Abstract

This article investigates how colonial legacies shape integration processes within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Frequently compared to the European Union (EU), ASEAN has made notable progress in economic cooperation over recent decades, but faces criticism for its fragmentation and limited consensus on high-stakes political issues like South China Sea disputes, Myanmar’s crisis, and US-China rivalry. Additionally, ASEAN’s security cooperation remains sporadic, falling short of forming a cohesive security community. This article conceptualizes ASEAN as a “security community of the colonized states,” given nearly all its members were once under Western colonial rule—by powers such as Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States—during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This article identifies three key characteristics—lingering distrust, inherent flexibility, and being a group still in the making—that shape and influence ASEAN’s integration and consensus-building efforts, particularly regarding South China Sea disputes and US-China rivalry.