European integration through the eyes of ASEAN: Rethinking Eurocentrism in comparative regionalism

In the research field of comparative regionalism, divergent positions on how to frame the EU are a major obstacle to constructing a general theory of regionalism. Put simply, this is the issue of whether or not to treat the EU as a model. However, there has been no systemic study on how non- EU regionalisms have subjectively framed the EU in actuality. Have other regions held the EU as a model? This paper elucidates how ASEAN has perceived European integration and what factors have brought changes to that perception by using a variety of sources. Entering the 1990s, ASEAN came to see the EU as a model for its accelerated movement toward economic integration, also perceiving the need to increase institutionalization. This finding suggests that to call for a break with EU-centrism betrays a somewhat distorted view of actual conditions