Suchergebnisse

Chapter 1: Introduction—ASEAN's Strategic Utility Redefined -- Chapter 2: The Concept of Institutional Strategy and Change -- Chapter 3: Four Phases of South China Sea Disputes 1990–2020 -- Chapter 4: Institutional Strategies of ASEAN/ASEAN-led Institutions -- Chapter 5: Conclusion—Future Implications of ASEAN's Institutional Strategies.

This Open Access book explains ASEAN's strategic role in managing great power politics in East Asia. Constructing a theory of institutional strategy, this book argues that the regional security institutions in Southeast Asia, ASEAN and ASEAN-led institutions have devised their own institutional strategies vis-à-vis the South China Sea and navigated the great-power politics since the 1990s. ASEAN proliferated new security institutions in the 1990s and 2000s that assumed a different functionality, a different geopolitical scope, and thus a different institutional strategy. In so doing, ASEAN formed a "strategic institutional web" that nurtured a quasi-division of labor among the institutions to maintain relative stability in the South China Sea. Unlike the conventional analysis on ASEAN, this study disaggregates "ASEAN" as a collective regional actor into specific individual institutions—ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, ASEAN Summit, ASEAN-China dialogues, ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asia Summit, and ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting and ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus—and explains how each of these institutions has devised and/or shifted its institutional strategy to curb great powers' ambition in dominating the South China Sea while navigating great power competition. The book sheds light on the strategic potential and limitations of ASEAN and ASEAN-led security institutions, offers implications for the future role of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region, and provides an alternative understanding of the strategic utilities of regional security institutions.

"Regional security institutions play a significant role in shaping the behavior of existing and rising regional powers by nurturing security norms and rules, monitoring state activities, and sometimes imposing sanctions, thereby formulating the configuration of regional security dynamics. Yet, their security roles and influence do not remain constant. Their raison d'etre, objectives, and functions experience sporadic changes, and some institutions upgrade military functions for peacekeeping operations, while others limit their functions to political and security dialogues. The question is: why and how do these variances in institutional change emerge? This book explores the mechanisms of institutional change, focusing on regional security institutions led by non-great powers. It constructs a theoretical model for institutional change that provides a new understanding of their changing roles in regional security, which has yet to be fully explored in the International Relations field. In so doing, the book illuminates why, when, and how each organization restructures its role, function, and influence. Using case studies of the Association of Southeast Asian nation's (ASEAN), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Organization of African Unity (OAU)/African Union (AU), it also sheds light on similarities and differences in institutional change between regional security institutions"--

"Regional security institutions play a significant role in shaping the behavior of existing and rising regional powers by nurturing security norms and rules, monitoring state activities, and sometimes imposing sanctions, thereby formulating the configuration of regional security dynamics. Yet, their security roles and influence do not remain constant. Their raison d'etre, objectives, and functions experience sporadic changes, and some institutions upgrade military functions for peacekeeping operations, while others limit their functions to political and security dialogues. The question is: why and how do these variances in institutional change emerge? This book explores the mechanisms of institutional change, focusing on regional security institutions led by non-great powers. It constructs a theoretical model for institutional change that provides a new understanding of their changing roles in regional security, which has yet to be fully explored in the International Relations field. In so doing, the book illuminates why, when, and how each organization restructures its role, function, and influence. Using case studies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Organization of African Unity (OAU)/African Union (AU), it also sheds light on similarities and differences in institutional change between regional security institutions"--

How are the rise, fall, and evolution of minilateralism in the Indo-Pacific region explained? To address this question, I examine the cases of the Quad and AUKUS, and argue that they were caused by the success and failure of coalition-building efforts made through 'tactical hedging'. As the world transitions from a unipolar to a non-unipolar world, states attempt to formulate coalitions to safeguard their national interests. However, the challenge is to figure out which states are truly 'like-minded' and can strategically coordinate their policies for mutual interests. Under this circumstance, states send signals through 'tactical hedging' – 'an ambiguous, temporal declaratory policy doctrine' – that assists the hedger in assessing whether its allies and partners are willing to cooperate; in this case, building a coalition towards the same or similar strategic objectives. The key is the initial ambiguity in signalling, which becomes critical to the future success of building a coalition among parties whose interests are not always congruent.

How has Japan developed its Southeast Asian strategy in the context of the intensifying US-China rivalry since the 2010s? This article argues that the rapidly changing strategic environment brought about by the assertive rise of China prompted Japan to adopt a new strategic vision that went beyond the traditional geographical focus on East Asia. Japan has gradually positioned Southeast Asia as one of the most important strategic theatres in the Indo-Pacific. Utilising its existing economic and diplomatic leverage in Southeast Asia, Japan has been pursuing various types of capacity-building strategies to empower Southeast Asian states and ASEAN to maintain regional autonomy, which the author calls "strategic empowerment". While Japan has engaged in similar cooperative activities in the past, it has renewed its commitment through three main means: building a strategic partnership in Southeast Asia; promoting international rules, norms and values; and strengthening ASEAN-led institutions.

Japan under the first and second Abe administration in 2006–07 and 2012–20, respectively, played a pivotal leading role in creating and institutionalising the Quad. While Japan has taken on a more supportive role in the post-Abe administrations, there are unique roles that Japan could still play in coordinating and shaping the strategic role of the Quad, such as configuring its institutional relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This chapter argues that ASEAN's mechanisms to tackle emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) have been developing gradually since the declaration made at the ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting (AHMM) in 1980. While the 2003 SARS crisis significantly enhanced ASEAN's cooperation to counter EIDs, ASEAN had already laid a foundation for such cooperation before 2003. This chapter shows that ASEAN has tended to focus on the regional rather than global level due to a lack of financial and technical resources and ASEAN's long-standing institutional norms. The recent intensification of great power rivalries, particularly between the United States and China, means that relying on external actors for medical support would entrap ASEAN in great power politics. As such, ASEAN needs to make efforts to build its capacity to respond to EIDs. ; Published version