Flawed Asean needs to regain footing

Nearly six decades after its founding, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) finds itself back where it began - divided, uncertain, and vulnerable to the influence of major powers. Once hailed as a model for regional cooperation in the developing world, Asean now faces a crisis of purpose. Unless it can rediscover the unity and collective way forward that defined its early decades, Southeast Asia's flagship institution risks slipping into irrelevance.

- Thitinan Pongsudhirak

This photo, dated Nov 12, 2014, shows a police officer standing near the national flags of ASEAN countries during the 25th Asean Summit at the Myanmar International Convention Centre in Nay Pyi Taw. The political crisis and civil war in Myanmar have become a challenge for Asean after the Myanmar junta ignored Asean's peace plan.

(REUTERS)

Asean's first two decades were marked by pragmatic unity. Born amid Cold War rivalries and regional instability, the grouping managed to strike a delicate balance between national sovereignty and collective purpose. Its guiding principles - noninterference in domestic affairs of fellow member states and consensus-based decision-making - kept peace within the bloc and allowed each other to focus on economic development.

By the 1990s, Asean had transformed itself into a regional leader. It helped launch the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in 1989, created the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) in 1992, and established the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994 to promote dialogue and security cooperation. Even after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Asean pressed on with new initiatives such as Asean Plus Three and, later, the East Asia Summit in 2005 - a bold attempt to include all major Indo-Pacific powers under one diplomatic umbrella.

This was the high point of what became known as "Asean Centrality" - the idea that the region's strategic balance revolved around Asean-led mechanisms and the grouping's convening authority. The formation of the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) in 2006 and its expanded ADMM-Plus in 2010 underscored Asean's role as the convener and consensus-builder of Asia's security architecture.