ABSTRACT
Two momentous events of the late twentieth century have underscored both the potential and the pitfalls of regionalism in shaping world order in the new millennium. The crisis over Kosovo hastened the decline of Westphalian sovereignty in the interstate system. The financial meltdown in Asia around mid-1997 highlighted the challenge to sovereignty in the global economy. In Kosovo, a regional alliance, NATO, led a successful assault against sovereignty after it had paralysed the UN’s hand in the crisis. The Asian crisis, on the other hand, indicated that regional institutions (in this case ASEAN) which stick to the principle of absolute sovereignty (and its corollary, the principle of non-interference) are poorly equipped to offer security against the onslaught of globalization.
