ASEAN's Non-Interference Policy

Flashcards reviewing key concepts and events related to ASEAN's policy of non-interference, its historical context, and its implications.

ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is widely believed to have made non-interference in internal affairs a key principle of regionalism.

Non-interference

A principle that is criticized for hindering ASEAN's ability to act on economic crises and security threats.

Consensus on Non-Interference

Scholars from various perspectives agree that ASEAN member states rarely intervene in each other's internal affairs.

Constructivists

Argue that ASEAN created order by cultivating norms, including non-interference, transforming member states' interests and behavior.

Realists

Believe that regional order depends on power balancing, but still recognize the importance of non-interference within ASEAN.

Regime security

Benefits of non-interference include the mutual recognition of sovereign entities and non-intervention in other states' affairs.

Problematic Norm

Norm has been maintained despite intra-mural challenges, preventing ASEAN from confronting important problems.

Singaporean Diplomat Admission

Frankly, we have been interfering mercilessly in each other’s internal affairs for ages, from the very beginning.

Rodolfo Severino

The application of non-interference is governed by pragmatic considerations and has not been absolute.

Cold War Interventions

During the Cold War, ASEAN states intervened in domestic conflicts to maintain non-communist social, political, and economic order.

Post-Cold War Meddling

Following the Cold War, interventions were replaced by meddling as business elites competed for the peace dividend.

Financial Crisis Impact

The 1997 Asian financial crisis led to an upsurge in opposition from various groups, prompting intervention in East Timor in 1999.

Myanmar Intervention

Efforts to regain relevance after the crisis led core ASEAN states to try to discipline Myanmar.

Intervention

Defined as deliberate activity interfering in the domestic affairs of another state to change or preserve its political authority.

ASEAN Foundational Documents

Affirm the principle of non-interference, but social conflicts explain the emphasis on this principle.

Non-Interference Adoption

Adopted to aid agenda of defending the prevailing social order during the Cold War

Lee Kuan Yew on ASEAN's objective

Singapore's Prime Minister explained that the unspoken objective was to gain strength through solidarity ahead of possible withdrawals of power

Thai generals and state-linked businessmen

Thai generals and state-linked businessmen who had benefited from the conflicts by smuggling arms and goods through various Bangkok-backed guerrilla groups undermined the normalisation of relations with Myanmar and Cambodia

Capitalist control of state power

Even allows individual tycoons to use state apparatuses to further their own interests, sometimes in an interventionist manner

Retention of Non-Interference

States that interventions continued in East Timor even as non-interference was officially retained