Featuring: Dr. Amitav Acharya, Professor of International Relations, School of International Service, American University

Asia has yet to create a multilateral regional architecture similar to that of the European Union or NATO. Why has Asia, and in particular Southeast Asia, avoided such multilateral institutions? Most accounts focus on U.S. interests and perceptions or intraregional rivalries to explain the design and effectiveness of regional institutions in Asia such as SEATO, ASEAN, and the ASEAN Regional Forum. Professor Amitav Acharya's new book, Whose Ideas Matter? Agency and Power in Asian Regionalism, is the first book to explore the diffusion of ideas and norms in the international system from the perspective of local actors, with Asian regional institutions as its main focus. Professor Acharya will discuss his book, examining the ideas of Asian policymakers toward regional integration and their response to the global norms of sovereignty and nonintervention.

Filmed and produced on Thursday, October 8, 2009, at East-West Center in Washington by Aaron Siirila and Grace Ruch.