Can asean cope with “human insecurity” in southeast asia? in search of a new asean way

Abstract

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN ) has developed mechanisms of managing conflicts that take place between or within its member states. Although in its earlier form, the so-called the ASEAN Way of conflict management was state-centric in its basic nature, it has been under transformation in the new transnational landscape of the region. The issue of “human insecurity” is one of the new challenges that the conventional ASEAN Way faces, demanding the protection of individual persons from the scourges of conflict and social instability. This chapter investigates and assesses to what degree ASEAN has been coping with this new challenge. To achieve this objective, it investigates how relevant concepts and documents, such as human rights, human security, responsibility to protect (R2P), the ASEAN Community and the ASEAN Charter, are becoming operationalized in the region by intergovernmental cooperation and civil society networks. Based on the insights obtained by theoretical arguments and case studies from Myanmar, the chapter concludes that ASEAN is gradually changing its basic character from “regime incubator” to “human security incubator” in order to effectively address the region’s humanitarian situations in a unique way.