Interpreting ASEM: Interregionalism and the new materialism

The new multilateralist framework for the analysis of interregionalism is assessed. The value of a culturally pluralist and ethically informed ‘bottom‐up’ alternative to the currently hegemonic ‘top‐down’ system shaped by globalization is affirmed. However, it is argued that a thorough critique of existing capitalist institutions must precede any attempt to devise an alternative approach, and a new materialist alternative to the new multilateralism is advanced. Attention is drawn both to the changing role of the ASEM process in interregional politics, and the extent to which it functions as an auxiliary means of imposing at domestic level the disciplines identified by national regional managers as crucial to continued capitalist accumulation. ASEM is then analysed, following Cox, as a ‘problem‐solving’ institution intended to resolve some of the tensions inherent in regional and global capitalism. This involves identifying aspects of the ASEM process aimed at smoothing contradictions between national and interregional capitalist interests, and suggests that ‘problem‐solving’ requires both innovation and critical analysis. It is further suggested that the ASEM process is exploited by state leaders to reinforce the power of capital over labour in each region. In conclusion, the implications are considered for the generation of a strategic counter‐hegemonic programme which combines a common resistance to capital with a potential for sustaining a plurality of emancipatory movements with different ends.