summitry for settling legitimacy dilemma by two-level game --- p.34
Chapter 3.1 --- Focusing the subject --- p.34
Chapter 3.2 --- Research Method and Data --- p.38
Chapter 3.3 --- Nature of Sino-American relations --- p.39
Chapter 3.4 --- Summitry under two-level game --- p.47
Chapter 3.5 --- Pattern in APEC summits --- p.53
Chapter 3.6 --- "Modeling in 3 'I's´ؤInternational, internal and individual" --- p.55
Chapter Chapter 4 --- A Year of Presidential Elections: The case of 1996 --- p.61
Chapter 4.1 --- Manila APEC --- p.61
Chapter 4.2 --- Jiang's Taiwan Policy
Chapter - --- How did the 'Eight Points' work under internal politics --- p.62
Behind the Third Strait Crisis
Repeating the same old tune
Chapter 4.3 --- Full embracement after APEC --- p.75
Chapter Chapter 5 --- After Honeymoon Years: The case of 1999 --- p.78
Chapter 5.1 --- Auckland APEC --- p.78
Conflicts after the honeymoon: Old bottle with new wine
Chapter 5.2 --- Three Crises --- p.84
A huge mistake´ؤupon mismatched timing
Missile on the Embassy
"""Special State-to-State relationship"""
Chapter 5.3 --- """2As"" meetings´ؤplatform for saving face" --- p.90
Chapter 5.4 --- Re-opening dialogue on WTO deals --- p.93
Diplomat dead but diplomacy alive
Chapter Chapter 6 --- Starting a new Emperor: The case of 2001 --- p.99
Chapter 6.1 --- Shanghai APEC --- p.99
New doctrine: A potential enemy or ally?
Chapter 6.2 --- Conflicts again --- p.101
Fool's Day joke
The art of apology´ؤnegotiation involved
"Taiwan and Tibet´ؤ“internal affairs"""
Chapter 6.3 --- Warming in relation --- p.109
Ardent summer
"Death of asylum, birth of hamlet"
Green House in Winter
Chapter Chapter 7 --- Conclusion´ؤJiang's 'Core' Consideration --- p.118
Chapter 7.1 --- Era unlike Mao and Deng --- p.118
Chapter 7.2 --- Lesson for Policy makers --- p.120
Chapter 7.3 --- Contributions/ Implications --- p.122
Chapter 7.4 --- Limitation --- p.123
Appendix I Chronology --- p.125
Append ix II Pew Research Center of People and the Press --- p.136
Bibliography --- p.137

The institutionalization of a social clause in an agreement which is binding among the signatories is difficult to support as it always entails having to touch issues like protectionism, and political, economic and cultural hegemony. The barrier of distrust between the "pro" and the "anti" social clause groups has become too deeply entrenched in the Asia Pacific to elicit a consensus that can be embodied in a ratified agreement. It is in this light that the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum seems to be a more practicable approach. This, thesis begins on the recognition that APEC exists and the Philippines is actively participating in it — the critical issue now is to make it an institution that will safeguard labor rights, not contribute further to their violation. Vital to the understanding of APEC is that it is more of a process rather than a solid institution. The APEC process is consensus-based and therefore functions well as a vessel for the harmonious and beneficial navigation by member economies of the treacherous waters of global trade. Because of the apparent voluntary character of member countries' commitments, some cause-oriented groups consider this process as an opportunity for interjecting social issues in APEC trade discussions by influencing civil society and thereby ultimately putting pressure on their respective governments to include these issues in the countries' individual commitments. This thesis is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter gives a historical analysis of the Philippines' journey toward trade liberalization in an increasingly globalizing world economy. The early stages of the country's trade liberalization program were plagued by a fundamental problem: the policies at the macro-economic level conflicted with the goal of liberalization, for they were hinged on an unsustainable level of foreign borrowing and on domestic politics of corruption and exploitation of human resource. The second chapter analyses the APEC objectives of free trade and the Philippines' trade liberalization commitments within that forum. It is argued that the country's bold and unilateral initiatives toward the fulfillment of the Bogor Declaration are unsustainable because of the government's misplaced fundamentals of competitiveness and lack of social support measures. The third chapter is a theoretical review of the linkage between the social clause and the liberal trading order with references to the North-South divide. It is argued that given a basically similar rationale — rejection of protectionism and of exploitation of labor — there could be an alternative path between the two opposing camps through which labor rights can be discussed and considered in a regional trade forum. The concluding chapter explores the different ways with which the labor movement can tap the human development and sustainable development aspects of the APEC forum. There is a need to develop and utilize a counter-consciousness in policy making which will inject a critical approach to the Philippines' ardent drive to attain global competitiveness. It is concluded that there is a possibility of creating a political space for non-government organizations (NGOs), private organizations (POs) and social movements to meaningfully participate in the APEC process and help in safeguarding social concerns, particularly labor rights.

