Threat construction in the Bush administration's post-9/11 foreign policy: (critical) security implications for Southeast Asia

Abstract

The Bush Administration's ‘war on terror’ was both a set of policies as well as a powerful security narrative that informed the way that threat was understood and constructed post-9/11. This idea is explored specifically with regard to how the articulation of threat in the ‘war on terror’ informed American relations with Southeast Asia, which in turn had active consequences for regional state and non-state actors alike. The importance of discourse is explained with a focus on how the discursive construction of threat within the ‘war on terror’ security narrative is intrinsic to the ‘security project’ of the American state, as well as to American national identity more generally (Campbell 1998, Jackson 2005). From this analytical perspective, this paper contends that irruptions of the Bush Administration's post-9/11 foreign policy discourse in Southeast Asia were observable, and that these manifestations of discursive construction engendered consequences that contributed to an increase in anti-Americanism and terrorist activities aimed at ‘Western’ targets, and to a proliferation of anti-democratic and repressive behaviors by Southeast Asian governments under the guise of anti-terror measures.

Keywords:

• war on terror
• Bush doctrine
• terrorism
• Southeast Asia
• critical security
• securitization

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Richard Stubbs, Marshall Beier, Lana Wylie and the anonymous reviewers at The Pacific Review for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Jennifer Mustapha is a PhD candidate and Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at McMaster University. Her research has been funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Ontario Government. Jennifer completed a Master of Arts Thesis in Political Science at McMaster University (2001), and holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies from the University of Manitoba (1999). After completing her Masters and prior to commencing doctoral studies, she was employed as an international trade specialist and policy advisor for the Government of Ontario. There she conducted research, advised ministers, and participated in Federal/Provincial/Territorial negotiations and consultations regarding Canada's position on international trade issues. She was also involved in negotiations to revise the inter-provincial Agreement on Internal Trade.

Notes

1. ‘East Asia’ here is a largely arbitrary designation that refers to the Western rim of the Pacific, from the Koreas down to Indonesia. ‘Southeast Asia’ refers more specifically to the members of ASEAN.

2. Critical Security in the Asia-Pacific, the 2007 volume edited by Burke and MacDonald, is one of the only texts currently published that specifically contains critical security analyses (including post-structuralist analysis) as applied to East and Southeast Asia. Natasha Hamilton-Hart (2005, 2009) is another Asia scholar who has produced critical security work. Rosemary Foot (2005) is another. David Capie (2004) has specifically looked at the effects of the US WOT on Southeast Asia, including its contributions to the anti-democratic tendencies of governments in the region. However, his analysis is largely constructivist, state-focused, and concerned with more traditional balance-of-power matters. Richard Jackson (2005) has produced some really engaging post-structuralist critical security analyses of the US WOT, but has not focused specifically on its effects in Asia.

3. A representative cross-section of this type of ‘mainstream’ analysis of terrorism in East Asia can be found in the 2003 volume, Terrorism in the Asia Pacific: Threat and Response, edited by Rohan Gunaratna. Gunaratna is widely considered to be an eminent authority and ‘expert’ (a problematic designation, explored in a later section) on terrorism in Southeast Asia.

4. Texts, both in the literal sense of official foreign-policy documentation, and in the non-literal sense of the social/cultural/political practices of foreign policy.

5. It is interesting to note, then, that in the official statement of the joint agreement between the US and the Philippines shortly after 9/11, where Washington rewarded Manila's support for the war on terror with several military, trade and development initiatives, both leaders ‘agreed that sustainable peace in Mindanao in the southern Philippines requires addressing Mindanao's root economic and social problems’ (The White House 2001b).

6. After 9/11, the anti-terrorist aspect of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) agenda gained more prominence and received verbal endorsement from US officials in the Bush Administration, who were otherwise quite leery of the SCO.

7. China's treatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population has become cloaked in the post-9/11 anti-terrorist rhetoric. Notwithstanding the bombings of western regions of China during the 2008 Olympics, alleged by the Chinese authorities to be the work of Uighur separatists, there remains little evidence linking the Uighur secessionists to al Qaeda.

8. Since then, controversy continues to simmer in the Philippines over the American military presence, exacerbated by the 2006 case of a group of US Marines charged with raping a Filipino woman in Subic.

9. Over 10,000 people have been arrested under the ISA since its enactment (Aliran ISA Watch).

10. According to Secretary Clinton, the Obama Administration's principles and priorities for the Asian ‘regional architecture’ still revolve around ‘security’ and the contention that East Asia faces an uncertain future because of ‘unprecedented threats’ (US Department of State 2010, emphasis added).