ABSTRACT
Northeast Asia remains today a discordant patchwork, a series of monotone political entities awkwardly stitched together to create a blanket that covers little of substance. A sense of disillusion surrounds Northeast Asia, because of both its political failures and the relative failure of Northeast Asia in comparison with other regions. Yet while these failings undoubtedly exist, and have become a truism over the past decade, this chapter will qualify that perception. Here we assert the importance of a different perspective with which to understand regional changes to Northeast Asia. The main contention the chapter offers is that progress in community building in Northeast Asia should not just be understood as being reflected in the emergence or otherwise of a better-integrated region, or by comparison with other integrative regional projects elsewhere in the world. While always maintaining a comparative perspective, it will emphasize that the historical context in Northeast Asia constitutes the basis for a more rounded understanding of where Northeast Asia stands today in terms of integration and community building. A closer attention to these regional geo-politics, rather than merely their geopolitics, offers opportunities to view the region in a more positive fashion.
