The ASEAN Way as a symbol: an analysis of discourses on the ASEAN Norms

ABSTRACT

Has the ‘ASEAN Way’ – a set of rules of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) centered on the principle of non-interference and consensus decision-making – really established its position as an ASEAN norm? This paper aims to analyze the discourses of each ASEAN country and empirically explain their attitudes toward the norm. Specifically, I review various documentations to examine how various ASEAN diplomats have used the term ‘ASEAN Way.’ How did they come to call the principle of non-interference and consensus decision-making ‘ASEAN Way’ in the early 1990s? Why have they begun using the term negatively, as something to be reformed, in recent years? By describing the discourses on the ‘ASEAN Way’ and their changes over the years, I show that the rationality of non-interference and consensus decision-making has changed over time and shifted the positioning of the ‘ASEAN way’ as a symbol. This presents a new and empirical interpretation of the changes in ASEAN Norms.

KEYWORDS:

• ASEAN Way
• non-interference
• consensus
• discourse analysis

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Corrigendum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Refer to Kusuma (1995) for a study on how the term began appearing and Acharya (1997) for a discussion on how the term was popularized. As a note, although Solidum had used the term ‘ASEAN way’ in 1981, which is exceptionally early, it should be regarded as a kind of outlier since it has nothing to do with the trend of the ‘ASEAN way’ depicted in ASEAN research after 1995 (Solidum, 1981).

2. Keynote address by the honorable Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed The Prime Minister of Malaysia; retrieved May 15, 2007, from http://asean.org/?static_post=keynote-address-by-the-honourable-dato-seri-dr-mahathir-mohamed-the-prime-minister-of-malaysia.

3. Opening statement of H. E. Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia at 31st AMM, Manila, July 24 1998; retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://asean.org/?static_post=opening-statement-of-he-dato-seri-abdullah-ahmad-badawi-minister-of-foreign-affairs-of-malaysia-at-31st-asean-ministerial-meeting-manila-24-july-1998.

4. Closing statement of H. E. Prof. S. Jayakumar, Minister For Foreign Affairs, at the 31st AMM, Manila, July 25 1998; retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://asean.org/?static_post=closing-statement-of-he-prof-s-jayakumar-minister-for-foreign-affairs-at-the-thirty-first-asean-ministerial-meeting-manila-25-july-1998.

5. Closing statement of H. E. Prof. S Jayakumar, Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the 31st AMM, Manila, July 25 1998; retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://asean.org/?static_post=closing-statement-of-he-prof-s-jayakumar-minister-for-foreign-affairs-at-the-thirty-first-asean-ministerial-meeting-manila-25-july-1998.

6. Opening remark by H. E. Senior General Than Shwe, Prime Minister of Myanmar at the Sixth ASEAN Summit Hanoi, December 15 1998; retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://asean.org/?static_post=opening-remark-by-hesenior-general-than-shwe-prime-minister-of-myanmar-at-the-sixth-asean-summit-hanoi-15-december-1998.

7. The AICHR was expected to bolster the ASEAN regional institution's legitimacy, rather than to actually improve the human-rights situations in each member state (Katsumata, 2009).

8. Speech by Mr S. Pushpanathan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN at the National Resilience Institute of Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, May 20 2009; retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/images/archive/Speech-DSG-AEC-SP-NationalResilienceInstitute.pdf.

9. When it comes to bilateral cooperation with extraterritorial actors, such as the United States and EU, and in a broader framework such as with ARF, typically the member nations emphasize the positive aspects of the ASEAN Way. In that sense, it can be said that the ASEAN Way shows a slightly different tendency toward those they deal with on the outside than toward those within the region.

10. Speech by H. E. Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of ASEAN at the Nikkei – 20th International Conference on the Future of Asia, 23 May 2014, Tokyo; retrieved May 15, 2017, from http://www.asean.org/wp-content/uploads/images/resources/Speech/SG/2014/23%20May%202014_Speech_%20Nikkei%20%2020th%20International%20Conference%20on%20the%20Future%20of%20Asia_ASEAN%20in%20the%20Next%2020%20Years.pdf.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [grant number 16K17069].

Notes on contributors

Taku Yukawa

Taku Yukawa is an associate professor of Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.