Overview
Co-Directors and General Editors: Professor Joseph Weiler (NYU Law School) and Dr Tan Hsien-Li (NUS Law School).
In 2009, CIL initiated a continuing major research project on ASEAN legal integration, entitled ‘Integration through Law: The ASEAN Way in a Comparative Context—The Role of Law and Rule of Law in Asian Legal Integration’. The Integration Through Law (ITL) project features more than 80 scholars from ASEAN countries and experts with comparative experience from other regions of the world. One of the key objectives of this project is to make a decisive and long-lasting contribution to the understanding of ASEAN and its strong commitment to the rule of law both within the ASEAN region and in the world, especially in light of its ASEAN Charter undertakings. At the conceptual level, the project develops a substantive discursive introduction for an Asian Theory of Integration that, while informed by, is not just a crude cut and paste of the experience of other regions. At the functional level the project provides a rich toolkit, based on comparative experiences, of legal and institutional methods and tools (each offering pros and cons) at the disposal of, inter alia, policy makers, as ASEAN charts its way ahead. Click here to view the ASEAN Integration Through Law book series emanating from the research project.
At the centre of the research project is the legal and institutional dimensions of ASEAN that were not addressed in pre-existing literature. Comparative experience suggests that the success of achieving some of the more ambitious objectives outlined in Article 1 of the Charter and the implementation of the ASEAN Community depends in no small measure on the effectiveness of legal principles, legal rules and legal institutions.
The ASEAN Member States envisage that rules of law and the Rule of Law will become a major feature in the future of ASEAN. The ITL project thus explores conceptually and pragmatically both the potential and the limitations of law in the ongoing ASEAN experience.
Click here for the full ASEAN Integration Through Law Project Design/Mission Statement
ITL Plenaries
In 2013-2014, the outcomes of the initial ITL research phase were shared in four major plenaries in Singapore, Jakarta and Hanoi attended by policymakers and academics from across ASEAN.
ASEAN Integration Through Law, Plenary 1: General Architecture of ASEAN
The first plenary in Singapore provided an overview of the general architecture of ASEAN, focusing on the political and economic aspirations of ASEAN and institutions which play a part in ASEAN community-building. In this plenary, Mr Shanmugam, Minister of Law and (then) Foreign Affairs of Singapore, emphasized that “[l]aw is an integral aspect of ASEAN integration and community building”.
ASEAN Integration Through Law, Plenary 2: ASEAN Governance, Management and External Relations
The second plenary in Jakarta was opened by the (then) Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Dr Marty Natalegawa, focused on the governance and management of ASEAN, including the external relations of ASEAN with its dialogue partners. Minister Marty highlighted the importance of law and people to people connectivity in the development of the ASEAN Community.
ASEAN Integration Through Law, Plenary 3: The ASEAN Way in a Comparative Context: The Rule of Law in the ASEAN Community
The third plenary in Singapore examined the rule of law in the ASEAN Community, including the role of international and national legal infrastructure and the value of instruments of monitoring and dispute settlement for the implementation of ASEAN obligations. The Honourable Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said that, “[i]n the international sphere, adherence to the Rule of Law exists because despite it being a constraint on power, states see such adherence as being in their enlightened self-interest as it furnishes international legitimacy.”
ASEAN Integration Through Law, Plenary 4 and Course Development Workshop on the ASEAN Economic Community
The fourth plenary in Hanoi critically analysed the integration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The plenary was opened by HE Mr Ho Xuan Son, (then) Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam, who shared his perspective about the importance of ASEAN in the integration of ASEAN Members, as well as Vietnam’s policy in preparing for the realization of the AEC by 2015.