<資料・研究ノート>ASEANの結成と地域協力 : 国際・国内政治からみた要因と誘因

Abstract

In spite of increasing interests in the current affairs of ASEAN, its formation in 1967 has been left unanalyzed since then. In fact, the formation of ASEAN not only paved the way for regional cooperation in Southeast Asia, it also established guidelines for the form and realization of that cooperation. In this sense, analyzing the formation process is of utmost importance to our understanding of what ASEAN did or did not do particularly in its early years, and of its methods and motives. This paper deals with ASEAN in the following three aspects : (1) building the necessary background for cooperation (armed conflict to reconciliation); (2) creating ASEAN (reconciliation to cooperation); and (3) converging member countries' standpoints on regional cooperation and expectations of ASEAN. In the analysis presented herein, the author attempts to answer such questions as (1) why did regional relations fundamentally change from conflict to cooperation within such a short period of time (a year and a quarter); (2) why did Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand agree (and why not others) to create a new organization instead of enlarging existing ASA; and (3) what were the incentives for the member countries to create ASEAN, and which were common and which were not? In conclusion, the five ASEAN countries indeed had different incentives to form ASEAN, but there were two common denominators : to enhance regional cooperation in any way, and to take regional security into account. The strongest force to create ASEAN was the implicit agreement among the five countries to evince mutually friendly and cooperative attitudes.