Graduation Year
Fall 2013
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
International Relations
Reader 1
Minxin Pei
Rights Information
© 2013 Timothy Rotolo
Abstract
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is guided by a collection of principles known as the ASEAN Way, which emphasizes sovereignty and consensus. When external pressures have forced ASEAN to face contentious issues, internal divisions have torn at the group’s cohesion, and consensus has proved difficult to reach. When Myanmar’s military dictatorship was put on the fast track to ASEAN membership in the mid-1990s, democratic Thailand and the Philippines objected, and strong Western pressure to delay Burmese accession put the group in a difficult spot. Fifteen years later, territorial disputes in the South China Sea pitted ASEAN claimant states against non-claimant counterparts inclined to support an assertive and wealthy China’s point of view. In the first case, reaction against US attempts to sway ASEAN’s decision united the group in support of Myanmar’s admission; in the second case, China’s economic inducements succeeded in dividing the group, to the extent that a 2012 summit ended in disagreement and rancor. ASEAN will need to revise some aspects of the ASEAN Way, particularly sovereignty norms, and create greater binding force to generate the cohesion necessary to effectively deal with future regional problems.
Recommended Citation
Rotolo, Timothy, "The Effectiveness of ASEAN under External Pressure: Cases of Myanmar's Accession and the South China Sea Disputes" (2013). CMC Senior Theses. 769.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/769
