ABSTRACT

Human rights, democracy and political participation are actively promoted concepts in regional organizations such as the European Union. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) however, is not well known for promoting, let alone protecting, participative values in the region. Even today, ASEAN founds its cooperation on principles such as non-intervention and sovereignty. With this in mind, one might think that an organization that grants autocratic regimes membership has no, or at least only a marginal, impact on civil society movements in its member states. Yet, as ASEAN has recently incorporated the aim to include civil society actors in its declarations, one might ask what mechanisms and institutional arrangements the association actually possesses to further engage with these non-state actors. Most literature regarding the impact of ASEAN is devoted to environmental and economic issues. Especially with the adoption of the new Charter, scholars argue that the core principles of sovereignty and non-interference are slightly weakened.