Political Developments and Problems in SEA 21/05/20151ASEAN & Political Devpt

Introduction Historically, the founding of the ASEAN was helped by a common desire – ensure the survival of regimes that had by then retreated significantly from their post-colonial experiments in liberal democracy People power revolution in the Philippines in 1986 – SEA has experienced incremental process of democratization 21/05/20152ASEAN & Political Devpt

Introduction Only Myanmar has clearly gone in the opposite direction, although pro-democracy forces opposing the military opposing the military junta in Myanmar have become increasingly active in Thailand The coup de’tat in Thailand recently, give the signal for the fragility of system 21/05/20153ASEAN & Political Devpt

Introduction The process of democratization during the late 1980’s and 1990’s has called into question the ASEAN model of elite-centered regional socialization Political change in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia has engendered efforts to democratize the regionalism Civil society in the region demands greater openness in Southeast Asian regionalism 21/05/20154ASEAN & Political Devpt

Political System in SEA Nexus between authoritarianism and the origins of ASEAN A collective retreat from post-colonial experiments in liberal democracy was a key factor contributing to ASEAN’s formation and consolidation Liberal democracy had a considerable appeal among Southeast Asian nationalist (except Vietnam), but their acceptance of democracy proved to be qualified and short-lived 21/05/20155ASEAN & Political Devpt

The late 1950’s marked the beginning of the end of the flirtation with democratic systems modeled after their former colonial masters by nationalist elites in SEA Indonesia – Sukarno Philippines – Marcos 21/05/20156ASEAN & Political Devpt

Malaysia and Singapore – democratic institutions based on the British model fared better without any military takeovers Malaysia – ethnic conflict Singapore – a dominant party system 21/05/20157ASEAN & Political Devpt

Outward objective of ASEAN was to promote the socio- economic development of its members, its core basis was members’ common concern with regime survival in the face of domestic and external threats, especially communist subversion At the same time, ASEAN states, still nationalist-minded and zealous about their hard-earned sovereignty, rejected Western models of regionalism, such as the supranational and highly institutionalized EC framework In this context, the traditional principles of gotong royong and musyawarah seemed an ideal way to develop regional cooperation 21/05/20158ASEAN & Political Devpt

ASEAN way ASEAN way was defined in terms of informality, consultation and consensus, organizational minimalism and flexibility (Acharya 2000) Basis in traditional culture – supposed to be a democratic approach to decision making 21/05/20159ASEAN & Political Devpt