The ASEAN Way and Community Integration: Two Different Models of Regionalism

Abstract:  The aim of this article is to compare the EU and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as models of regional integration, while using the well-funded dichotomies of structural and functional analysis of international organisations. At their origin, the two organisations were very different by nature—the EU has always been a role model, or sometimes counter model, for the ASEAN. Today, their objectives and aims are more and more alike, although their structural and legal means remain very different. Finally, both organisations have to find their own way and justification in order to be accepted by their people and to be an active actor of a more globalised world.