ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the formation and institutional evolution of ASEAN and the ARF. In particular, it analyses the associative experience of both institutions. In discussing multilateralism1 in Southeast Asia and the AsiaPacific, ASEAN and the ARF are referred to as inter-state arrangements that seek to address the climate of international relations through the vehicle of dialogue as opposed to problem solving. As examples of cooperative security, both institutions are promoting the notion of security cooperation ‘with others’ as opposed to ‘against others’.2 ASEAN is a diplomatic association for political and security cooperation that concentrates on conflict avoidance and management, driven initially by the goal of regional reconciliation. The ARF is a more extensive inter-governmental grouping, which focuses on dialogue and confidence-building measures as a first step in promoting cooperative security. As examples of the latter, both cooperative security regimes may be viewed as regional attempts to move beyond the traditional concept of the balance of power despite the fact that cooperative security was developed with the object of complementing existing bilateral alliances of Cold War provenance.
