ABSTRACT
The rise of China and the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States have raised major questions about the future stability and development of the East Asian region. It is a situation in we might expect the region’s other powers and the international institutions that they have collectively developed to play a more prominent role. And yet the record of achievement of East Asia’s inter-governmental organizations has been rather unimpressive, despite their growing number. Consequently, a key question explored in this chapter is whether East Asia’s institutions are capable of managing great power contestation at a time of mounting tension. As the title of this paper implies, in my view the answer to this question is no. To understand I initially trace the development of East Asia’s institutional architecture before considering how this may have had a debilitating effect on its capacity to influence the behavior of great powers from within and outside the region.
