The Asia-Europe Meeting: The Theory and Practice of Interregionalism : Routledge : 9780415540919 : 0415540917 : 14 Mar 2012 : Focusing on the economic, developmental, political and cultural issues of its member states, this book offers a critical assessment of the ASEM process since its inception in 1996, which now brings together all 27 EU members, the European Commission, and 16 East Asian states. The underlying theme of the book is that the Asia-Europe Meeting should be analyzed as an instance of international dialogue ? in this case, dialogue between two groups of states from two different regions - rather than as a manifestation of two regions acting jointly to perform specific functions at an 'interregional' level. The conclusion is that with the exception of the discussion on the fight against international terrorism and the cultural dialogue, the Asia-Europe dialogue rarely meets the ideal conditions for international dialogue. The way forward proposed by the book in the conclu