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 • whether the ASEAN model of conflict management can be applied to the wider Asia Pacific region • the threat posed by territorial disputes in the South China Sea • domestic instability in Myanmar and Cambodia • the impact of military acquisitions on intra-regional relations • recent debates over ASEAN’s non-interference doctrine and calls for a ‘flexible engagement’ approach • 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 ASEAN and the Security of South-East Taiwan and Chinese Nationalism 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 India and Southeast Asia Kevin Y.L.Tan and Lam Peng Er 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 Michael R.J.Vatikiotis The Politics of NGOs in South-East Asia 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 Japan’s Asia Policy Coping with vulnerability WolfMendl Michael Leifer The International Politics of the Philippine Politics and Society in 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 Series editor’s preface The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has enjoyed a mixed institutional experience since its advent in August 1967. The past three decades and more have seen the Association manage intra-mural tensions with some success and also act as a diplomatic community speaking with a single voice during the course of the Cambodian conflict. Since the end of the Cold War, ASEAN has assumed a diplomatic centrality within the ASEAN Regional Forum (ART) but has also faced evident difficulties in sustaining collective consensus as a result of the impact of regional economic crisis and an enlargement of membership to coincide with geographic Southeast Asia, exempting East Timor. Professor Amitav Acharya has drawn on this mixed institutional experience to address the subject of constructing a security community. At issue in this volume is what kind of model does ASEAN provide for confronting the problem of regional order identified in the sub-title? Professor Acharya has taken as his intellectual point of reference the concept of ‘Constructivism’, whereby cooperation among states is understood as a social process that can have a positive, and even transforming, effect on their relations through internalising regulatory norms. Indeed, he is a member of the academic school that maintains that norms can have a life of their own and are capable of influencing the behaviour of states so that they come to share a common habit of peaceful conduct. Professor Acharya is exceptionally well qualified to address this subject and its regional context. He has acquired a wealth of regional field experience and also has established a prodigious record of scholarship combining theoretical perspectives with empirical data.