Summitry on the Regional Level: The ASEAN Summit and Regional Integration in Southeast Asia

Yıl 2026, Cilt: 19 Sayı: 1 , 1 - 17 , 30.04.2026

Samet Yılmaz

https://doi.org/10.37093/ijsi.1679810

https://izlik.org/JA78FR74WH

Öz

Summitry is a well-established form of interaction among states, which is conducted with various goals, such as addressing transnational issues, settling critical political disagreements, and forging an international order. Heads of state and government, competent persons to politically represent their states at the highest level, increasingly attend diplomatic relations and establish direct contacts with their counterparts thanks to the technological improvements in transportation and communication. They also gather on the regional level in an ad hoc manner or in the form of regular summits. In tandem with the intensification of regional interstate cooperation in an institutionalized way, summitry has become a considerable channel for the regional integration of states. In this sense, this study scrutinizes the consequences of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summits on the evolution of the Association from a historical and institutional perspective. Considering that ASEAN’s performance primarily hinges on the consensual will of its member states, the study principally asserts that regional summits in ASEAN’s institutional functioning have an extensive effect on the deepening and advancing regional integration in Southeast Asia.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Summitry , Regional Level , Regional Integration , Association of Southeast Asian Nations

Bölgesel Düzeyde Zirve Diplomasisi: ASEAN Zirvesi ve Güneydoğu Asya’da Bölgesel Bütünleşme

https://izlik.org/JA78FR74WH

Öz

Uluslar ötesi sorunların ele alınması, kritik siyasal anlaşmazlıkların çözümlenmesi ve uluslararası bir düzen oluşturulması gibi çeşitli hedeflerle tatbik edilen zirve diplomasisi, yerleşik bir devletler arası etkileşim biçimidir. Kendi devletlerini en üst düzeyde temsil kabiliyetine sahip kişiler olan devlet ve hükümet başkanları, ulaşım ve iletişim alanındaki teknolojik gelişmeler sayesinde, artan seviyede diplomatik ilişkilere katılmaktadır ve mevkidaşlarıyla doğrudan temaslar kurmaktadır. Ayrıca söz konusu yetkili kişiler, ad hoc veya düzenli olarak, bölgesel düzeyde bir araya gelmektedir. Devletler arası bölgesel iş birliğinin kurumsallaşmış bir çerçevede yoğunlaşmasıyla birlikte, zirve diplomasisi, devletlerin bölgesel bütünleşmesine yönelik önemli bir etkileşim kanalı haline gelmiştir. Bu kapsamda bu çalışma, Güneydoğu Asya Uluslar Birliği (Association of Southeast Asian Nations-ASEAN) zirvelerinin Birliğin evrimi üzerindeki sonuçlarını tarihsel ve kurumsal bir perspektiften incelemektedir. ASEAN’ın performansının öncelikle üye devletlerinin mutabakatıyla oluşan iradeye bağlı olduğu düşünüldüğünde, bu çalışma, ASEAN’ın kurumsal işleyişi içerisinde bölgesel zirvelerin Güneydoğu Asya’daki bölgesel bütünleşmenin derinleşmesi ve ilerlemesi üzerinde kapsamlı bir etkiye sahip olduğunu ileri sürmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Zirve Diplomasisi , Bölgesel Düzey , Bölgesel Bütünleşme , Güneydoğu Asya Uluslar Birliği

