The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded by Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore in 1967 with the premise of promoting intergovernmental cooperation. Through this cooperation, it aims to facilitate security, political, educational, economic and sociocultural assimilation among participating countries. Since then, ASEAN's membership has grown to ten members with the new inclusion of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines, allowing two nations to be observers, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. ASEAN it has grown to become a global political power by maintaining a global network of numerous alliances and has been involved in many international affairs. Since many different ethnic and cultural groups make up the makeup of ASEAN, it has also been considered a vital international model for other international organizations to emulate in the areas of unity and seeking harmony. However, scholars are divided on their views on whether ASEAN has effectively fulfilled its role as a security community. In his article, Enduring Mistrust and Concept Management in Southeast Asia: An Assessment of ASEAN as a Security Community, Dr. Ralf Emmers argues that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has not lived up to expectations to be an exemplary security community. . Emmers pointed out that while ASEAN has done well in avoiding conflict, it has done little in carrying out effective conflict resolution despite the ASEAN Act on Political Security Community (APSC). It highlights that residual distrust is an important factor in illustrating the slow progress made by ASEAN towards effective conflict resolution and, as such, ASEAN has failed to be an effective security community. However, the premise for evaluating ASEAN as a security community should not be based solely on its effectiveness in conflict resolution. Other factors must be taken into consideration, such as the way ASEAN handles conflicts, the progressive building of bilateral relations since ASEAN's inception, and ASEAN's relationships with other international communities. Therefore, this paper postulates that ASEAN has grown into an effective security community by taking the above-mentioned factors into consideration. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) established in 1976, ASEAN member states must abide by the principles of respecting the sovereignty of each nation and not interfering in the internal affairs of other states. Furthermore, the resolution of disputes and differences should be conducted in a peaceful manner, where the threat or use of force is strictly prohibited. Therefore, ASEAN has adopted a non-invasive, consensus-based and consultative method to address any issue. This has been coined the “ASEAN way”. In the early days of its inception, this method served as an important way to unify ASEAN member states and provide a basis for establishing a community of peace and prosperity. In recent years, this traditional way of dealing with conflicts and managing disputes has been criticized as outdated and ineffective. Since the decisions made must be a common consensus among the members, this implies that if a single member were to oppose the proposed course of action, nothing will materialize. This divide was made most evident during the 2012 ASEAN meeting in Cambodia, where Chinese claims to islands in the South China Sea were atcenter of attention and member states were discussing plans to resolve this problem. However, the meeting ended without a joint statement being issued as Cambodia did not reach any agreement and it was the first time in 45 years that no consensus law was passed. However, this should not serve as an indication of ASEAN's failure as a Security Committee in resolving conflicts and disputes, but rather should serve as a starting point for making policy improvements for ASEAN to remain a relevant organization. One way of improvement could be to adopt European Union (EU) qualified majority voting, in which no single state has veto power over important decisions that could affect the entire region and the organization and actions taken are they will base it on what the majority votes for. This new voting system will allow ASEAN to work on tangible policies that would benefit both sides and address important issues instead of being stopped at the first crossroads of opposition. Additionally, the TAC allows states outside of Southeast Asia to participate and sit during the meeting, but these states must sign and indicate that they will adhere to the established principles. To date, there are 35 countries that have joined the treaty, with China and India being the first countries to sign the treaty in 2003. Given that more countries are expected to join the treaty in the future, it is therefore of critical importance to the 'ASEAN will change their voting system so that issues can be discussed on a regional and global scale. Therefore, the TAC serves as an indispensable platform for countries outside ASEAN to raise issues of concern, and in the case of China and the South China Sea, more could be discussed at TAC meetings. Therefore, ASEAN's role of being an effective security community can be further strengthened, but changes to their voting system and policies must be optimized to accommodate a rapidly changing world. Another challenge ASEAN faces is maintaining bilateral ties with global superpowers such as China and the United States (US) without compromising its principles and relations with each superpower. A "superpower country" is one that has enough economic, political, and military power to dissuade other nations in the world from doing things they otherwise would not do. The United States has been a superpower since the end of World War II and has been at the center of advocating for peace on a global scale and has seen itself as a peacekeeping entity. China, on the other hand, has grown exponentially since the early 2000s with its economic boom, so much so that it overtook the United States to become the world's largest producer of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014. With a superpower located on both sides of ASEAN, it is of utmost importance that ASEAN maintains good bilateral ties with each country and is a good mediator in managing policies that could impact another superpower. United States relations with ASEAN began in 1977 with the participation of the United States as a dialogue partner. Since the early 1990s, economic policies focusing on investment, education, technology transfer, and trade have been introduced, leading to a dramatic increase in development cooperation between the United States and ASEAN. Furthermore, the United States' position is to remain a reliable, active, and strong partner in the Southeast Asia region by providing resources, military presence, and diplomatic aid. In 2008, the United States appointed an ambassador to ASEAN and, in doing so, is..