Keeping the Peace in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Quest for Positive Peace

Emmers, Ralf; Caballero-Anthony, Mely

Abstract

Southeast Asia has gone through a remarkable transformation in recent decades and seen peaceful change since the end of the Cold War era despite great power interference and rivalry and ongoing territorial disputes including the South China Sea conflict. The region has transformed its image from the so-called Balkans of the East in the 1960s and 1970s to an economically competitive and peaceful region today. Despite these accomplishments, the record of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in maintaining regional peace and security has also been seriously challenged, particularly at the domestic and transnational level. The paper argues that the Southeast Asian experience of peaceful change calls for a different framework of analysis that goes beyond the traditional International Relations theories which do not provide a compelling answer to whether regional peace has prevailed. It reviews ASEAN’s approaches to managing peace and security in Southeast Asia and brings close attention to domestic and international dynamics. The paper claims that the Southeast Asian states’ approach to positive peace, reflected in the notion of comprehensive security and the building of national and regional resilience, is instructive in understanding peaceful transformations in the region.

Citation

Emmers, R., & Caballero-Anthony, M. (in press). Keeping the Peace in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Quest for Positive Peace. The Pacific Review, 35(6), 1079-1104. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2022.2075440

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 10, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 16, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 7, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 8, 2023
• Journal: The Pacific Review
• Print ISSN: 0951-2748
• Electronic ISSN: 1470-1332
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1079-1104
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2022.2075440