Kaynakça

• Acharya, A. (2007). The emerging regional architecture of world politics. World Politics, 59(4), 629-652. https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2008.0000 Acharya, A., & Johnston, A. I. (2007). Comparing regional institutions: An introduction. In A. Acharya, & A. I. Johnston (Ed.), Crafting cooperation: Regional international institutions in comparative perspective (pp. 1-31). Cambridge University.
• ASEAN (1967). The ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration). 8 August 1967. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://agreement.asean.org/media/download/20140117154159.pdf
• ASEAN (1976a). Joint Communique: The First ASEAN Heads of Government Meeting Bali, 23-24 February 1976. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/joint-communique-the-first-asean-heads-of-government-meeting-bali-23-24-february-1976/
• ASEAN (1976b). The Declaration of ASEAN Concord. Bali, Indonesia, 24 February 1976. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/the-declaration-of-asean-concord-bali-indonesia-24-february-1976/
• ASEAN (1976c). Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia Indonesia. 24 February 1976. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/treaty-of-amity-and-cooperation-in-southeast-asia-indonesia-24-february-1976/
• ASEAN (1977). Joint Communique: The Second ASEAN Heads of Government Meeting, Kuala Lumpur, August 5,1977. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/joint-communique-the-second-asean-heads-of-government-meeting-kuala-lumpur-august-51977/
• ASEAN (1987). Joint Communique: The Third ASEAN Heads of Government Meeting, Manila, 14-15 December 1987. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/joint-communique-the-third-asean-heads-of-government-meeting-manila-14-15-december-1987/
• ASEAN (1992a). Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/agreement-on-the-common-effective-preferential-tariff-cept-scheme-for-the-asean-free-trade-area-afta/
• ASEAN (1992b). Framework Agreement on Enhancing ASEAN Economic Cooperation. Singapore, 28 January 1992. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/framework-agreement-on-enhancing-asean-economic-cooperation-singapore-28-january-1992/
• ASEAN (1992c). Singapore Declaration of 1992. 28 January 1992. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/singapore-declaration-of-1992-singapore-28-january-1992/
• ASEAN (1997). ASEAN Vision 2020. 15 December 1997. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/asean-vision-2020/
• ASEAN (1998). Hanoi Plan of Action. 16 December 1998. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/hanoi-plan-of-action/
• ASEAN (2003). Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II). 7 October 2003. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/speechandstatement/declaration-of-asean-concord-ii-bali-concord-ii/
• ASEAN (2005a). Chairman’s Statement of the 11th ASEAN Summit: “One Vision, One Identity, One Community”. Kuala Lumpur, 12 December 2005. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/chairmans-statement-of-the-11th-asean-summit-one-vision-one-identity-one-community-kuala-lumpur/
• ASEAN (2005b). Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of the ASEAN Charter. Kuala Lumpur, 12 December 2005. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/asean-charter/kuala-lumpur-declaration/
• ASEAN (2007). Chairman’s Statement of the 13th ASEAN Summit, “One ASEAN at the Heart of Dynamic Asia”. Singapore, 20 November 2007. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/chairmans-statement-of-the-13th-asean-summit-one-asean-at-the-heart-of-dynamic-asia-singapore-20-november-2007/
• ASEAN (n.d.-a). ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meetings. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/asean-foreign-ministerial-meetings/
• ASEAN (n.d.-b). Treaty of Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/our-communities/asean-political-security-community/peaceful-secure-and-stable-region/southeast-asia-nuclear-weapon-free-zone-seanwfz/
• ASEAN Regional Forum (n.d.). Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://aseanregionalforum.asean.org/about-arf/#participants
• ASEAN Secretariat (1988). ASEAN Documents Series: 1967-1988. Third Edition, Jakarta. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/book/asean-documents-series-1967-1988/
