Leadership in Regional Community-Building : Comparing ASEAN and the European Union

This book examines the role of political leadership as a driver in the process of regional community-building in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU). It considers under which conditions political leadership constitutes a driver of regional community-building and reconceptualises the very idea of political leadership in order to examine its role in a regional context. The book concludes that a comprehensive approach that incorporates political will, the capacity of individual leaders, state capacity, legitimacy, and summitry yields a deeper understanding of political leadership in regional bodies.