Department of Political Science

. Batch:15,session:2019-20
. Assignment on

Success and Failure of ASEAN

Course :Governance and politics of Southeast Asia
. Course Code: pol 2104

Submitted to
Rabeya Bosri Chandni
Lecturer, Department of Political
Science
Jagannath University, Dhaka-1100
Submitted by
Group No: 02 (2nd year, 1stsemester)
Date of Submission :11-05-2022
Name Student ID Contribution

Md: Uzzal Sarker B190402010 Introduction

Md: Abdur Rahman B190402011 Background

Sheikh Masud Parvez B190402013 Activities

Mst: Shorna Khatun B190402014 Vision

Sayma Akter B190402012 Limitation

Mst: Jannatul Ferdous B190402016 Success of ASEAN

Md: Limon Hasan B190402017 Failures of ASEAN

Bina Akter Moyna B190402015 Present Situation

Sumaiya Sultana B190402018 Conclusion

Introduction

When the crisis and tension among the Southeast Asian countries were shimmering in the region of
south east Asia, the state foreign ministry and high level officials of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand,
Singapore and Philippines met on 4 August, 1967 and finally on 9 August, in 1967 made an organization
named "Association of South East Asian Nations"(ASEAN). Several other countries later joined ASEAN,
such as Brunei

1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (1997). It currently has 10 members a permanent
secretariat in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. While ASEAN's main goal was to establish peace or
reduce tensions, the pursuit of economic goals cannot be ignored. ASEAN established to achieve rapid
development through the exploration of the vast natural resources available in Southeast Asia.The
motto of the ASEAN is one country one mission one nation

, Another purpose of ASEAN is to prevent communist expansion in the region. The member countries of
Asia have maintained their unity by adopting projects related to various issues such as science
technology, food-agriculture, industry-trade, transport and news exchange. Again, the political
importance of ASEAN cannot be ignored. The ASEAN members discussed various political issues at their
summit and tried to resolve them. In conclusion, the success of ASEAN has added a new dimension to
world politics. ASEAN also seeks to maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing regional and
international organizations that share common aims and objectives. ASEAN operates under six
fundamental principles two of which are mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, and territorial
integrity, and non-interference in member countries internal affairs. This organization does not fail as
the regional organizations fail due to the multipolar political systems.

Background of ASEAN : ASEAN was preceded by an organization formed on 31 July 1961 called the
Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), a group consisting of Thailand, Philippines and Malay. ASEAN itself
was created on 9 August 1967, when the foreign ministers of fine countries. Indonesia Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, Singed the ASEAN Declaration.

History says that in the South Asian region Chinese migrants were arising dramatically. Due to the
industrialisation of Malay Peninsular, there were need huge of labours that's why they migrated to
these region. Again in 1949, the emergence of Chinese communist in China, the Chinese plan to attack
in Taiwan, this all created a fear of being dominated, invaded, and communism expansion Even later.
All these common fear of communism motivated to create ASEAN. The group achieved greater in
cohesion in the mid-1970s following a change in the balance of power after the end of Vietnam War in
1975. On 7 January 1984, Brunei became ASEAN's sixth member and on 18 July 1995, following the end
of the cold war, Vietnam joined as the seventh member Laos and Myanmar joined two years later on 23
July, 1997. Cambodia was to join at the same time as Laos and Myanmar, but a coup in 1997 and other
internal instability delayed its entry. It then joined on 30 April 1999 following the stabilizations of its
government. The countries joining later in the organization due to economical progress than the
communism. Because in the meantime the world political system get a stable situation. Thus the
organization has shaped it's present situation.

Activities of ASEAN: ASEAN and its Member States shall act in accordance with the following principles:(
1) Respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity
countries which violated citizens' rights and would, therefore, be limited in effectiveness. The body was
established later in 2009 as the ASEAN Intergovernmental commission on Human Right (AICHR), In
November 2012 the commission adopted the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. of all ASEAN Members

(2)Shared commitment and collective responsibility in enhancing regional peace, security and
prosperity.Reliance on peaceful settlement of disputes. the promotion of social justice Non-interference
in the internal affairs of ASEAN Member States. S)

(3) Respect for the right of every Member state to lead its national existence free from external
interference, subversion and Coercion. 'Enhanced consultations on matters seriously affecting the
common interest of ASEAN.

(4) Respect for the fundamental freedoms, the promotion and protection of human rights, and

(5) Upholding the United Nations charter and international law, including international humanitarian
law, subscribed to by ASEAN Member States. After all it can be called as a successful organization.

ASEAN VISION: The ASEAN vision 2020, adopted by the ASEAN Leaders on the 30th
Anniversary of ASEAN, agreed on a shared vision of ASEAN as a concert of Southeast Asian
Nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in
partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies. In 2003 ASEAN
moved along the path of the European Union by agreeing to establish an ASEAN community
comprising three pillars:

1. The ASEAN Security Community: A rules-based community that fully adheres to ASEAN
fundamental principles, shared values and norms as well as principles of international law
governing the peaceful conduct of relations among states.

2.The ASEAN Economic Community: ASEAN Economic Community by 2025 shall be highly
integrated and cohesive; competitive, innovative and dynamic; with enhanced connectivity and
sectorial cooperation; and a more resilient, inclusive, and people-oriented, people-centred
community, integrated with the global economy.

