Can ASEAN offer a useful model? Chairmanship in decision-making by consensus?/ Sanae Suzuki

ASEAN has adopted decision-making by consensus. This article aims to explain how competing positions are reconciled and international agreements reached in organisations that have adopted consensus, a process that risks non-agreement because each participant has veto power, as their sole decision-making rule. ASEAN roundtables with the foreign ministers of its member states have indeed generated some meaningful agreements. Rules and customs associated with ASEAN chairmanship effectively comprise a reconciliation mechanism. This article analyses the impact of a strong ASEAN chair via empirical case studies of decisions reached (or not) under consensus regarding issues where member states had conflicting interests. This analysis of ASEAN decision-making contributes to the ongoing debate on effectiveness of ASEAN and has theoretical implications for the understanding of international organisations that operate under similar institutional settings.

ASEAN