Conflicting Priorities? Security and Democracy as Challenges to Regionalism in Southeast Asia
ConferenceDate and Time
May 22, 2007 - May 23, 2007
By Invitation Only
Panelists
Donald K. Emmerson - Senior Fellow at Shorenstein APARC, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Mely Caballero Anthony - Assistant Professor at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University
Termsak Chalermpalanupap - Director of Research at ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, Indonesia
Joern Dosch - Professor, Asia Pacific Studies at University of Leeds
Kyaw Yin Hlaing - Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science at National University of Singapore
Brian Job - Director, Centre of International Relations at University of British Columbia
David Jones - Senior Lecturer, Political Science at University of Queensland
Erik Kuhonta - Assistant Professor at Department of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Michael Malley - Assistant Professor, Department of National Security Affairs at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey
Rizal Sukma - Deputy Executive Director at Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta
Simon SC Tay - Chairman at Singapore Institute of International Affairs
Dionisio da Costa Babo Soares - Co-Chairman, Commission of Truth and Friendship at Timor Leste, Indonesia
Security has been a priority for regionalism in Southeast Asia since well before ASEAN's inception in 1967. Democracy has not. But as Southeast Asia has become at least formally more democratic, some members of the Association have begun to question its original commitment to respecting the national sovereignty of its members and not criticizing abuses within their borders. The stage is now set for a reconsideration of democracy as a legitimate regional concern.
There are at least three (non-mutually-exclusive) ways in which democracy could become a higher priority for ASEAN: (i) instrumentally, if regional elites are sufficiently convinced that a lack of democracy inside a given country makes the larger region insecure; (ii) normatively, to the extent that these elites value transparency, accountability, and the protection of rights and freedoms as regional ends in and of themselves; and (iii) externally, to the extent that such elites are subjected to pressures from domestic and/or foreign actors to make democracy a regional priority.
This conference, and the subsequent volume, will review and assess these possibilities with particular reference to how democracy may be related to security in Southeast Asia. If security is a benefit of democracy, the instrumental case is made. Normatively, security can be enlarged to incorporate democracy as a matter of "human security," to cite an increasingly popular concept. Security-democracy linkages can also be drawn by external actors with democratizing agendas -- governments outside the region as well as activists inside it.
How do security and democracy interact in Southeast Asia? Can and should democracy become a regional priority in Southeast Asia? Why, or why not, to what extent, and with what policy implications -- and recommendations? These are the core questions that the conference and the book will try to answer.
Conference cosponsor: Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University.
Location
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
Encina Hall, 3rd floor, east wing
616 Serra St.
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305
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