Description
The intensifying United States (US)-China great power rivalry often forces small states into opposing dyads, with observers hypothesizing that the small Southeast Asian states would follow a similar pattern of fragmentation. What these debates often overlook, however, is the institutional design of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which allows these states to wield collective power to withstand shifting economic and political axes. In fact, a closer look at the bloc reveals how the ‘ASEAN Way’ provides practices, norms, and mechanisms that allow for flexibility and strategic autonomy, rather than simply being price takers in international politics. Through examining discourses, coordinated trade and foreign policy, and interviews with policymakers and civil society actors, we argue that the ASEAN plays an outsized role in shaping international relations. This paper also furthers the role of actors from the margins in the Global South in shaping international norms, aside from the role-model institutionalism, such as the European Union. Specifically, large states also seek the legitimacy of smaller states to affirm their position on the global hierarchy. Consequently, the great powers are also compelled to consider and abide by the bloc's normative preferences.