: Has there been a high degree of norm compliance, proving that there is substance to the "ASEAN way"? What circumstances have been conducive to consensus-building? Is there evidence that norm compliance has increased, indicating a learning curve and development towards a community? To make them more accessible to systematic appraisal, ASEAN foreign policy initiatives can be categorized according to, firstly, their compliance with the norm of consultations and consensus-seeking in the decision-making process and, secondly, according to their concord ance with the existing ASEAN consensus on the policy issue.