ABSTRACT
Established on 8 August 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is arguably the most successful regional organization among developing countries. It currently comprises ten member states and a population of 600 million people, 8.8 per cent of the world population. In comparative perspective, and especially during the early 1990s when most ASEAN members collectively experienced an ‘economic miracle’ and became part of the East Asian development model, ASEAN was commonly perceived to be an alternative to the European model of regionalism. 2 This perception of ASEAN as a counter-model has been fuelled by ASEAN’s apparent success as a provider of regional security in Southeast Asia and beyond. Indeed, ASEAN is today heralded as the ‘most successful’ regional organization among developing states. Its security concept has drawn wide scholarly attention and theorization of the ‘ASEAN Way’ as a norm-guided security practice has provided important insights to theoretical debates in International Relations. 3 Map of membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203422496/84b35142-f16a-4630-bee6-7fa0ac57f848/content/map5_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
