Asean as a potential actor in global governance: prerequisites, opportunities, and prospects

Abstract

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), established in 1967, is the oldest and the most developed regional grouping outside the Western world. In recent decades, it has claimed the right to become the driver of interregional cooperation and regional integration in the Asia-Pacific region. The concept of ASEAN centrality implies that ASEAN should possess a leading role in the processes of regional, and maybe also global, governance. However, whether ASEAN is capable of playing this role or not is up for debate. This paper deals with the issues of ASEAN subjectivity, and its ability (or inability) to take part in the processes of global governance. Preliminary analysis shows that there are some prerequisites for considering ASEAN as a potential actor of global governance. However, it is debatable if ASEAN is able (or is willing) to actualize its potential in order to share the responsibility for conducting global-level decisions with other members of the global community, and whether other states – not only the global leaders, but developing countries as well – will agree to accept the new global role ASEAN plays. At the moment, ASEAN cannot claim status as a full-fledged actor in global governance. Nevertheless, it can lobby its interests related to the solution of global problems (which affect Southeast Asia as well) through interregional structures that it created. It may be argued that ASEAN will not become a classic world power like the U.S., China, or Russia, but it still will be able to transform itself into a global center of gravity as the EU currently does. Therefore, ASEAN has every chance to become an actor in global governance one day in the future.