L’Association des nations de l’Asie du sud-est (ASEAN) est l’une des organisationsrégionales les plus anciennes en Asie. Créée en 1967 par la Déclaration de Bangkok, une déclarationinterétatique, l’ASEAN n’avait pas un statut juridique clair jusqu’en 2007, date de l’adoption de saCharte constitutive. A défaut d’une base conventionnelle, l’ASEAN ne manquait pourtant pas descaractéristiques d’une organisation internationale. Pendant les quarante années qui ont suivi sacréation, elle avait choisi un mode de fonctionnement fondé principalement sur les relations(relationship-based) et non sur les règles de droit. La prédominance du politique dans lefonctionnement de l’ASEAN a donc laissé aux règles de droit une place secondaire voire ambigüe.Cette spécificité, appelée ASEAN way, a fait de l’ASEAN une organisation au service des intérêtsindividuels de ses membres. En 2007, l’ASEAN s’est dotée d’une Charte constitutive, qui tente à latransformer en une organisation fondée sur des règles (rule-based). Cette Charte qui a ouvert unenouvelle ère pour l’ASEAN, l’a mise au rang d’organisation internationale, sujet dérivé du droitinternational. Elle semble remettre en cause la place du politique dans le fonctionnement de cetteorganisation. Néanmoins, la Charte a renforcé l’ASEAN way, ce qui démontre les limites de l’ASEAN.L’étude de l’institutionnalisation de l’ASEAN vise à démontrer les causes de la prééminence del’ASEAN way sur le droit et ses répercussions sur les relations entre les Etats. Cette présente étudeprocède à l’examen de l’articulation entre les objectifs et principes comme cadre axiologique del’ASEAN, son système institutionnel et son ordre juridique. / The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of the most ancient regionalorganizations in Asia. Created in 1967 by the Bangkok Declaration, an interstate declaration, ASEANdid not have a clear legal status until 2007, date of its constituent Charter adoption. Lacking aconventional basis, ASEAN however did not lack the characteristics of an international organization.During the 40 years following its creation, it had chosen a mode of functioning mainly based onrelationship and not on rules of law. The political predominance in the ASEAN functioning therefore leftonly a secondary place to the rules of law, somewhat ambiguous. This particularity, so-called ASEANway, has made ASEAN an organization geared towards the individual interests of its members. In2007, ASEAN adopted a constituent Charter, whose aim is to transform ASEAN into a rule-basedorganization. This Charter, opening a new era for ASEAN, raised it to the rank of internationalorganization – derived subject of international law. It seems to call into question the place of politics inits functioning. The Charter nevertheless reinforced the ASEAN way, which shows the limits of ASEAN.The study of the ASEAN institutionalization aims at proving the cause of the predominance of ASEANway on the law and its repercussions on interstate relationships. This present study carries out theexamination of the link between the aims and the principles as an axiomatical framework of ASEAN, ofits institutional system and its legal order.

The overall purpose of this dissertation is to provide an empirical study of the post-Cold War EastAsian security setting, with the aim of understanding why there is an East Asian peace. The EastAsian peace exists in a region with a history of militarised conflicts, home to many of the world'slongest ongoing militarised problems and a number of unresolved critical flashpoints. Thus, thepost-Cold War East Asian inter-state peace is a paradox. Despite being a region predicted to be ripefor conflict, there have not only been less wars than expected, but the region also shows severalsigns of a development towards a more durable peace. The dominant research paradigm –neorealism – has painted a gloomy picture of post-Cold War East Asia, with perpetual conflictsdominating the predictions. Other mainstream international relations theories, too, fail to accountfully for the relative peace. One of the greatest problems for mainstream theories, is accounting forpeace given East Asia's lack of security organisations or other formalised conflict managementmechanisms. Given this paradox/problem, this dissertation sets out to ask "Why is there a relativepeace in the East Asian security setting despite an absence of security organisations or otherformalised mechanisms to prevent existing conflicts from escalating into violence?" In order to answer this question, the case of East Asian peace is approached by comparingthree embedded case studies within the region: the Taiwan issue, the South China Sea, and theKorean nuclear conflict. It explores the full range of informal and formal processes plus the ConflictPrevention and Peacebuilding Mechanisms (CPPBMs) that have been important for the creation ofa continuing relative peace in East Asia between 1990 and 2008. The study furthermore focuses onChina's role in the three cases, on an empirical basis consisting of interviews conducted with keypersons during more than 1.5 years fieldwork in China. The three cases show that informal processes exist, and that they have furthermore beenimportant for peace, both by preventing conflicts from escalating into war, and by buildingconditions for a stable longer-term peace. Their impact on the persistence of peace has been tracedto a range of different CPPBMs. Returning to the level of the East Asian case, a common feature ofmany of the identified processes is that they can be understood as aspects or manifestations of theEast Asian regionalisation process. Specifically, elite interactions (personal networks, track twodiplomacy), back-channel negotiations, economic interdependence and integration, and functionalcooperation have together with (China's acceptance of) multilateralism and institutionalisation (ofpeaceful relations) been of high importance for the relative peace. Whereas formalised conflictmanagement mechanisms and the U.S. presence have also contributed to peace, this dissertationshows their contribution to be much more limited.