• ASEAN Secretariat (2008). The ASEAN Charter. Jakarta, Indonesia. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/images/archive/publications/ASEAN-Charter.pdf,
• Ateş, D. (2012). Uluslararası örgütler: Devletlerin örgütlenme mantığı. Dora.
• Ba, A. D. (2009). (Re)Negotiating East and Southeast Asia: Region, regionalism, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Stanford University
• Beeson, M. (2009). Institutions of the Asia-Pacific: ASEAN, APEC, and beyond. Routledge.
• Berridge, G. R. (2010). Diplomacy: Theory and practice. Fourth Edition, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Closa, C. (2016). Governance structures and processes in integration organizations: Formalization of institutional credible commitments for governance. C. Closa, & L. Casini, (Ed.), Comparative regional integration: Governance and legal models (pp. 1-153). Cambridge University.
• Cockerham, G. B. (2010). Regional integration in ASEAN: Institutional design and the ASEAN Way. East Asia, 27(2), 165-185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-009-9092-1
• Collins, A. (2008). A people-oriented ASEAN: A door ajar or closed for civil society organizations? Contemporary Southeast Asia, 30(2), 313-331.
• Dedeoğlu, B. (2015). Uluslararası İlişkilerde özel bir alan: Bölgesel bütünleşme, kuramlar-yaklaşımlar-modeller. Yeniyüzyıl.
• Demirbaş, Ç. E., & Gülşen, A. (2014), “Bir örgütlenme çerçevesi olarak ‘ASEAN Yolu’nun başarısı”, Uluslararası Hukuk ve Politika, 10(37), 71-107.
• Dosenrode, S. (2015). On regional integration. In S. Dosenrode (Ed.), Limits to Regional Integration (pp. 1-15). Ashgate.
• Dunn, D. H. (1999). Diplomacy at the highest level: The evolution of international summitry. Macmillan.
• Durmaz, F. (2023). ASEAN regionalism in the 21st century: A review of the community-building process (2003-2015). Manas Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 12(2), 759-774. https://doi.org/10.33206/mjss.1249084
• Fawcett, L. (1995). Regionalism in historical perspective. In L. Fawcett, & A. Hurrell (Ed.), Regionalism in world politics: Regional organization and international order (pp. 9-36). Oxford University.
• Feinberg, R. (2013). Institutionalized summitry. In A. F. Cooper, J. Heine, & R. Thakur (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of modern diplomacy (pp. 303-318). Oxford University.
• Gardini, G. L., Koschut, S., & Falke, A. (Ed.) (2018). Interregionalism and the Americas. Lexington.
• Gerard, K. (2015). Explaining ASEAN’s engagement of civil society in policy-making: Smoke and mirrors. Globalizations, 12(3), 365-382, https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2015.1016304
• Goltermann, L., Lohaus, M., Spielau, A., & Striebinger, K. (2012). Roads to regionalism: Concepts, issues, and cases. In T. A. Börzel, L. Goltermann, M. Lohaus, & K. Striebinger, (Ed.), Roads to regionalism: Genesis, design, and effects of regional organizations (pp. 3-21). Ashgate.
• Hänggi, H. (2006). Interregionalism as a multifaceted phenomenon: In search of a typology. In H. Hänggi, R. Roloff, & J. Rüland (Ed.), Interregionalism and International Relations (pp. 31-62). Routledge.
• Hay, S. J. (1996). The 1995 ASEAN Summit: Scaling a higher peak. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 18(3), 254-274.
• Hettne, B. (2003). The new regionalism revisited. In F. Söderbaum, & T. M. Shaw (Ed.), Theories of new regionalism: A Palgrave reader (pp. 22-42). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hettne, B., Inotai, A., & Sunkel, O. (Ed.) (1999). Globalism and the new regionalism. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hwee, Y. L. (2023). Inter-regionalism: The European Union and ASEAN. In J. Dosch ve F. Kliem (Ed.), The Elgar companion to ASEAN (pp. 234-245). Edward Elgar.
• Jetschke, A. (2012). ASEAN. In M. Beeson, & R. Stubbs (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Asian Regionalism (pp. 327-337). London.
• Kühnhardt, L. (2010). Region-building, Volume I: The Global Proliferation of Regional Integration. Berghahn Books. Langhammer, R. J., & Hiemenz, U. (1990). Regional integration among developing countries: opportunities, obstacles and options. Kieler Studien, No. 232, Tübingen. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/416/1/025664646.pdf
