ASEAN and the role of Asian regionalism in managing asymmetric power

Asia is host to some unique ideas and experiments in economic integration and international economic diplomacy. These are the product of thinking that emerged about increasing cooperation and integration at the end of the 1960s and developed through a range of regional projects. The consensus-building approach to economic cooperation and the idea of open regionalism, in particular, have been central in shaping the development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as broader regional arrangements in East Asia and the Pacific.

This chapter examines the success of this model in managing the region’s economic relations with the industrial powers and the challenges it now faces with the intensification of strategic competition between the United States and China.