ABSTRACT
The past two decades have witnessed a tremendous increase in the scholarly attention paid to the European Union (EU)’s external relations as well as the nature of the union’s role in world politics. With an aim to contribute to the EU-as-a-power debate, this research explores how EU economic and market-related norms and policies have been promoted and received by taking the EU’s relations with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an empirical case study. Drawing on transnational diffusion literature, this paper seeks to bridge existing scholarly discussions on Normative Power Europe and Market or Regulatory Power Europe, offering a more nuanced understanding of subjects of the EU’s externalization, as well as the processes and effectiveness of the EU’s diffusion of market-related norms and regulatory approaches.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability
Supporting data available from the author upon reasonable request.
Notes
1. With regards to the level of analysis, the empirical investigation of this research focuses primarily on EU-ASEAN interregional policy initiatives. The EU’s trade relationship with ASEAN member states remains outside the scope of this paper.
2. Empirical studies of NPE have concentrated on EU promotion of socio-political norms such as human rights (Lerch and Schwellnus Citation2006), democracy (Pace and Seeberg Citation2013), labour rights (Orbie Citation2011), and sustainable development (Sicurelli Citation2020).
3. Interview with former EU diplomat in Singapore, 23 August 2017
4. Interview with DG Trade official, European Commission, Brussels. 3 April 2017; interview with deputy head of unit, DG Trade, European Commission, Brussels. 3 April 2017; interview with former deputy head of the EU mission to ASEAN, Beijing. 3 November 2017.
5. Interview with ASEAN desk officer EEAS. Brussels. 25 March 2017.
6. Interview with desk officer ASEAN and Afghanistan, Asia, Australia & New Zealand Unit European Parliament. Brussels. 17 February 2017.
7. Interviews with two senior officials in Department of External Relations and Department of Community Affairs at ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta. 29–30 August 2017
8. Interview with senior researcher in research institution, 9 April 2017.
9. ‘Mahathir strikes again, bats for common market among SE Asian nations’, Manila Standard, 16 October 1997.
10. Jake Lloyd-Smith (Citation2002).
11. Perlez (Citation2003).
12. See ASEAN Plus official website, available at: http://ariseplus.asean.org/projects/
13. See implementation framework of ASEAN single aviation market, available at: https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/images/archive/documents/111219-17th%20ATM_Agenda%20Item%208%20ASAM%20Implementation%20Framework.pdf
14. Interview with senior research fellow, EUISS. Brussels. 22 March 2017.
15. Interview with ASEAN desk officer DG Devco, European Commission. Brussels. 3 February 2017.
16. Interview with ASEAN desk officer EEAS. Brussels. 25 March 2017.
17. Details of ARISE Plus events can be found at the official website of ARISE Plus, retrieved on 18 December 2019(https://ariseplus.asean.org/events/).
18. Interview with senior researcher at research institution. Brussels. 9 April 2017; interview with senior researcher, ASEAN Studies Centre, ISEAS. Singapore.7 August 2017.
19. Interview with senior researcher at research institution. Brussels. 17 May 2017.
20. Interview with former Secretary-General of ASEAN. Singapore. 24 August 2017.
21. Interview with former ASEAN official. Singapore.7 August 2017.
22. Interview with senior official from Department of External Relations, ASEAN. Jakarta. 30 August 2017.
23. Interview with Director for Community Affairs, ASEAN. Jakarta. 29 August 2017.
24. Interview with senior official from Department of External Relations, ASEAN. Jakarta. 30 August 2017.
25. ARISE Plus, ‘Projects’ retrieved on 18 December 2019 (http://ariseplus.asean.org/projects/).
26. Interview with senior official from Department of External Relations, ASEAN. Jakarta. 30 August 2017.
27. Interview with former ASEAN official. Singapore.7 August 2017.
28. Interview with senior researcher at ASEAN Studies Centre, ISEAS. Singapore.7 August 2017.
29. Interview with former Secretary-General of ASEAN. Singapore. 24 August 2017.
30. Interview with senior official from Department of External Relations, ASEAN. Jakarta. 30 August 2017.