© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013 DOI: 10.1163/15700615-13120202 2013172 [EJEAS-2013-12.2] 003-Beeson-Stone-proof-01 [date 1311191501 : version 1311181630] page 1 EJEAS 12 (2013) 1–24 European Journal of East Asian Studies brill.com/ejea he European Union Model’s Influence in Asia ater the Global Financial Crisis Mark Beeson a and Diane Stone b a Murdoch University M.Beeson@murdoch.edu.au b Murdoch University and University of Warwick D.Stone@murdoch.edu.au, Diane.Stone@warwick.ac.uk Abstract he European Union (EU) has exerted a powerful influence over the international system. Oten overlooked is that this influence has not always operated in the manner the architects and admirers of the EU might have hoped. Instead, the diffusion of European norms and the policy transfer of the EU model of regional integration is mediated by triangular processes in Asia of (1) selective rule-taking, (2) translation and adaption, and (3) modifying external models with alternative indigenous visions and norms. Keywords please provide keywords Introduction For decades the European Union has represented the benchmark against which all other inter-governmental regional projects were measured. he EU has been a remarkably successful experiment in transforming the basis of inter-state rela- tions. Had this project remained confined to part of Western Europe it would still have represented an unprecedented transformation of transitional gover- nance in a region formerly steeped in conflict and a potential role model for the rest of the world. he key question we want to consider here is whether the EU was a model that could be emulated by other regions. More to the point, was the * he authors would like to thank the GR:EEN Consortium, the European Commission’s Framework Programme No. 7, non-matching quotation mark ‘Global Re-Ordering: Evolution through European Networks’ project that provided support for the development of this paper.