Norms without Power? Evaluating ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’s Role in Shaping the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This paper critically examines the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) as a normative framework that articulates ASEAN’s vision of an inclusive, rules-based, and cooperative regional order amid intensifying great power rivalry. Drawing on constructivist theory and the norm life cycle model proposed by Finnemore and Sikkink, the study assesses AOIP's role as a case of norm entrepreneurship and its stalled progression beyond the norm emergence phase. Through content and discourse analysis of AOIP documents, summit declarations, and member state responses, the paper reveals how ASEAN’s structural limitations, such as consensus-based decision-making, institutional weakness, and internal political divergence, undermine the operationalisation of AOIP principles. Despite rhetorical support from ASEAN and external partners, AOIP lacks effective enforcement mechanisms, institutional anchorage, and shared political will, rendering it a “norm without power.” The paper argues that for AOIP to evolve into a more consequential framework, ASEAN must embrace incremental institutionalisation, empower norm entrepreneurs, and forge strategic partnerships with like-minded external actors. Ultimately, the research highlights both the promise and limits of normative agency in regional governance, underscoring ASEAN’s challenge in navigating between aspirational discourse and geopolitical realities.

Keywords: ASEAN, Indo-Pacific, AOIP, constructivism, norm entrepreneurship, regional order, norm life cycle, institutionalisation, normative power.