Myanmar in ASEAN

In 2004, James Cotton observed that ‘the road to a … security community passes through Yangon’. ¹ In agreement, this chapter focuses on the international relations of ASEAN and the manner by which Myanmar has challenged the cohesion and modus operandi of the Association since 2005. As will be seen, the long-term failure of ASEAN to either induce substantial change within Myanmar or to mitigate the transnational consequences of such instability, has further tested the operational boundaries of the non-interference principle and the associated ASEAN Way. In this regard, the first section examines the extent to which Myanmar’s scheduled chairmanship not only provided robust evidence signifying the functional constraints of the ASEAN Way, but also revealed the institutional and ideational basis for disunity within ASEAN. The second section outlines how further events, including antigovernment protests in September 2007, contributed to further regional and international pressure for ASEAN to be more active regarding the Myanmar issue. However, the section also outlines that that this pressure started to exceed what the other relatively authoritarian members were willing to agree to and, moreover, led to a situation of mutual disengagement between ASEAN and Myanmar where, at one point, there were even fears that Myanmar would walk away from ASEAN. The final section examines ASEAN’s response to the devastating effects of Cyclone Nargis and reveals how the depoliticization of aid provided a new formula for meaningful cooperation between the ASEAN members that was not only agreeable to all the members but also enhanced the utility of the Association. Nonetheless, as far as ASEAN’s regionalist project is concerned, the Myanmar crisis has further reinforced a loss of faith by some of the region’s elite in ASEAN’s current institutions. This, in turn, has exacerbated the divide between elements of the political elite who want to reform the Association and those who wish to retain the status quo. Given the fundamental nature of the principle of non-interference in the Association’s operation, the continuation of these normative divisions will – over the mid to long term – also inhibit mutual identification between the ASEAN elite (i.e. elite level socio-cultural integration).