Review: Explaining Asean
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200305800320 |
| Author | David Capie |
| Published date | 01 September 2003 |
| Date | 01 September 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
outside
of
Europe.
Meanwhile, the
book
casts
no
light
on
how
govern-
ments
can
manage
the
shifting
values
of
dollar,
euro
and
yen,
or how
they
can
at
least
develop
the
best
policy
response.
Nicholas
Bayne/London
School
of
Economics
EXPLAINING
ASEAN
Regionalism
in Southeast
Asia
Shaun
Narine
Boulder:
Lynne
Rienner,
2002,
24
8pp,
US$55.00,
ISBN
1-58826-129-8
Explaining
ASEAN
explores
the
origins,
development and perfor-
mance
of
the
Association
of
Southeast
Asian
Nations
(ASEAN).
Long lauded
as
one
of
the
few
successful
examples
of
regionalism
in
the
developing
world,
ASEAN
has faced
tough
times
since
the
onset
of
the
1997
Asian
economic
crisis.
Its
membership
has
grown
to include
all
10
Southeast
Asian
states,
but
at
a
considerable
cost
in
terms
of
its
coherence,
reputation and
influence.
Shaun Narine
argues
that
there
are
two
dominant
interpretations
of
ASEAN
in
the
academic
literature.
One
school,
constructivism,
holds
that
ASEAN
is
an
"imagined
community"
of
Southeast
Asian
states.
These
scholars
argue
that
shared
norms,
values
and
practices
have,
over
time,
socialized
ASEAN's
members
into
a
collective
regional
identity.
This
sense
of
community
helps
shape
the
national
interests
of
member
states.
The
second
view,
held
by
realists
and
proponents
of
the
"English
School,"
is
that
ASEAN
is
merely
an
instrument
designed
to
help its
members
pursue
narrow,
self-interested
goals.
These
scholars
believe
that
claims
about
a
Southeast
Asian
regional
community
are
palpable
nonsense.
Narine
thinks
that
the
truth
"lies
somewhere
between
these
polar positions,"
but,
in
his
view,
the latter
"is
slightly
closer
to
reality"
(p
1).
Narine
is
not
philosophically
opposed
to
the constructivists'
identity-
based
approach. He
accepts
that
a
fragile
regional
identity
does
exist,
but
argues
that
it
is
"far
less
important
to
individual
ASEAN
states
than
the
national,
ethnic
and other
identities
that
shape
their
domestic
polit-
ical
environment"
(p
3).
The
emphasis
ASEAN
elites
have
put
on state
building
explains
why they
have
been
unwilling
to
cede
sovereignty
and
forge
a
regional
institution
with
binding
rules
and
supranational
472
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL Summer
2003
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