The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expanded its membership to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) in the late 1990s. The process of ASEAN pre-membership did not require equalizing the differences between old and new members regarding the issues of economic development and political systems. CLMV's political systems vary from military, socialism, to authoritarian democracy, and their economies are placed under the low-income grouping. The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of ASEAN enlargement on economic integration after accepting CLMV in both economic and political perspectives.
This research study has attempted to balance the quantitative and qualitative analyses to explain two sides of economic integration. First, the study statistically tested the impact of ASEAN enlargement on intra-ASEAN trade. The statistical results from the gravity model show that Vietnam has significantly participated in intra-ASEAN trade whereas Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar have also illustrated their increasing role in intra-ASEAN trade.
Second, a regional institution is the key variable in the qualitative part for understanding the causes of weak policy coordination and the political impediments to economic integration in ASEAN, which is framed under theories of liberal intergovernmentalism and neo-liberal institutionalism. Three stages of the analysis are identifying the preferences of the new members, explaining the changes and continuities in ASEAN institution, and examining policy coordination in the cases of AFTA and AIA. The analysis has shown that ASEAN has low policy coordination in economic integration.
This research warns ASEAN to improve its institutional performance in order to facilitate higher economic integration in the long run. CLMV can enjoy a phenomenon of economic growth and a higher degree of regional trade, whereas the old members have also clearly amplified their economic activities with the new members. However, without the development of ASEAN institution, the significance of intra-ASEAN trade may not be sustained because there is no guarantee that members will keep their commitment to the AFTA scheme and other regional policies. Also, ASEAN will need a more sophisticated mechanism to deal with problems such as customs, standardization, harmonization, mutual recognition arrangements, and other non-tariff barriers in the future.
