The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Introduction
Formed in the mid-1960s by five anti-Communist states, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) serves the Southeast Asia (SEA) region as a multilateral institution with the primary responsibility of promoting social and economic cooperation among its members and maintaining peace in the region. ASEAN is quite unique in that it is built upon a cultural respect for the authority of individual nations to control what goes on within their boarders with little complaint or judgement by those on the outside, or even within ASEAN. The decision making process of the group requires complete consensus or ‘mufakat’ before any decision or action is taken by the Association.
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The initial expansion of ASEAN, as discussed below, was for the purpose of furthering the political and security desires of member states. Today’s efforts to expand ASEAN also seek to security and political stability, but the potential for increased trade and economic stability is a major consideration. As this paper will show, ASEAN should take care in future expansions unless it is prepared to manage the potential instituation instabilities resulting from continued economic incongruencies and other management impediments resulting from a larger ASEAN.
Initial Expansion of ASEAN
ASEAN’s initial five members were Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. In the 1990’s, ASEAN sought to expand its membership as the result of relatively normalized relations in the region, therefore seeking to include Laos, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia. Cambodia was the last member to join in 1999 due to its internal instabilities that ASEAN was unprepared to deal with. The initial expansion of ASEAN was the result of the “gradual rapprochement between the ASEAN members and Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and Vietnam respectively.” (Amer 1999, 1038)
Drivers
The initial drivers for the initial expansion of ASEAN were political and security related. Economic benefits were in the minds of the new members, but this was not a key driver in the initial expansion in
The differences between Singapore and Malaya resulted in the failure of their merger. Firstly, Malaya wanted Singapore to follow their communal political system which is contrasted with Singapore's multiracial system. Secondly, the political rivalry between the Alliance Party and People's Action Party (PAP) caused tension and mistrust between the parties. This can be seen from the 1963 Singapore Elections, 1964 Federal Elections and the Malaysian Solidarity Convention. Lastly, Singapore was also seen as an economic rival and Malayan government did not set up a common market for them. These political and economic differences resulted in disagreements that caused the separation of Singapore from Malaysia. As a newly independent state, Singapore faced many formidable challenges. With the lack of natural resources, capital formation and proper development of its economic system, Singapore was placed in a predicament where Singapore had no choice but to fortify its nation building efforts. The separation was deemed as the event that led to the “[kindling of] the first feelings of Singapore nationalism”, spearheading the process of Singapore's nation building efforts. Henceforth, this shows how the separation and independence of Singapore could be a more relevant factor as compared to the Japanese Occupation, that led to the making of its
1) Nationalism, socialism, and religion have all played a major role in anti-colonial struggles and post-colonial constructions in India and Southeast Asia. Which of these three ideologies do you think was most effective for colonized peoples and why?
This essay analyses the Australian-China bilateral relationship since 1945 and in particular its political significance to Australia. Many global factors have influenced this relationship, including the advent of the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the collapse of the Soviet bloc European nations. In addition, internal political changes in Australia and China have both affected and been affected by the global changes. It will be analysed that Australia’s bilateral relationship with China has always had a sharp political edge but that approaching the new millenium economics and trade considerations are shaping Australias and for that matter Chinese politics.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim economies. APEC members are described as ‘economies’ because the APEC cooperative process is predominantly concerned with trade and economic issues, with members engaging with one another as economic entities. APEC promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; to fears that highly industrialised Japan (a member of G8) would come to dominate economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region; and to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe.(Andrew Elek)
The question requires an examination of the role, either beneficial or detrimental, that Containment played in the type of political development that was most relevant to Southeast Asia in the time period stated: the decolonization of countries
Consequently, the idea of national interest has changed along with the techniques for accomplishing national interest. In place of national interest, convenience must be made for the global interest. What's more, the new States are confronted with the issues of modernization, political strength, financial advancement, managerial productivity and regional integrity. The smaller countries have subsequently to determine their national interest remembering those issues at
When it comes to the political profile, seven different countries have competing maritime claims (mostly over the Spratly and Paracel Islands), some of which become even more complicated as some overlap with other nations’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). Despite the “intraregional distrust, deeply rooted historical issues, and rapidly increasing military spending” in the region surrounding the South China Sea, one expert argues that “not only has the conflict not escalated into a serious military conflict; it has, in fact, been mitigated… in fact, a more stable peace has developed.” (Costlow, 2012, p.6).
The US has put their presence in Southeast Asia and it has resulted in dire consequences. Southeast Asia has terrorist groups known as Al Qaeda and evil leaders such as Saddam Hussein. America thinks that their presence is needed in Southeast Asia to help deal with relations like this and others to come. But, the US should not have a presence in Southeast Asia. The US should not have a presence in Southeast Asia because, our military has and will cause further damage to the ecosystem, we tend to reason with force and result easily to conflict when dealing with situations like this, and we ask if others what we wouldn't do.
Years” states that the United States does not have any permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests”. The strategic interests of the United States in South Asia do lie in having a
Chapter six introduces the music of Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is composed of eleven countries: Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, and Timor-Leste. The cultures are shaped by weather patterns, which generally stay the same year-round. As many as 200 ethnics group can be found throughout Southeast Asia and so, many different types of music can be found. The area is known for using bamboo and bronze to make instruments. Among the island nations, Indonesia is consist of over 13,000 islands making it the largest archipelago in the world.
This triangle would prove to be a good move for the three countries, but with free trade agreements (FTAs) and close economic partnerships (CEPs) coming onto the scene, the growth triangles introduced in the 80’s looked as if they may have competition in the economic realm, but GTs continue to be at the tip of the spear due to the cooperation between the three are still very productive for them all. With all three countries being relatively close together, costs are minimal. Not to mention, this export-oriented cooperation is still attractive to foreign trading (Heng, 2006, pg. 1). The pioneering GT in Southeast Asia is that of the IMS-GT, and its evolution is very much tied to the economic development of the Singapore economy (Toh & Low, 1993, Kakazu, 1997). There are five GT’s in existence and GT’s are highly regarded by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
United States Policy toward Southeast Asia In 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a trusteeship principle, in which the subjugated nations of Asia would prepare themselves for self-government, under the supervision of the imperial nations. FDR had ‘genuine humanitarian principles’[1] and was aware of the conditions under which colonial people sometimes lived. He also realised that the colonial system was detrimental to US interests.
Beeson, M. (2014). Regionalism and globalisation in East Asia: politics, security and economic development, 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
The Organization of American States is the world’s oldest regional organization, having roots as far back as the 1826 Congress of Panama (United States Permanent Mission, n.d.). The Charter of the OAS was signed in 1948 by 21 member states and entered into force by December 1951, officially creating the Organization of American States. Today, 35 independent countries of the America have ratified the Charter and belong to the Organization, and over 68 other states, as well as the European Union, have been granted permanent observer status. The primary focus of the Organization, as stipulated in Article 1 of the Charter, is to achieve among its member states “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence” (Charter of the Organization of American States, 1967). While trade is not one of the Organization’s original four main pillars (those being democracy, human rights, security, and development), in recent years, more emphasis has been placed on trade.
ASEAN was officially founded in August 1967 when five founding member states jointly signed the Bangkok declaration. Since then ASEAN experienced number of threats, such as security threat in cold war, economic and financial threat in 1997 East Asia Economic crisis, and now being in the security dilemma between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, prominent major powers attempting to dominate the region, despite all the threat, ASEAN set its goal to become a community in December 2015 which has lot of potential to contribute to the world stage but it also has countless number of challenges, mainly caused by its diversities, nationalism and lack of