Today, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is in transition. Expansion from seven to ten members with the addition of Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia (forthcoming) will likely lead to growing pains focused primarily on the different stages of development of the new members relative to the old members. Furthermore, the Asian financial crisis is testing the organization’s mettle.
This volume of essays by seven Japanese economists and political scientists examines the long-term prospects of the ASEAN-10 economies and their relations with major trading partners. It also considers the meaning for Southeast Asia of the realization of the ASEAN-10 which for the first time will unite the entire region under one institution. International and domestic politics are important factors in considering ASEAN’s identity as a regional institution. Chapters deal with intra- and extraregional relations once the ASEAN-10 is realized; future relations between APEC and ASEAN; the prospects for intraregional economic interdependence and the impact on Japan; foreign direct investment and intraregional economic cooperation; changes in international financial flows among ASEAN countries; and the role of nonstate actors in ASEAN-10 community-building. The case of Vietnam’s industrialization and development is examined in the context of its membership in the ASEAN-10. The currency crises and financial instability that have spread throughout East Asia are considered along with other aspects of ASEAN and its changing role in the global picture.
Copublished with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies