Abstract:

This study aims to analyze the main motivations that led the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to adopt a community-building goal in the political-security and economic fields, the content of the community goal, and the general situation in practice. The dynamics that led ASEAN to adopt the community goal were the fact that ASEAN remained weak in the face of regional problems in the 1990s and the will of the member states for a more comprehensive ASEAN cooperation. With the goals of the political-security and economic community, ASEAN aimed to ensure regional security, combat non-traditional security threats, eliminate the gap in economic development between member countries, and achieve economic liberalization. With the goal of community, ASEAN demonstrated a strong will to develop a common stance against regional problems and diversify cooperation areas. In practice, however, in the political-security field, ASEAN remained ineffective in the South China Sea and Preah Vihear disputes and failed to tackle non-traditional security threats comprehensively. On the other hand, in terms of economy, ASEAN achieved positive economic growth, decreased tariffs, and reduced the economic development gap between ASEAN-6 and Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar (VLCM). From this point of view, although there were problems in both areas of cooperation, this study concludes that in the community-building process, the economic field in the ASEAN regionalism was relatively more successful than in the political area.