HRD Policies and the Supra-State: A Comparative Analysis of EU and APEC Experience

In this chapter, we will compare briefl y the HRD strategies in the EU and APEC regions in terms of their substantive content and procedural approaches and off ers explanations for similarities and diff erences between the EU and APEC regions in terms of common drivers and diff erent contexts. Despite fundamental diff erences in the underlying economic objectives of the two approaches and in the means by which the HRD policies are developed, we will suggest there are important lessons from each that could provide opportunities for transfer of experience between the two regions. The APEC approach can gain from EU-style engagement with the trade unions and the EU approach can benefi t from APEC-style fl exibility, provided the European Social Model is not jeopardized in the process. (5th International Conference on Human Resource Development across Europe: International, Comparative and Cross-Cultural Dimensions of HRD, Limerick, Ireland, 2004)

CONTEXT

This chapter is based on a keynote speech that we gave at the 5th International Conference on Human Resource Development across Europe: International, Comparative and Cross-Cultural Dimensions of HRD, Limerick, Ireland, in 2004. It was a fi rst collaboration between specialists, respectively, in European Union Labor market policies and development, and in those same issues in the Asia-Pacifi c region. The collaboration was rooted in the specialists spending time in each other’s institutions over fi fteen years in a burgeoning international collaboration. It refl ected a mutual realization that this was a unique combination of regionally based knowledge, which would add a new dimension to international HRD discussion.