3. The ASEAN Socio-economic community: A committed, participative and socially-responsible

community through an accountable inclusive mechanism for the benefit of their people, upheld
by the principles of good governance. A sustainable community that promotes social
development and environmental protection through effective mechanism
Limitations of ASEAN :As a regional grouping, ASEAN has many major limitations. The
tendency to prioritize national over regional interests, weak leadership, ineffective bureaucratic
structure and purely emulating the Western approach.
The tendency to prioritize national over regional interests occurs because a large gap between
CLMV (Cambodia Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, Vietnam) and the
ASEAN Six ( Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines).
In the Bi-polar political system it cannot work as it want. As their have competition on having
control over the region between Chine and America. There must have block among the member
country as ASEAN countries have Chinese block and American block. The defective manifest to
avoid dispute. Superpower influence resulted hesitating in decision making.
The Success Of ASEAN : Since its inception in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) has made a number of achievements towards regional peace, stability and
prosperity. Some success of ASEAN is given below-
On the economic front, ASEAN has made an important milestone in regional economic
integration with the conclusion of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Agreement in 1992.Since
then, ASEAN has continuously pursued closer economic cooperation in trade, services and
investment and moved towards a single market and production base to increase the regional
competitiveness.
The peace and stability that the Southeast Asian countries have been enjoying today to a large
extent, largely due to ASEAN'S role as a forum that promotes and fosters trust and confidence
amongst its member states. ASEAN has successfully maintained peace, stability and security in
the region through the various frameworks and mechanisms, such as zone of peace, Freedom and
Neutrality, Treaty of Amity and cooperation in Southeast Asia.
ASEAN has also developed functional cooperation in many areas, such as education, disaster
management, health, environment, rural development and science and technology to name just a
few. Such cooperation has helped increase regional resilience and enabled us to respond
effectively to challenges such as pandemics(SARS), natural disasters (2004 tsunami) and other
trans boundary challenges such as haze and drugs.
Failures of ASEAN: It was agreed ASEAN manifest to solve the problem regarding the human
rights violation in any members states. At the moments this organization is being criticized by
the international community regarding the ethnic cleansing over Rohingya in 2017 Myanmar by
it's military government remains inactive. This organization is being criticized due to border
problem that is unsolved, It is the most obvious failure of ASEAN. Failures of ASEAN broadly
given in below-
Human right issues : Even a casual perusal of the annual U.S human rights report shows that
every Southeast Asian state has a blemished human rights record. Human rights are seldom the
highest priority among the ASEAN states or in dealings with the ASEAN states by external
states. The exception in Myanmar.
Rohingya crisis : According to the report of Amnesty International since 1978 the Rohingya's
continue to suffer from human rights violations in their home country Myanmar under the regime
of military junta and many have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result. The reaction by
Southeast Asian states provoked an international outcry. The reason that ASEAN did not take
any response about human rights issues is the doctrine of non-interference in the internal affairs
of member states. The doctrine was incorporated in all the major political statements of ASEAN,
from the very outset.
South China Sea Dispute : One of most important issues dispute in the south china sea dispute.
The dispute in the south china sea is an intractable issues or wicked problem, having developed
for decades. The disputed island in the south china sea between ASEAN member states and
China and Taiwan are following.
ASEAN has not successful at conflict resolution because there is no joint position of collective
goodwill among the member states. We know that ASEAN act based on the consensus in any
disputed matters. As a result, every member states look at their national interest rather that
collective interest for organization. When they seat for negotiating with non- ASEAN states,
where it seems that ASEAN'S of good will is not effective.

Present Situation Of ASEAN : If we compare between the past situation and present
situation of ASEAN, We can see that in 2020, The estimated total GDP of all ASEAN states
amounted to approximately 3.08trillion U.S dollars, a significant increase from the previous
years and GDP of the ASEAN region has been skyrocketing for a few years now. Present
situation of ASEAN, they can successfully accelerate economic growth and through, that social
progress and culture development. In 2020, ASEAN members had dominated about the matter of
Covid-19. But now ASEAN is adding a new dimension to the economic aspect. Indonesia has
the largest economy (3,507,239 GDP millions of USD) in the ASEAN. Facilitate the movement
of goods, services, investment, capital and skills. Increase trade (goods and services) and
investment among member states promote and expand regional production sharing and network.
ASEAN member states will have new tools to halo them address issues related to road freight
transport caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the initiatives under the ASEAN
comprehensive recovery framework.
The guidelines will support member states to develop national and regional plans that focus on
resilient and sustainable road freight connectivity. The recommendation three priority areas :
• Transport workers safety and training.
• Preserving connectivity for efficient and resilient supply chains.
• Building back better through digital and decarbonized transport connectivity in
immediate.
Conclusion :ASEAN is a successful organization in south east Asia. It becomes successful to
keep a important role at economical, social, cultural and political development among these state.
This successful is meritorious among different organization of Asia. At the beginning of
ASEAN, the reciprocal business rate was 12% among member state but at present it increased at
25%. Now the tariff reduction rate is 2.6% that was 13.4% five years ago. Last decade, ASEAN's
annual progressive rate was 7.5% where world's remnant average annual progressive rate was
3.2%. For this reason, ASEAN is called a good model for developing regional co-operation. But
it is true that ASEAN can not be successful in all matter. Such as It can not keep a important role
to annihilate terrorism totally from South-East Asia. Moreover ASEAN can not to be seen any
role at Rohingya crisis. After that, the development and acceptability of ASEAN is meritorious.
And we can learn so many things from here.Moreover we can use this experience at SAARC's
development.

Reference

1.Weatherbee,D.E(2009).International relations in Southeast asia (2nd ed.) USA:Rowman

and littlefield publishers.