| Abstract: | Abstract This article fills the void left by the existing literature that has failed to capture the utilities of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to the member states. From a rational institutionalist perspective, this article argues that the ARF is an institutional solution for a particular type of collective-action problem – the Assurance Game – that emerged in the post-Cold War Asia-Pacific region. In the Assurance Game, a weak and loose institution is sufficient because cooperation only requires efficient information transmission among players. This conception of the ARF finds empirical support in various features as well as the birth process of the multilateral institution. Thus, neither structural realists' skepticism nor constructivists' romanticism toward the ARF is warranted. |
