ASEAN and the logic of collective action
The ten member states of ASEAN aspire to “One Vision, One Identity, One Community.” Their foreign ministers meeting in Laos this July demonstrated again how far the distance is between goal and reality. Like the European Union, the regional organization of Southeast Asia is pulled apart by the divergent interests and priorities of each member. ASEAN’s many cultures and political systems are much more variegated than those in the EU; wealth differences are also much greater. The Europeans differ somewhat in their responses to the threat posed by an expansionist Russia, but ASEAN states are even more divided as they confront a rising China.
