The ASEAN Miracle: A Catalyst for Peace.

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Author: Saravanamuttu, Johan
• Date: 01 December 2017

The ASEAN Miracle: A Catalyst for Peace. By Kishore Mahbubani and Jeffrey Sng. Singapore: Ridge Books, NUS Press, 2017. Hardcover: 264pp.

Published in the year in which the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) celebrates its golden jubilee, Kishore Mahbubani and Jeffrey Sng opine that ASEAN deserves the Nobel Peace Prize on the grounds that it has been the most successful regional organization next to the European Union (EU). Stripped of its hyperbole, the book presents a highly readable account of ASEAN's achievements, its remarkable consolidation of interstate peaceful coexistence in a geographical area previously wracked by political turmoil in, arguably, the most culturally diverse region of the world. The authors also demonstrate persuasively the indispensable role of ASEAN in the Asia-Pacific region as a foil to check major power excesses. Although the authors lament the lack of recognition of the "ASEAN miracle" by contemporary observers, they are quick to add that ASEAN is not without its weaknesses. Let me examine some of the book's truth claims and point out some of its weaknesses and finally present my own view on ASEAN.

ASEAN's success was due to fear, luck and leadership (Chapter Two). Political divisions engendered by the Cold War were resolved when the fear of communism was overcome by the absorption of the communist states into the regional body in the second half of the 1990s. Such a move demonstrated the wisdom of its founding leaders...