ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the origins and development of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) as a multilateral security framework in the Asia-Pacific region. It focuses on the changing international and regional contexts within which the ARF has been evolving since its creation in 1994. It also accounts for the initial agenda of ASEAN in setting up the Forum and sets out its central leadership role. Beyond highlighting the scope of security issues covered in the ARF’s formative years, the chapter also looks into the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States and that of the 10/12 Bali bombing on the ARF as a cooperative security framework. In this regard, it asks to what extent these two events have forged a higher level of security cooperation among participating states in dealing with the problem of terrorism. The chapter also addresses the important milestones in ARF’s institutional development since 2003, such as the creation of the ARF Unit and ARF Fund. To what extent has the ARF changed over the last 15 years? What issues remain the same? What are the challenges and constraints to the ARF’s institutionalization in general and to its evolution towards the preventive diplomacy stage in particular? These are questions that this chapter attempts to answer.
