Asia's four regionalisms (Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and East Asia): a view from multilateral treaties of the United Nations

This study presents a quantitative framework to analyze the engagement of four Asian sub-regions with global issues through their participation in multilateral treaties across various policy areas. The research investigates the speed of Asian states' involvement in multilateral treaties and their adaptation to these treaties within the United Nations system over time. A dataset of 600 major multilateral treaties was used, along with ratification data from 28 Asian countries categorized into four sub-regions. A Treaty Participation Index (TPI) was developed to measure states' engagement. The study provides quantitative findings for comparative analyses of multilateral treaty participation among the four Asian sub-regions and between Asia and the rest of the world, assessing the feasibility of these four regionalisms in the context of global politics.

Lien Thi Quynh Le, Dung Quoc Ho, Takashi Inoguchi