| This dissertation discusses the mode of ASEAN international relations, relations between Vietnam and ASEAN from the early 1970s, and the reasons behind the decision made in Hanoi according to which Vietnam joined ASEAN in 1995. Among the matrix of dynamics, ideas, choices, and processes put in specific structural, geographical, historical, social, and perhaps cultural settings, especially in Southeast Asia in the processes of nation-building following decolonialization are the main focus of this dissertation, thus incorporating both realist and constructivist arguments in the analyses of this dissertation. Based on Vietnamese documentation, this dissertation also attempts to give a fuller account of how leaders in Hanoi have constructed realities, changed their perceptions, and designed foreign policies with regard to ASEAN. This dissertation finally supports the constructivist approach in arguing that Vietnam-ASEAN relations after the end of the Cold War has now been based to a large extent on the awareness and recognition of similarities between regimes in Hanoi and those in other ASEAN countries, which helps to build a better ground, among others, for Vietnam-ASEAN cooperation in particular and the expansion of the ASEAN mode of international relations in Southeast Asia in general. |
