How Great Power Rivalry Shapes ASEAN-centric Multilateralism: Evolution and Prospects

Abstract

While historically providing ASEAN with both normative and strategic justifications for initiating “inclusive” multilateralism in the wider Asian region, great power rivalry has also functioned as a major impediment to the progress of ASEAN-led institutions beyond “dialogue” forums. In the age of fierce great power rivalry, these institutional properties have inevitably made ASEAN-led institutions become major fora for the “soft balancing” games of the great powers.