ABSTRACT
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) turned 50 years old in 2017. As the organisation prepares to celebrate its progress over the last half century, one key feature that often stands out which is seen to reflect its success as a regional organisation is its ‘centrality’. ASEAN officials, scholars and commentators within Southeast Asia and beyond have appropriated the concept of ‘ASEAN centrality’ to describe its achievement through the years in having earned a prominent place in the international stage and as a premier institution in the Asia Pacific. One the best examples of this type of compliment given to ASEAN was the statement of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who described ASEAN as ‘a fulcrum for the region’s [Asia] emerging regional architecture’. 1