碩士
銘傳大學
國際事務研究所碩士班
97
Due to the rapid rising of East Asian regionalism and the proliferation of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) how do thy create an impact upon the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) and East Asian regional integration. The approach of this thesis is a perspective of the New Regionalism? Concerning the methodology, this research adopts a comparative study between the APEC and ASEAN+X from “regionalization”, “the institutional cooperation among governments”, and” regionness” (region consciousness) perspectives by applying the New Regionalism theory. The assumptions of this research are trying to figure out the following: (1) Does the rapid rising of East Asian regionalism benefit or undermine the development of Asia-Pacific regionalism? Are East Asian regionalism and Asia-Pacific regionalism ripe for rivalry or ripe for cooperation in the region? (2) What is the implication of the emergence of ASEAN+X? (3) How does “regionness” (region consciousness) play in the process of regional integration? And, how does it influence the development of East Asian regionalism and Asia-Pacific regionalism? The findings are as follows: (1) Both APEC and ASEAN+X is part of the process toward the Asia-Pacific integration. There is no "zero-sum" perspective between the two. (2) From the regionalization perspective, both APEC and ASEAN+X show deep de facto integration rather than the de juro one. The diversity among the APEC economies implicates that it implied a wish to engage in economic integration of the difficulty in the future. (3) From the institutional cooperation perspective, the feature of Asia-Pacific integration is totally different from the European one. It shows an informal, unanimous, and weak regional decision-making mechanism. The ASEAN + X mechanisms are represented by the meaning of "openness" and "maintain flexibility", namely each ASEAN+X mechanism is the one of process toward the Asia-Pacific integration. Concerning the initiation of FTAAP, the United States still plays a critical role but at the same time it needs to overcome the East Asian regionalism or regional identity within the region, as well as the compatibility of APEC property questions（4）From the regionness (region consciousness) perspective, to whether the "Community" construction of indicators for monitoring, the recognition within the East Asia sub-region is far better than APEC region. Besides, in terms of the ASEAN Charter, the harmony with the “ASEAN way” and the lack of clear sanctions are the major challenge in the future.

碩士
淡江大學
國際事務與戰略研究所
91
This paper analyses the evolution of trade flows within the Asia-Pacific region, noting the steadily increasing intra-regional trade intensity within East Asia. Despite the financial crisis, Asia-Pacific region has the potential to become the locomotive of world economic growth in the 21st century. The paper first reviewed the increasing worldwide tendency towards regionalism, and discussed the current status of economic integration in East Asia. It then analyzed the regionalism in East Asia, providing rationale and reasons for the belatedness and for the newly emerging interests in regionalism in East Asia. Main findings of the paper are as follows.First, the world economy has been experiencing a co-existence of multilateralism and regionalism especially since the mid-1980s, and is expected to do so as long as multilateralism fails to provide enough incentives for the trading nations to refrain from regionalism. However, there seems to be no definite answer at the moment to the question whether or not the increasing regionalism will be detrimental to multilateral integration of world economy. Second, although East Asian countries have long been relatively immune from this increasing regionalist tendency, they begun to adopt regional integration agreements as a policy option next to multilateralism. This new development in East Asia, especially in APEC and ASEAN blocs, may imply an additional burden onto the multilateral integration of the world economy. As the sub-region Northeast Asia plays a very crucial role in economic integration within East Asia, an inclusion of three big economic powers — Japan, Korea and China — seems imperative, in case any kind of economic groupings in the region are to be discussed or negotiated. Third , in the light of the important role of the Northeast Asian countries and in conjunction with the lacking appropriate coordination scheme among them within APEC and ASEM, the paper identified the formation of Northeast Asian FTA as a strategic alternative. This is also regarded as an excellent first step towards a more ambitious goal of establishing an APEC-wide FTA.Notwithstanding the necessity for East Asia to form any kind of regional economicintegration bodies, the paper argues against a one -sided regionalist approach, which will imply another large -scale regional bloc next to the EU in Europe and NAFTA in North America, and thus be detrimental to multilateralism. Therefore, the Asia-Pacific countries are rather encouraged to adopt an approach striking balances between regionalism and multilateralism.

