Chapter 5 - Synthesis

Summary

Chapter 5 synthesises our analysis and identifies targeted normative reforms. ASEAN leaders will eventually need to defy political demands for protectionism to establish a stable foundation for economic growth as they harness the development potential within the ASEAN region. The inauguration of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) provides a golden opportunity for ASEAN members to deepen trade and investment liberalization among themselves to maximize the RCEP’s true potential: the synthesis of extra-ASEAN and intra-ASEAN economic flows. What seems essential in soliciting cooperation from ASEAN members is to gradually expand shared grounds and consolidate the ASEAN identity pronounced in the ASEAN Charter. By embracing a constructivist logic, ASEAN members need a new paradigm of integration based on trust and confidence in their common market project. Touting human agency and soft law, ASEAN leaders can rebalance domestic political economy and collective economic interests, thereby synthesizing global and regional (ASEAN) value chains and linking a single ASEAN market to the global market.