Abstract
This article seeks to analyse the strength and weaknesses of the three main international relations (IR) approaches, namely, neo-realist, liberal institutionalist, and constructivist frameworks, applied to the Vietnam—ASEAN relationship since the mid-1980s. While the making and implementation of Vietnamese foreign policy with regard to ASEAN has shown some clues congruent with both neo-realist and liberal institutionalist frameworks, the constructivist approach also seems to have become an increasingly promising one, providing additional explanations to the Vietnam—ASEAN relationship. Yet, to confirm the plausibility and superiority of any theoretical model depends to a large extent on greater efforts at gaining access to and interpreting various types of sources related to the foreign policy of Vietnam.
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