Asian Regionalism and ASEAN

Since its inception, ASEAN has been widely regarded as the most successful regional organization in Asia and among the most durable groups in the developing world.

ASEAN itself has had a history of ups and downs. Written off by many analysts when it was formed in 1967, ASEAN survived many challenges, such as the bitter disputes between Malaysia and Philippines, the shock of the British and American withdrawals form the region and the communist victories in Indochina.

But the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia galvanized into action, as it played an increasingly prominent role in the management of the Cambodia conflict.

This in turn helped to consolidate internal unity and fostered external recognition.

In the 1990's, following the settlement of the Cambodia conflict, ASEAN moved to a new stage in its evolution, by expanding its membership and extending its institutional model to anchor a wider Asia Pacific regional institution- building.

But by the end of the decade, ASEAN had suffered major setbacks, especially from the economic crisis in 1997.

Since the late 1990's, ASEAN has found it increasingly difficult to cope with new challenges. Its limitations in adapting to a more globalized security environment while sticking to traditional principles such as non-interference became increasingly apparent in the latter part of the 1990's.

Its weak response to the Asian economic crisis in 1997, growing interstate tensions between Singapore and Malaysia, and Thailand and Burma, and its unwillingness to address the political crisis in Burma has cost it a good deal of international support and goodwill.

Debates range over its prospects as a regional organization. but when compared against the record of other regional groups in the developing world, and viewed counterfactually in terms of a region without ASEAN regionalism, ASEAN has been a remarkably positive example of Third World regionalism.

The volumes will include journal articles, book chapters, pamphlets and short monographs and excerpts from major books on the various themes identified above.