The ASEAN Way is its diplomatic instrument for maintaining regional stability by providing a conflict management mechanism and process for the peaceful settlement of disputes. The ASEAN Way consists of behavioural and procedural conflict management norms as enshrined in many of ASEAN's official political documents, such as the ASEAN Declaration (1967) and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (1976), and is reiterated through a continual process of norm interaction and recurrence.