A Two-level-games Analysis of AFTA Agreements: What Caused ASEAN States to Move towards Economic Integration?

The article investigates different conditions under which Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are planning to carry a series ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreements to move forward in their motive to attain regional economic integration. A literature review of the term economic integration and a discussion on integration theories and their weaknesses in explaining the AFTA case are given. Robert D. Putnam's two-level-games model analysis is used to analyze how ASEAN states reached the AFTA.