Since its establishment in in 1967, ASEAN, the initial inspiration for which was as much economic as political, has functioned as a barometer and catalyst of Asian regionalism. While its institutional growth has been less than spectacular, and rhetoric has often come to dominate policy development, the fact remains that ASEAN has played a significant agenda-setting role, not least through careful fine-tuning of the language of regional diplomacy. Nowhere has the phenomenon been more apparent than in the evolution of the concept of comprehensive security. At least implicitly and often explicitly, that concept has underpinned the ASEAN edifice.