碩士
國立政治大學
外交學系
104
Since 1989 APEC was established, the function, role and the influence of APEC has been widely disputed. The United States, as the hegemony in economic, military and political aspects, has been cooperating or dominating with the Asia-Pacific countries in various ways for the past a quarter-century. The establishment of APEC was the first organization in cooperating Asia-Pacific affairs and it operates until now for 25 years. This master thesis analyzes the United States’ foreign policy towards APEC from 1989 to 2014 by historical, international and institutional levels. In historical level, it analyzes by the following, Bush Administration, Clinton Administration, G.W. Bush Administration, and Obama Administration that seeing the challenges they faced and their policy towards APEC. In international level, it considers the U.S.’ interactions with the other main actors in Asia-Pacific, for instance, Japan, Australia, Mainland China, and the regional trading blocs, NAFTA, ASEAN, RCEP, and TPP countries. At the end, in institutional level, it compares the APEC institution and regime with the U.S.’ proposal for the past 25 years that how the U.S. changed or failed to APEC regime. As for the research result, it discovers the U.S.’ strategy to boost trade opportunities and economic growth on APEC and to seek Pacific countries’ support to establishing world trade regime. During the 1990 to 2000, the U.S. is the only hegemony in Asia-Pacific region and actively promoting new trade regulations. However, due to the APEC’s unique “Consensus” institution, the U.S. failed to achieve several goals in APEC. After 2000, the Mainland China’s economic capability grows rapidly, catching many countries’ attention. In order not to fall behind, many countries such as Southeast Asian countries formed a collision and signed many FTAs with Asia-Pacific countries that the U.S. was forced to focus on TPP and FTAAP issues. Perhaps, APEC is not the organization that the U.S. can dominate or lead, but the APEC institution has its own value that the U.S. still care.

Ad hoc social movement coalitions are made up of diverse groups that come together to maximise the use of limited resources. Once formed, they face a dilemma. Coalition logic holds that given the limited time frame and instrumental objectives of the organisation, resources should be disproportionately invested in the visible sphere of action. However, this instrumental emphasis ignores the need to invest resources in the 'submerged' sphere of membership intercommunication. As a result tensions which have their root in divergent ideologies, traditions and histories of resistance can threaten the coalition's collective identity. This thesis is about one such organisation, the No! To APEC (NTA) coalition, one of three groups that made up the movement to oppose the APEC Economic Leader's Meeting in Vancouver held in November 1997. NTA, made up of small leftwing grassroots groups, built a campaign around resistance to "imperialist globalisation." It organised community education, an international conference and a march and rally. Although it succeeded in meeting its objectives, a fracture occurred between the largest and most consolidated member group and the other unconsolidated grouping made up of individuals and representatives of small organisations. The fracture caused a disconnection between the local and the international priorities set by the organisation at its outset. In this study I examine the process that led to this outcome. In particular I identify the importance of establishing a capacity for reflexively monitoring the actions and interactions of members. While consensus is not a pre-requisite for solidarity, disputes arising from different perspectives and membership tactics may jeopardise organisational unity. Providing a limited space for evaluating conflicting validity claims and organisational dynamics may help to preserve unity during the active phase of a coalition's mobilisation. The methods used to obtain data for this study were participant observation and interviewing. I spent six months as an activist-researcher with the coalition and I interviewed activists from the three main APEC opposition groups. Although the main focus of this study is on the political and organisational evolution of the NTA coalition, I broaden the discussion to argue that ad hoc coalitions play an important role in generating 'social capital' or 'social movement connectivity.' Social solidarity generated in the course of short-term political action increases the potential for further action mobilisation in social movement networks and communities. In the final part of the thesis I review literature on globalisation and social movements. Combined with what has been learned about coalitions in the previous chapters, this exercise provides a context for examining the APEC opposition movement and, by extension, the prospects for building transnational movements and a counter-hegemonic historical bloc against imperialist globalisation.