Regional Integration In Asia: Comparative Analysis Of ECO And ASEAN

Since Second World War, the issue of regional integration got a special importance among international relations theories.Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) was established in July 1964 by the name of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD).After the Islamic Revolution in Iran, this organization disbanded in 1980. But in 1985, all the countries expressed willingness to start economic cooperation again with a new name ECO. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ECO expanded and the members became 10. At the same time in early years of RCD formation, Association for South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) established in 1967 with 10 members, and today it is known as a successful regional organization among members in the field of integration. The main question of this article is that RCD (then ECO), and ASEAN, although they are in relatively similar terms, why does ECO still remained at early stages? The main hypothesis of this paper is that although based on constructive views of Vent, the formation of these two institutions was based on “logical consequence”, but ECO members have not passed these steps and common identity has not created among them.