ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, particularly the establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in the 1990s. It looks at the reasons for the formation of AFTA and discusses the relevance of the integration theorizing, considering the case at hand. The chapter examines the concept of economic integration in the light of the case at hand, ASEAN and its free trade area. Free trade areas are treated applying the standard economics text book presentation of the concept of integration. Integration studies have long traditions within two major disciplines, international economics and political science. In international economics, integration is explained by the aim of countries at increasing welfare through trade creation. The ASEAN countries are, in economic terms, significantly behind Europe and also constitute a economically heterogeneous group of countries.
