EAST, EU-Asia Security and Trade

EAST, EU-Asia Security and Trade, is an international research network with Jean Monnet funding from the European Commission, bringing together senior and junior researchers and think-tankers from three continents to analyse relations between the EU and the Asia-Pacific.

The EU and countries in the Asia-Pacific share a common interest in regional and global stability, and have emerged as strong advocates of globalisation and multilateralism. At the same time, this relationship is characterised by tension on issues such as market access, intellectual property and human rights, as well as deeper disagreements of state sovereignty and normative underpinnings of global governance. EAST studies two essential aspects of this relationship: Security and trade. With a broad mix of partners, the network will produce two edited volumes founded on collaborative work, and will share the output with a wide audience from both academia and policy-making.

PARTNERS

EAST is coordinated by a consortium of seven institutions, headed by Maastricht Univeristy. With four universities and three think tanks in two continents, and with both junior and senior scholars, EAST brings in diverse expertise to examine the increasingly important relations between the EU and Asia.

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RESEARCH

EAST consists of two research clusters. One cluster researches trade relations between the EU and Asia, as well as responses from the two region to global developments. The second cluster researches security relations between the EU and Asia, and compares responses to traditional and non-traditional security issues as well as bilateral relations between the EU and key Asian powers.

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EVENTS

EAST will host several conferences, an event dedicated to Early Stage Researchers and a series of final dissemination events. Two conferences will gather both security and trade experts based in Europe and Asia respectively, while the second two will gather all contributors within each research cluster to exchange findings and coordinate.

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PUBLICATIONS

The EAST network has resulted in the publication of two edited volumes. The volume on trade relations is edited by Johan Adriaensen and Evgeny Postnikov. The volume on security relations is edited by Thomas Christiansen, See Seng Tan and Emil Kirchner.

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