• Mace, G., Thérien, J.-P., Tussie, D., & Dabène, O. (2016a). Conclusion: Summitry and governance—an assessment. In G. Mace, J.-P. Thérien, D. Tussie, & O. Dabène (Ed.), Summits and regional governance: The Americas in comparative perspective (pp. 228-236). Routledge.
• Mace, G., Thérien, J.-P., Tussie, D., & Dabène, O. (Ed.) (2016b). Summits and regional governance: The Americas in comparative perspective. Routledge.
• Malamud, A. (2013). Overlapping regionalism, no integration: Conceptual issues and the Latin American experiences. RSCAS EUI, Working Paper, 20, Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/26336/RSCAS_2013_20.pdf
• Menon, J., & Lee, C. (2019). The evolution of ASEAN: An overview, In J. Menon, & C. Lee (Ed.), An Evolving ASEAN: Vision AND reality (pp. 4-20). Asian Development Bank.
• Nesadurai, H. E. S. (2008). The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), New Political Economy, 13(2), 225-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563460802018588
• Nesadurai, H. E. S. (2009). ASEAN and regional governance after the Cold War: From regional order to regional community? The Pacific Review, 22(1), 91-118. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512740802651169
• Ojendal, J. (2001). South East Asia at a constant crossroads: An ambiguous new region. In M. Schulz, F. Soderbaum, & J. Öjendal (Ed.), Regionalization in a globalizing world: A comparative perspective on forms, actors and processes (pp. 147-172). Zed Books.
• Paasi, A. (2009). Regional geography I. In R. Kitchin and N. Thrift (Ed.), International encyclopedia of human geography (Vol. 9) (pp. 214-227). Elsevier.
• Poon-Kim, S. (1977). A decade of ASEAN, 1967-1977. Asian Survey, 17(8), 753-770.
• Roberts, C. B. (2012). ASEAN regionalism: Cooperation, values and institutionalization. Routledge
• Sancaktar, C. (2013). Bütünleşme ve bütünleşme teorileri. In H. Çomak, & C. Sancaktar (Ed.), Uluslararası İlişkilerde teorik tartışmalar (pp. 113-157). İstanbul.
• Scholte, J. A. (2016). Summitry, governance, and democracy. In G. Mace, J.-P. Thérien, D. Tussie, & O. Dabène (Ed.), Summits and regional governance: The Americas in comparative perspective (pp. 13-29). Routledge.
• Schroeder, W., & Müller, A. Th. (2011). Elements of supranationality in the Law of international organizations. In U. Fastenrath, R. Geiger, D.-E. Khan, A. Paulus, & Von Schorlemer, S., & C. Vedder (Ed.), From bilateralism to community interest: Essays in honour of Bruno Simma (pp. 258-278). Oxford University.
• Snitwongse, K. (1998). Thirty years of ASEAN: Achievements through political cooperation. The Pacific Review, 11(2), 183-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512749808719252
• Söderbaum, F. (2016). Rethinking regionalism. Palgrave.
• Sridharan, K., & Srinivasa-Raghavan, T.C.A. (2007). Regional cooperation in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
• Stubbs, R. (2016). ASEAN summits and regional governance in comparative perspective. In G. Mace, J.-P. Thérien, D. Tussie, & O. Dabène (Ed.), Summits and Regional governance: The Americas in comparative perspective (pp. 159-176). Routledge.
• Sundrijo, D. A., Awigra, D., Safitri, D., Virajati, K., & Wening, P. P. P. (2020). Civil society participation in ASEAN regionalism: Strengthening the capacity of ACSC/APF to advocate the interest of the people of Southeast Asia. Human Rights Working Group, Jakarta. Retrieved on March 15, 2025, from https://www.hrwg.or.id/2023/01/17/civil-society-participation-in-asean-regionalism-2/
• Van Langenhove, L. (2011). Building regions: The regionalization of the world order. Ashgate. Weatherbee, D. E. (2019). ASEAN’s half century: A political history of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Rowman & Littlefield.
• Wunderlich, J.-U. (2007). Regionalism, globalisation and international order: Europe and Southeast Asia. Ashgate
• Yılmaz, S. (2022) Asya-Avrupa Diyaloğu: Zirve diplomasisi bağlamında bir değerlendirme. Optimum Ekonomi ve Yönetim Bilimleri Dergisi, 9(2), 189-205.
• Yılmaz, S. (2023). Bölgesel sağlık yönetişimi: ASEAN ve Güneydoğu Asya’da salgın hastalıklarla mücadele. Doğu Asya Araştırmaları Dergisi, 6(12), 30-58. https://doi.org/10.59114/dasad.1299589