Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order (Politics in Asia Series)

255 Pages·2000·2.71 MB·English

by  Amitav Acharya

Constructing a Security
Community in Southeast Asia

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is regarded by many as one of
the most successful examples of regional cooperation in the developing world. In the
post-Cold War era, however, ASEAN faces serious challenges, not least from an expanded
membership and the rising power of China. This book examines whether ASEAN can
cope with these challenges and contribute to peaceful change in Southeast Asia, or whether
it will crumble under the weight of its burdens, sparking a new spiral of regional conflict.
Developing new theoretical insights into the rise and decline of security communities in
international relations, Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia offers the first
serious investigation into the prospects for a security community outside the Euro-Atlantic
region. It examines several key issues which will determine the future stability of the
Southeast Asian and Asia Pacific region, including:

• the effect of expansion on ASEAN’s intra-mural solidarity
(cid:127) whether the ASEAN model of conflict management can be applied to the wider
Asia Pacific region
(cid:127) the threat posed by territorial disputes in the South China Sea
(cid:127) domestic instability in Myanmar and Cambodia
(cid:127) the impact of military acquisitions on intra-regional relations
(cid:127) recent debates over ASEAN’s non-interference doctrine and calls for a ‘flexible
engagement’ approach
(cid:127) the impact of the Asian economic crisis on regionalism and ASEAN’s response to
the crisis

This book contains the most comprehensive and critical account available of the evolution
of ASEAN’s norms and the viability of the ASEAN Way of conflict management. It is
an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Asian Studies, International Relations
and Politics.
Amitav Acharya is Professor in the Department of Political Science at York University,
Toronto, Canada. He has been a Fellow both of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
and of the Harvard University Asia Center, and has taught at the National University
of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Sydney University and Harvard
University.
Politics in Asia series
Edited by Michael Leifer
London School of Economics
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Asia National identity and status in international
Michael Leifer society
Christopher Hughes
China’s Policy towards Territorial Disputes
The case of the South China Sea islands Managing Political Change in Singapore
Chi-kin Lo The elected presidency
Kevin Y.L.Tan and Lam Peng Er
India and Southeast Asia
Indian perceptions and policies
Islam in Malaysian Foreign Policy
Mohammed Ayoob
Shanti Nair
Gorbachev and Southeast Asia
Political Change in Thailand
Leszek Buszynski
Democracy and participation
Indonesian Politics under Suharto Kevin Hewison
Order, development and pressure for change
The Politics of NGOs in South-East Asia
Michael R.J.Vatikiotis
Participation and protest in the Philippines
The State and Ethnic Politics in Southeast Gerard Clarke
Asia
David Brown Malaysian Politics Under Mahathir
R.S.Milne and Diane K.Mauzy
The Politics of Nation Building and
Citizenship in Singapore Indonesia and China
Michael Hill and Lian Kwen Fee The politics of a troubled relationship
Rizal Sukma
Politics in Indonesia
Democracy, Islam and the ideology of tolerance Arming the Two Koreas
Douglas E.Ramage State, capital and military power
Taik-young Hamm
Communitarian Ideology and Democracy
in Singapore Engaging China
Beng-Huat Chua The management of an emerging power
Edited by Alastair Iain Johnston and Robert S.Ross
The Challenge of Democracy in Nepal
Louise Brown Singapore’s Foreign Policy
Coping with vulnerability
Japan’s Asia Policy
Michael Leifer
WolfMendl
Philippine Politics and Society in the
The International Politics of the
AsiaPacific, 1945–1995 Twentieth Century
Michael Yahuda Colonial legacies, post-colonial trajectories
Eva-Lotta E.Hedman and John T.Sidel
Political Change in Southeast Asia
Trimming the Banyan tree Constructing a Security Community in
Michael R.J.Vatikiotis Southeast Asia
ASEAN and the problem of regional order
Hong Kong Amitav Acharya
China’s challenge
Michael Yahuda Monarchy in South-East Asia
The faces of tradition in transition
Korea versus Korea
Roger Kershaw
A case of contested legitimacy
B.K.Gills
Constructing a
Security Community
in Southeast Asia

ASEAN and the problem of
regional order

Amitav Acharya

London and New York
First published 2001
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

© 2001 Amitav Acharya
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Acharya, Amitav
Constructing a security community in Southeast Asia.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Asia, Southeastern—Politics and government—1945–2.
National security—Asia, Southeastern. 3. Asia,
Southeastern—Foreign relations.
DS526.7 .A26 2000
327.1'7'0959–dc21
00–033276

ISBN 0-203-39334-1 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-39616-2 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-15762-5 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-15763-3 (pbk)
To Julia Greenwood Bentley

Contents
List of illustrations ix
Series editor’s preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
List of abbreviations xv
The evolution of the ASEAN-Ten: a chronology xviii
Map of Southeast Asia xx
Introduction: security communities and ASEAN in
theoretical perspective 1
Why ASEAN? 4
1 Constructing security communities 15
Defining security communities 16
Socialisation, norms and identity 21
Security communities in the non-Atlantic world? 30
The evolution and decline of security communities 34
Framework of the book 37
2 The evolution of ASEAN norms and the emergence of
the ‘ASEAN Way’ 47
Non-use of force and pacific settlement of disputes 48
Regional autonomy or ‘regional solutions to regional problems’ 51
The doctrine of non-interference 57
No military pacts and preference for bilateral defence cooperation 61
ASEAN’s social-cultural norms: the ‘ASEAN Way’ in historical perspective 63
Norms and identity in ASEAN’s evolution 71
3 ASEAN and the Cambodia conflict: a regional solution
to a regional problem? 80
ASEAN’s normative stakes in the Third Indochina War 80
Regional autonomy versus dependence on outside powers 82
vii
viii Contents
ASEAN and the Cambodia endgame 90
Norms, identity and ASEAN in the Cambodia conflict 95
4 Extending ASEAN norms: benefits and burdens
of ASEAN-Ten 102
The process of regional accommodation: Vietnam 103
Testing non-interference: ‘constructive engagement’ with
Myanmar (Burma), 1992–1997 108
Cambodia 1997–1999: limits to non-interference? 115
The impact of expansion on ASEAN’s norms and identity 120
5 Managing intra-regional relations 128
Intra-regional conflicts and conflict management 129
The Spratly Islands dispute 133
An arms race? 136
Enhancing economic interdependence 141
ASEAN as a ‘defence community’ 146
Sovereignty, non-interference and regional problem solving 151
6 ASEAN and Asia Pacific security: limits of the ASEAN Way? 165
Rethinking autonomy as a regional norm 167
The ARF and the ASEAN Way 172
The burdens and benefits of multilateralism 179
Conclusion 184
Conclusion: ASEAN as a pluralistic security community:
ascendant or decadent? 194
The effects of ASEAN’s norms 196
Prospects for ASEAN: a ‘sunset’ organisation? 203
Further reading 210
Index 227
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Norms, socialisation and security communities 29
1.2 Constructing security communities: a framework 39
Tables
5.1 Disputed maritime areas in Southeast Asia with
petroleum potential 130
5.2 Military expenditures in Southeast Asia, 1984–1994 138
5.3 Representative major arms procurement programmes
in Southeast Asia, 1997 139
5.4 ASEAN military cooperation: bilateral military exercises 148
5.5 ASEAN military cooperation: training, defence industrial
and general agreements 149
6.1 Proposed frameworks of multilateralism, 1990–1992 169
ix