Material Interests and Social Norms: Regional Economic Integration in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Ever since the early 1990s, the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have deepened regional economic integration, advancing the main programs from the creation of an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) to the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). This article identifies underpinning factors that have qualified ASEAN's such efforts for regional economic integration. In particular, it highlights the evolving perception of material interests due to external environments and socially shared norms as factors influencing ASEAN's efforts to promote economic integration. I argue that external threats deriving from moves towards stronger regionalism in other parts of the world or the rapid economic growth of the neighboring countries induced ASEAN members to strengthen their own regional economic cohesion. In addition, ASEAN's particular set of norms, such as consensus-building, flexible incrementalism, and informality, were effective in drawing willingness from members with diverse differences to participate in cooperative programs. However, in the process of shifting from AFT A to the AEC, ASEAN members reconsidered some of these norms by adopting more formal implementation methods, including stronger dispute settlement mechanisms.