Citation

Thearith L. Cambodian J. Int. Affairs 2009; 2(1): 39-59.

Affiliation

Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The formation of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967 was mainly a response to the security needs of its members in the wake of the armed confrontation (konfrontasi) between Indonesia and Malaysia and the communist expansion in the region. In other words, the association’s members have an expectation of effectively preventing the outbreak of armed conflicts in the region and providing its members the support against the external threats. However, whether or not ASEAN has really met the above-mentioned expectations of its members since its creation till present is still debated among scholars today. This paper, therefore, attempts to answer the above question by examining the roles of ASEAN in meeting these needs of its members. The study concludes that ASEAN did meet the above security needs of its members since its birth until 1989. On the contrary, from the early 1990s, ASEAN has failed to meet the security needs due to changing dynamics of power structures in the region. This suggests that ASEAN has to make some institutional reforms; otherwise, it will wither and even become irrelevant in the course of time.