Examining the engagement between civil society in Southeast Asia and ASEAN in the ASEAN Community building process

✅ Essay from the year 2008 in the subject South Asian Studies, South-Eastern Asian Studies, grade: A-, LUISS University of Rome (LUISS University of Rome, Faculty of Social Science), 47 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The essay examines the engagement between civil society in Southeast Asia andASEAN in the ASEAN community building process. It argues that in spite of initial efforts inmutual accommodation, both sides have been divided from within, which slows theengagement and gives it more form than substance. The efforts by ASEAN so far will onlycreate a community of the governing elite, not a community of the people. Regionalcommunity building, just like nation-building, is very much a people-centered process. It isnot a simple top-down chain of command and control. If ASEAN wants to establish a realcommunity, it must change its modus operandi. It must be much more than an exclusive clubfor the governing elite by giving more space as well as power to civil society in its agendasettingand decision-making. A community is much more a cognitive than material construction; it is somethingthat has to be believed in, sensed, and nurtured by the people. In Southeast Asia, theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is building an ASEAN Community, whichis its most far-reaching project. Yet is it possible for a regional organisation that has beenwidely criticised by civil society for being remote to and detached from the people toestablish a community of...

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