Title: Regional Integration Context in South Asia: Comparative Perspectives with ASEAN and the EU
Authors: Tran Gia Phu
Volume: 9
Issue: 10
Pages: 9-15
Publication Date: 2025/10/28
Abstract:
This research delineates the structural barriers and situational incentives affecting the intensification of regional integration processes within South Asia, focusing principally on the mechanism of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). This inquiry evaluates three comparability dimensions design of the institution, economic interdependence, and political cohesion systematically revealing constraint configurations that are specific to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Concurrently, it highlights discrete normative and procedural practices observable in the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that could serve as reference benchmarks. Central to the analysis is the rendering of the structural lag question, which demands explanation of South Asia's pronounced integration deficit in relation to other world regions and, concomitantly, the extraction of empirically robust instructional lessons that may be inferred from that comparative undershoot. Employing a comparative case study methodology and drawing upon datasets from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNCTAD, and official ASEAN and EU documents, the analysis mobilizes neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism as dual theoretical lenses. The results reveal that the EU epitomizes advanced institutional consolidation, whereas ASEAN exemplifies pragmatic, consensus-center collaboration; by contrast, South Asia remains persistently fragmented owing to persistent interstate animosities, underdeveloped institutional architectures, and pronounced power asymmetries. The discourse posits that the South Asian case demonstrates a stringent limitation of neo-functionalism, especially when fundamental political confidence is lacking. The study thereby enriches integration theory by introducing empirical evidence drawn from the Global South and by specifying practicable recommendations for both the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and supportive extra regional stakeholders particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to effectuate deepened cooperation through deliberately calibrated sub-regional initiatives and instrumentally structured bilateral engagements.