Introduction: The asean way of conflict management under challenge

Abstract

This introductory chapter of the book first revisits conceptually the ASEAN Way of conflict management (AWCM)—its basic ideas and mode of operation—and identifies several challenges that has made it increasingly dysfunctional in the post-Cold War Southeast Asia. Based on this perception of the inadequacy of the conventional AWCM, the chapter sets up the overall goal of the book: to find emerging patterns of managing conflict within the domain of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which may represent a new AWCM. To achieve this objective, seven conflicts—intrastate and interstate—in contemporary Southeast Asia are chosen for the investigation of the following chapters. These conflicts are: Aceh in Indonesia, the southern Philippines, southern Thailand, and the political conflict in Myanmar as intrastate conflicts, and the Thailand–Cambodia Preah Vihear temple dispute, the Indonesia–Malaysia Ambalat block dispute and the South China Sea (SCS) dispute as interstate conflicts. The chapter then introduces the concepts of incompatibility management and mediation regime, which would be used as analytical tools in the case study chapters.