Politics of Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Cooperation

This paper discusses the political motivations behind the evolution of economic cooperation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from its founding to the measures agreed upon to integrate its economy. Those measures include the reduction and elimination of tariffs on and the removal of nontariff barriers to intra‐ASEAN trade, customs reform, the harmonization of product standards, the liberalization of trade in services, and the strengthening of transportation links. The paper analyzes the failure to fully carry out those commitments, ascribing it partly to domestic political obstacles. Finally, it discusses the efficacy of the ASEAN Charter in this regard and the prospects of achieving an ASEAN Community by 2015.     

Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Integration: Developments and Challenges

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 for geopolitical reasons, but faced with the competitive threat from the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Single Market, it embarked in 1992 on the ASEAN Free Trade Area in goods, followed by liberalization of services trade and investment flows. A subsequent competitive threat from the rise of China and India led to the ASEAN Economic Community in 2003, targeted at creating a single market and production base and a competitive region with equitable economic development and integrated with the global economy. The ASEAN Economic Community is not quite a common market as it allows for only freer flows of capital and free flows of skilled labor. ASEAN's economic diversity led to difficulties with implementation and the need to narrow the development gap. ASEAN's dependence on global markets and investors led to the emphasis on open regionalism, support of the World Trade Organization, and free trade agreements with its major trade and investment partners.