16 Europe? Reflections on the EU

its members. With more than five decades of successful integration, it now seeks to export its norms of peace and stability as part of its globalization agenda, incorporating good governance, human rights and democratization in dialogues and agreements. Its experience of interstate cooperation has thus motivated it to place these issues firmly on its international agenda. The EU’s promotion of goals of international governance, social model(s) andtradenormsformspartofitsmultilateralcommitmentsandinternational diplomacy. Furthermore, the EU aspires to be a civilian power (Manners, 2006) or soft power (Nye, 2004) and is actively promoting its experiences of integration to other parts of the world as having salience for other countries. This chapter draws on some scholarly comparative literature regarding the EU as a putative paradigm of regional integration. It examines arguments in favour of the EU as a model and illustrates the problems that these raise. It discusses why there remains considerable interest in the idea of the EU as a model for East Asia. Finally, it presents the case for caution in establishing a research agenda regarding the EU as a model of integration. Transformations wrought by cross-border cooperation and the surrender of sovereignty by the volition of the member states have rendered the EU experience distinctive, so it is important to be circumspect in regarding the EU as an integration paradigm externally. Reiterer (2005, p. 2) argues that the EU, despite setbacks, has spurred regionalism worldwide, as it has successfully illustrated that regionalism can be ‘instrumental in overcoming historical animosities, in embedding democracy and the rule of law and in guaranteeing regional security’, and, in turn, fostering stability and inspiring regional integration movements worldwide . It can also be argued that regional integration is a means of confronting and even managing globalization, as integrated economies maintain some control over their affairs. Interdependence provides a means for national economies to retain some, albeit