The Association of Southeast Asia Asian Nation (ASEAN) has often been cited as an example of a successful regional organization, and during the last five years in particular, there have been numerous works, published both within and outside the , on various aspects of ASEAN cooperation and ASEAN's relations with non-member States. It is evident, however, that almost all of these publications focus on security, politics and economics, leaving the legal dimension of regionalism largely unexamined and unresearched.rn