Introduction -- Definitions of key concepts: In search of a common language to facilitate cross-border coordination -- Mutual trust: A variable concept in facilitating cross-border cooperation in criminal matters -- Regional integration: Tailoring one's institutional and legal architecture -- The symbiotic relations between regional counter-terrorism arsenals and mutual trust: The different outcomes of the three tier vertical normative dialogues -- Sharing data with peers from the same region: A matter of mutual trust -- Finding a path thourgh multiheaded inter regional relations in counterterrorism: What place for mutual trust in the EU-ASEAN dialogue? -- Conclusion.

This book provides a detailed theoretical and practical analysis of a key concept in cooperation, namely mutual trust, in the EU and ASEAN regions. It particularly looks at the issue of counterterrorism. It analyses the differences in the legalistic approach of the EU and the consultation and consensus-based approach in the ASEAN region, and the correlation between mutual trust and regional and interregional cooperation against terrorism. Thereby, this book extends the well-known concept of counterterrorism in EU criminal law to another regional case in order to analyse its possible use and operationalisation in other regions. It provides important findings on whether and, if so, how the EU and ASEAN legal frameworks have facilitated intra-regional – and potentially interregional – cooperation. In order to measure trust, it focuses on information sharing, and discusses the terminology related to this matter, the mechanisms of cooperation, and the difficulties and successes of information sharing. This book is of great interest for academics doing research on trust, transnational cooperation, regional counterterrorism legal architecture in the EU and ASEAN, and comparative legal regional and interregional analysis, and officials and practitioners involved in transnational cooperation in criminal matters, especially terrorism.