The “ASEAN Way” and Asian Regional Security¹

Abstract

This article considers a security community in Asia through looking at the “ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] way.” It examines the ASEAN way through dispute management tactics in Southeast Asia and argues that from the member-states’ perceptions and attitudes toward disputes, ASEAN’s approach is explained as a conflict management rather than resolution style. The approach involves limitations on ASEAN’s readiness to resolve disputes in practice as a collective regional body. ASEAN’s approach suggests the need for international relations theorists to consider ASEAN’s style without being conditioned by assumptions arising out of existing theories, recognizing the usefulness of a mode of security cooperation that reflects the region’s particular character. © 2017 Wiley. All rights reserved.