ABSTRACT
During the last two decades, many other uncertainties and challenges with a more specific impact on Southeast Asia and its immediate neighbourhood have arisen. While some of these challenges have been associated with regional trans-formations in strategic relations and alliances, more tangible difficulties have also arisen in the context of economic management, domestic stability and other comprehensive security issues, including environmental degradation and pollution, transnational crime and human security. While it is not possible to cover all the issues that afflict ASEAN and its security environment, the present chapter provides a broad sample of some of the most problematic issues to have recently affected the comprehensive security of Southeast Asia. Consequently, the first section provides a synopsis of the nature of Southeast Asian responses to territorial disputes. In the first example, a recent dispute concerning the Preah Vihear Temple demonstrates how both history and domestic volatility continue to adversely affect regional relations. The section then examines recent hostility between Malaysia and Indonesia concerning their competing claims in the Sulawesi Sea. The final issue covered by the section concerns the South China Sea. While the ASEAN members initially attempted to coordinate collective responses through the multilateral framework of ASEAN, the section outlines how China has managed to exploit ASEAN disunity over controversial economic and security issues. The latter two case studies are also significant for demonstrating the limits to regional solidarity when competing economic interests are at stake.
