Acharya, Amitav. "Asia is Not One". The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol.69, No.4 (2010): 1001-1013.

 Acharya, Amitav. "Asia is Not One". The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol.69, No.4 (2010): 1001-1013.

• The division of the Earth into regions, like Asia, is a social construct that draws dividing lines that are influenced by a combination of cultural notions and geographical barriers. This means that regions are fluid categories (1001).
• Four major conceptions of Asia existed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War: imperialist, nationalist, universalist, and regionalist. During the 1960s, a conception of Asian exceptionalism also began to emerge (1002-1003).
• The Imperialist notion of Asia had emerged during European and Japanese colonialism in the region, as the Great Powers conceived of Asia as a distinct region. This notion gained particular prominence in Japan, which sought to unify Asia into a single economic and political unit under its control (1003-1004).
• The Universalist notion of Asia held that Asian civilizations shared common cultural and spiritual ideas and ties, even if they were politically separate. Some of these notions also drew on conceptions of racial unity (1004-1005).
• The Nationalist notion of Asia emerged as an anti-colonial movement. It advocated an understanding of Asians as engaged in a common struggle against colonial domination. Although its projects supported national independence, they thought that these nations constituted a community with shared interests (1005-1006). 
• The projects of Asian nationalism that continued after independence were focused on preserving that independence and deterring foreign intervention. These initiatives, like the Bandung conference, attempted to guarantee rights to neutrality and peaceful coexistence. The proposed regional confederations changed size depending on the perceived threats, which sometimes included India, China, and Japan (1007-1008).
• This notion of Asia disintegrated almost immediately after independence, as the impetus for joining together had been removed. Since common defense was no longer needed, any projects for Asian unity were seen as detrimental to national sovereignty and as vehicles for Indian and Chinese domination (1006-1008).
• The Exceptionalist notion of Asia emerged in the 1990s after decades of unprecedented economic growth. This conception argued that Asian economic growth was due to cultural factors: thrift, industriousness, education, consensus, opposition to individualism, and obedience. These same cultural arguments were also invoked to argue against democracy and human rights improvements in Asia (1010-1011).
• This idea of Asian exceptionalism driven by cultural factors was especially popular in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong (1010). It suffered a major blow in 1997, when the Asian Financial Crisis dealt a severe blow to all of these countries (1011).
• During the 1960s, Southeast Asia took the lead in Asian unity as a result of the collapse of Chinese and Indian standing in the Pan-Asian movement due to intervention in other states and rivalry with Pakistan, respectively. Japan was prevented from participating by its colonial legacy (1008-1009).
• Initially attempts to unify Southeast Asia failed, with the Association of Southeast Asia of 1960 failing due the nonparticipation of Indonesia and the association of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines collapsing due to rising tensions between Indonesia and Malaysia and Sukarno's refusal to recognize Malaysian sovereignty (1009).
• All of these organizations referenced a common set of cultural and civilizational institutions that defined Asia, even though they only sought to include a subset of those countries in the organization (1009).
• The concept of the Asia-Pacific was created by Australian and Japanese academics during the 1950s and 1960s to describe the connections between the countries of the western Pacific that emerged during the high economic growth of those decades (1009).
• The creation of organizations to facilitate cooperation, especially economic cooperation, among the Asia-Pacific countries allowed Japan to reemerge in regional politics for the first time since the defeat of the Empire (1009).
• The idea of the Asia-Pacific was challenged by the countries of ASEAN, who believed that the grouping was designed to exclude developing nations in Asia. As economic interests in Southeast Asia and China increased, the existing Asian-Pacific organizations recognized the need to include these countries, culminating in the creation of APEC in 1989 (1010).
• In the 1990s, especially after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the notion of a distinct East Asian community gained support as trade with the region increased massively. Multiple organizations promoting cooperation in East Asia began to replace the larger Asia-Pacific groups, that also included countries like the USA and Canada (1011).
• The concept of an East Asian economic community has not eclipsed the Asia-Pacific economic community because of general fear of Chinese influence among other Asian nations and the continued importance of the United States in Pacific trade (1011). This aphrension about Chinese influence has meant that most 'East Asian' organizations still invite India, the USA, and Russia to balance out China (1011-1012).