The second volume of a major study of the political economy of the region by La Trobe University Professor of Politics, Joseph Camilleri, sifts evidence to seek answers to this question - and its impact on Australia's future. Launched late last year and titled Regionalism in the New Asia-Pacific Order, the book was published simultaneously in Britain and the United States by Edward Elgar.

The first volume, States, Markets and Civil Society in Asia Pacific, appeared in 2000. It explained the complex geopolitical, economic and socio-cultural factors which have dramatically changed the Asia-Pacific region over the past few decades.

The new book, completing a seven-year Australian Research Council funded project, focuses on numerous attempts at 'institution-building'. Included are well-known regional organisations such as ASEAN, APEC and the ASEAN Regional Forum, as well as the Asia-Europe Meeting, the Korean Energy Development Organisation, and the Council for Security and Cooperation in the Asia Pacific.

These and other regional initiatives are surveyed for what they reveal of changing political, economic and cultural trends in Asia Pacific and beyond. The study poses three key questions:

The first relates to the future shape of the region. Professor Camilleri says there are two competing possibilities: 'Asia Pacific' (linking Asia with the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and 'Pacific Asia' (a region comprised primarily, if not exclusively of East Asian countries, with China and Japan vying for leadership).

The second is whether this region has already developed, or is on the verge of developing, a distinctive approach to security and co-operation. It asks: is there an 'Asian way'?

Finally, the book examines whether regional institutions, old and new, promise a path for dealing with the challenges that confront this part of the world - not only traditional inter-state rivalries, but terrorism, human rights violations, environmental degradation, refugee flows, trans-national crime and disease epidemics.

Launching the book at the Australian National University, Professor Des Ball from the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, described the study as 'an intellectual tour-de-force' that provides 'the benchmark for auditing current and prospective developments with respect to regional security co-operation.'

A review of the book in the New Straits Times (Malaysia) said the 'underlying thesis in Camilleri's two-volume enterprise is in what he refers to as the 'triadic connection between state, market and civil society'.

'Separation or connection between state, market and civil society goes to the heart of policy differences between Australia and its neighbours, at times giving rise to acrimonious exchange,' the paper said.