Abstract:
Scholars who study regional affairs have mostly focused on both materially- and
ideationally-oriented analyses while concentrating primarily on their institutional
dimensions. Existing literature on a wide range of examples from regional
organizations and their institutional practices suggests that normative engagements
have become increasingly important for regional affairs. Somehow, little attention has
been paid to systematically analysing distinct and patterned normative practices that
have been embedded in regional organizations. Therefore, it is important to explore
such normative practices adopted by regional entities through a contextual and
systematic academic inquiry. This involves investigating how regions regulate the
behavior of their members by adopting normative frameworks and what patterns and
distinct features are identifiable from such practices. In this context, the ‘ASEAN
Way’ attributed to the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) offers
useful insights to understand how regions have been distinctively shaped and
regulated by normative frameworks. Specifically, the ‘ASEAN Way’ is a unique style
of conducting regional affairs and it can be broadly understood as a code of conduct
for states to interact with each other and make decisions based on consultations and
consensus. In other words, the ‘ASEAN Way’ is a normative process of conducting
interactions through which the existing political tension, mistrust, and historical
confrontations among ASEAN members are strategically overlooked by informal and
flexible institutional procedures. Therefore, this paper argues that the ‘ASEAN Way’
can be treated as a distinct model of conducting regional affairs and has important
implications for other regional organizations to enhance their normative practices.
