Abstract
Vietnam’s membership of ASEAN was driven by pragmatic reasons of economic growth, political independence and regime survival in a post-Cold War environment. But in fact the learning process — which made Vietnamese decision-makers through their first-hand experiences more aware of convergent domestic and foreign policy goals between Vietnam and ASEAN — was instrumental in Vietnam’s decision to seek ASEAN membership as quickly as possible. The case of Vietnam joining ASEAN then shows that the process of socialization and interactions between Vietnam and ASEAN countries helped improve the awareness of commonalities and promoted cooperative relations. And this is one of the main arguments in the constructivist approach to international cooperation based on the self-other internalization. In this connection, Vietnam joining ASEAN was also part of a broader process in which the country forged a new state identity in the post-Cold War era: Vietnam opted for ASEAN membership to overcome an identity crisis and political isolation. The ideational approach, therefore, offers an additional and more plausible explanation for Vietnam’s decision to join ASEAN. Moreover, it helps explain Vietnam’s continued satisfaction with and commitment to membership of ASEAN.
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