ABSTRACT
The study has thus far investigated several issues including the major political, security and economic factors that have variously driven and/or challenged cooperation, institutionalization and complex integration in Southeast Asia. This chapter shifts the focus of attention to the issue of democratization and an associated pursuit of normative and institutional change in ASEAN, the most signi-ficant outcome of which was the launch of the Association’s vision to establish a security community by 2015. The chapter analyses these developments through three sections. The first section examines the case study of Thailand; it evaluates how democratization has affected Thailand’s national interests together with the values and norms that it has espoused in ASEAN. Here, one of the most signific-ant outcomes of democratization was the government’s attempt to reform the ASEAN Way through its proposal for ‘flexible engagement’. The next section examines the impact of further democratic transitions in other countries including the Philippines and Indonesia. The analysis indicates that democratization has contributed to more innovative responses to security challenges and has enabled greater activism by political elite vis-à-vis human security challenges in other ASEAN members. Democratization has also contributed to a proliferation of NGOs, a greater role for civil society, and the emergence of Track 3 dialogue such as the ASEAN People’s Assembly. Further, the section demonstrates how shifts towards or away from democratic systems of governance affect foreign policies and the values they espouse, including a willingness for other countries to play an active role in previously sensitive issues such as Aceh. While these developments have further undermined the ASEAN Way, the final section reveals how democratization within Indonesia, together with an emerging perception of the inadequacy of ASEAN, contributed to a renewed effort to reform ASEAN’s norms and institutions.
