EU-ASEAN relations, human rights institutions, and

Transcript:EU-ASEAN relations, human rights institutions, and:
EU-ASEAN relations, human rights institutions, and flawed emulation Professor Paul Bacon Jean Monnet Chair of European Union Studies Waseda University 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The ASEAN Way and ASEAN centrality ASEAN has demonstrated considerable framing power in two domains by promoting the concept of the 'ASEAN Way'. Firstly, in the intra-ASEAN peace and security domain, it has developed a security community-like culture among its members states. This is based on six core constitutive ASEAN norms, the most important of which are sovereignty, non-interference and territorial integrity. Secondly, it has projected norms such as ‘the non-use of force’ and ‘pacific settlement of disputes’ outward into the Asia-Pacific. These norms are reflected in the institutionalization of international relations in the region around ‘ASEAN centrality’, in arrangements such as ASEAN + 3 and the ASEAN Regional Forum. We focus on the first of these domains, intra-ASEAN relations, because this is more explicitly connected to issues of democracy and human rights promotion. 9 An ‘ASEAN paradox’? Within this first domain, ASEAN has unfortunately so far failed in its attempts to develop institutions which protect human rights. The ‘ASEAN Way’ is itself a 'negative' institutional settlement. It is made up of a set of norms explicitly designed to limit aggressive behaviour and mutual interference, rather than promote more ambitious goals of regional governance. This has ultimately prevented ASEAN from creating meaningful practices and mechanisms through which to institutionalize the promotion and protection of human rights and democracy. There is an 'ASEAN paradox', as such. There have been genuine attempts to build rigorous practices and mechanisms of mutual scrutiny in the area of human rights and democracy, which some feel are necessary to ‘round out’ and develop the full potential of the organization. Ultimately, however, these attempts have come up against the most important ASEAN norm, that of non-interference: Some ASEAN member governments fear that any departure from non-interference... could ruin the grouping. But a flexible attitude towards sovereignty is also crucial to its ability to deal with ... transnational challenges. This is the essential paradox of contemporary Southeast Asian regionalism: the very norms and practices that have kept ASEAN viable have also limited [its] effectiveness in dealing with external and global challenges (Acharya 2014: 264). 10 Norm entrepreneur member states During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several ASEAN states democratized, or developed more robust democratic and democracy promotion credentials. At