The Free Trade Area of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a failure, says New York attorney Hafez. He says that at best, its trade liberalization and integration efforts are
a limited success, but though its leaders portray it as a triumph and Western academicians and practitioners consider the member countries to be aggressive free traders, they are not free
traders at all, at least not among themselves. Finding Asian analysis lacking detail and sweepingly complimentary, and Western analysis limited to political aspects and the Asian financial
crisis, he offers his own evaluation of regional trade integration in Southeast Asia under the regime. The study is based on his 2003 doctoral dissertation in law for George Washington
University. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
