ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the political economy of legalization in Asia, as seen through the dispute settlement provisions of Asia's Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) in what is largely the fourth and fifth waves of regionalism. It investigates the determinants of legalization in the dispute settlement mechanisms of PTAs. Legalization is reflected in the levels of obligation and delegation that include formal processes and binding resolutions. The chapter then examines the design of dispute settlement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Asian region's most recent "Mega Free Trade Area (FTA)". It also examines the extent to which the TPP advances legalization in the settlement of trade disputes. The chapter also engages Asia-specific arguments that emphasize informality and the aversion to legalization as exemplified in the "Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Way". The analysis controls for a host of alternative explanations for Asia's "aversion" to legalization found in the existing literature.
