Open AccessThinking regionally or nationally? The case of ASEAN
Author(s) -
Choon Yin Sam
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of advances in humanities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2349-4379
DOI - 10.24297/jah.v2i2.419
Subject(s) - globalization , southeast asian studies , political science , identity (music) , southeast asia , member states , relation (database) , development economics , international trade , economics , sociology , european union , law , ethnology , physics , database , acoustics , computer science
This paper analyzes the relation of states in the age of globalization with particular reference to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). For ASEAN, integration has been seen as a necessary step forward to reduce its reliance on the western countries and speed up the recovery process during times of crisis. The creation of the ASEAN Community represents a step towards achieving this goal. By drawing on the treatment of the haze problem, particularly the actions and reactions from Singapore and Indonesia, this paper argues that the notion of ASEAN identity is a fluid concept. Setbacks kick in when ASEAN member states (Singapore and Indonesia) act in response to national interest. Given the commonality of spats between the member nations, there is still much more to be done to form a regional identity within the ASEAN community.