Regionalism's attraction stems from its potential to create an enabling environment for the conduct of amicable intraregional relations. Where it has functioned reasonably well it has reduced the security anxiety that is natural between squabbling neighbours or between the region and predatory extra-regional powers. The expectation is that if and when the regional states achieve a minimum level of order, their energies can be fruitfully expended in nation-building and developmental tasks. The distraction caused by a persistent feeling of insecurity is greatly reduced if there is a basic commitment among the members that conflicts will be managed in a non-threatening way, even if the regional organization is not specifically mandated to ensure this or is not preoccupied with this task. Security, order, predictability and peace are thus ensured by relying on diplomacy and recognized international principles with the conviction that over a period of time the characteristics of a regional “society of states”, as opposed to a “system of states”, will emerge. Hedley Bull who made these two phrases famous, in the context of the international political system, defined them in the following manner:

Bull clarified what he meant by the rules of mutual relations and commitment to common institutions: states “should respect one another's claims to independence, they should honour agreements into which they enter, and that they should be subject to certain limitations in exercising force against one another”.