Europe's Lost Appeal? The Greek Debt Crisis and ASEAN Integration Trajectory

Abstract

What the Greek Debt Crisis and the impasse of the European Integration project mean for ASEAN integration? This article argues that there are at least three possible influence of the events in Greece. First, it could be expected that the normative pressures for a liberal trajectory, both internal and external, are going to decline. The EU will be more cautious in using its toolbox for norm diffusion due to its internal problem with Greece. At the same time, the appeal of liberal prescriptions is also becoming less powerful both at global level (due to the last Global Crisis) and at the domestic level. Second, the prominence of realist mode of interaction in the model liberal institution (the EU) as presented in the case of Greece debt crisis might make ASEAN leaders to place their trust more in power-based calculation rather than liberal prescriptions. Furthermore, Southeast Asia is the region that experience the direct impact of China’s rise, US balancing strategy, and Japan’s attempts to ‘normalize’ itself. Third, the case of Greece debt crisis illustrated the phenomenon of “integration overstretch,” a situation where the desire for deepening and enlarging regional institution is not coupled with the willingness or capacity of the members (or its hegemon) to pay for the price. ASEAN leaders might have to learn from this phenomenon closely.

Keywords: ASEAN, European Union, Greece, Liberalism, Regionalism, Regional Integration