Content area
Full text
Explaining ASEAN: Regionalism in Southeast Asia. By Shaune Narine. Boulder, Colorado and London: Lynne Reiner Publishers, 2002. 237pp.
Much of the extensive literature on Asia's premier regional body is either uncompromisingly critical or advocacy disguised as analysis. This account of ASEAN's flaws and accomplishments is admirably balanced and refreshingly clear in its portrayal of an institution which has lasted far longer than sceptics anticipated but which has clearly reached an important crossroad in its evolution.
Narine addresses three main questions in his book: what accounts for ASEAN's longevity, how has the organization developed in the post-Cold War era, and what are its prospects. These are not new questions but Narine provides some perceptive insights into the dynamics of this unique regional association. He argues that although founded as a security organization, ASEAN's future viability will depend on the capacity of Southeast Asian governments to manage the economic challenges posed by intra-regional growth and globalization.
Much of the book is devoted to a historical analysis of ASEAN and documenting Narine's central thesis that there is an underlying tension between the strong attachment of its member-states to national sovereignty and the creation of a robust regional community. The primary reason for this tension is that "most of the ASEAN states remain deeply engaged in the process of state building; they are trying to create stable national identities out of many disparate domestic factions (p. 3)". Can this tension be resolved? Narine is sceptical. He concedes that ASEAN has been successful in establishing...