ASEAN and the EU in handling the COVID-19 outbreak: A comparative study between supranational organizations

Abstract

This research is a comparative study between ASEAN and the EU in handling the COVID-19 outbreak. It aims to answer why the idea of cooperation in ASEAN does not appear in the narrative of the Indonesian government's steps and actions in dealing with COVID-19. Simultaneously, the EU has collectively succeeded in mitigating casualties during the outbreak, and the cooperation can be seen clearly through specific programs for this global pandemic situation. This research utilizes contemporary transformative mixed methods design. The theory employed in this research is the Survival Theory. It is concluded that ASEAN's multilateralism is most ineffective within the health sector, causing a wide discrepancy of medical service and death tolls among ASEAN countries. This is mainly due to ASEAN's non-interference policy. However, though ineffective in the health sector, ASEAN has given economic incentives to revitalize its nations' economy during and after the outbreak.