The Efficacy of ASEANs Major Reforms in Enhancing Its Geo-Political Clout - Essay Example

The Efficacy of ASEAN’s Major Reforms in Enhancing Its Geo-Political Clout In its endeavour to assert its regional and global geopolitical clout, ASEAN has launched numerous initiatives and reforms to accelerate it goals and objectives as well as remain relevant in the 21st century. ASEAN is a regional community of ten East Asian countries whose objective is to reclaim regional control of the East Asian zone from the perceived control and interference of the global powers. This is a broad vision that entails, economic, social, political, and security realignments to guarantee the success in unifying the economies of the region as well as creating a political federation. Historically, East Asia and its surrounding areas have been subject to regional and global conflict through which major world powers have played a crucial role in the intensification, interest and resolution of the conflicts making the region a front for global and regional superiority. The Cold War, for instance, marked a crucial stage in the history of the region because part of the battle fronts for superiority was areas found in the ASEAN region (Nesadurai 10). As a result, stability and peace in East Asia has often been attributed to the roles of global powers. ASEAN, however, endeavours to free the region from the control and influence of the balance of power by asserting regional cooperation in the resolution of conflict and the pursuit for development. The major reforms initiated by the ASEAN bloc have focused on economic cooperation, political unison as well as security parameters. However, the efficacy of the reforms and initiatives launched by the regional bloc has been subject to discussion (Ambatkar 89-94). The paper discusses how the individual states, their governments and other key policy players including the public endeavour to respond to the programs laid down by ASEAN in promoting its regional and global participation. Regional and political integration of the ASEAN zone is the ultimate objective of the community that will offer a succinct solution to the economic, political, and security problems of the region (Kuhonta 39). Basically, the achievement of the ‘zone of peace’ initiative will only come through integration. Integrating will involve numerous parameters that must be considered in mutuality. First and foremost is the prevalence and consequences of the Asian economic crisis that was a major blow to the region a part from casting a shadow on the capacity of ASEAN to insulate its member states from such economic calamity. Subsequently, the conflict of Indonesia in which the regional community asserted its authority in charting the way forward for the rebelling province was a major step in ASEAN history (Severino 29). The economic crisis was a learning lesson both for the Asian countries and the ASEAN regional bloc in specific. In fact, the crisis provided an impetus for more economic integration which is the only way forward regarding the ability of the region to safeguard its economies from debacles. The East Asia region has been a centre of conflict, and the stability and peace of the vast region has often depended on the intervention of foreign powers (Ravenhill 54-61). Among the factors that make East Asia strategic is access to sea point, which is also a source of concern regarding security. Therefore, securing security of the sea point is a central pillar in the vast political and economic integration initiative that will fully place the East Asian zone in the region’s hands. The main focus of the integration approach is to ensure that East Asia determines the destiny of the region in terms of economy, security, conflict resolution, and political direction. This will also ensure that the region speaks in unison in the global political forums like the United Nations. To guarantee this, individual states and their governments must undertake several changes in the economic, political and security spectrum to provide for the empowerment of the bloc to carry out the joint mandate (Hew 27). The removal of trade barriers will be a good idea because it ensures a free flow of goods and services within the expanse. This will result in the expansion of a common currency for the ASEAN region through which transactions will be undertaken. Political integration of the ASEAN region will permanently lock out the great powers of this world and insulate the zone from their subsequent power rivalries, which were at their peak during the formation of the regional bloc. This will place the destiny of East Asia in the hands of East Asian states. Politics, interstate relations, conflict resolution, and security are imperative objectives of ASEAN because they are the major issues that govern the region of East Asia. Primarily, economic cooperation is the major consideration by the bloc through which trade barriers and tariffs are to be phased out to promote trade between regional members; this remains a principal priority of the community, though there may be challenges particularly regarding the poor nations like Vietnam. The plan is to provide assistance to these poor countries to ensure that they pick up and compete favourably with the other states of East Asia. However, politics is of prime importance in the sense that economics is governed by politics because politics form the decision making fragment of any nation (Jones 12). This is the prime reason why the bloc endeavours to cultivate political understanding among member states for purposes of achieving the respective goals of the community. Security is of primary focus due to the fact that East Asia has been prone to numerous security issues and conflicts prompting the intervention of global powers (Vijay 38-41). Furthermore, East Asia and the entire south Asia and pacific remain strategically vulnerable to security problems particularly because of the sea point. Any purposes of the bloc will only be achieved when security has been guaranteed. Relations between nations in the region are of core significance to ASEAN objectives because they are incidental to economic and political collaboration as well as security and conflict resolution (Haacke 45). It is only through consultation and consensus that the myriad challenges of security can be addressed. Therefore, the priority regarding international relations among ASEAN members is the aspect of conflict resolution. The core attribute governing ASEAN principles is freeing East Asia from conflict and international influence. History is well established on the prevalence of conflicts in the zone and how global powers have played a determinant role in conflict resolution. ASEAN hopes to take over the conflict resolution task and place the destiny of East Asia in the hands of the region. Inaction can be fatal for ASEAN member nations because the destiny of the regional is at stake and cooperation is of essence if East Asia is to be restored. Member states and their government must consider the history of East Asia as well as the current situation, which warrant quick decisive action to restore the region back to its deserved glory. During the formation of ASEAN, the region was plagued by several conflicts that led to the direct intervention of the global powers including US, USSR and China. These were very trying moments for the region because they signified the inability of East Asia to handle conflicts within its borders. This was significant weakness that made the region to lack its sovereignty as every foreign power had stakes in conflict resolution, in the region (Jong and Ping 34). Similarly, the Asian economic crises had a big blow to the economic stability of the region thus reminding member states that economic cooperation is the way to go. In order to avoid the region slipping back to its former state regarding security, economy and conflict resolution action must be taken to foster the objectives of ASEAN (Ang 78). Because policy is never formulated in a vacuum, there are particular implications of any actions the Government might take. Member states will endeavour to take certain considerations before taking whichever action that is required to foster the realization of the ASEAN goals. Broadly speaking key considerations of member states may include; strategic and policy consistency, international reactions, prevailing obligations, budgetary implications, and public support. Governments usually put a high value on being consistent in the sense that consistency is seen as critical to good policymaking. Currently, the issues at hand are not divergent from those affecting member states especially regarding economic cooperation, security, and conflict resolution (Jones 67-70). Therefore, it is expected that there will be minimum resistance from member nations. ASEAN is in cooperation with other south Asian and pacific countries towards the realization of the strategic objectives of the community. Hence, member countries will not have to worry about possible reactions of other countries regarding supporting the regions objectives. Disagreements may arise in the fulfilment of the bloc’s goals, but no particular hindrance is expected from the international community. In fact, regional cooperation of ASEAN member states is crucial for promoting global cooperation and harmony. Existing obligation can be a great hindrance from member states to offer their responses to the bloc’s requirements because countries are constrained by obligations to other organizations and regional blocs. However, ASEAN will offer time and opportunity for member states to relinquish their loyalty to other blocs so as to focus on fostering regional harmony. The economic impact of the proposed mechanisms has been mitigated by a clear consideration of the resistance that may emanate from countries. Therefore, the bloc was careful in proposing mechanism that is achievable without much opposition from member countries. For instance, most ASEAN countries trade with China and it would be difficult to enforce a trade ban with China in the region because most states will find it costly in the economic sense (Rahim 40-45). As a result, the proposals have been made by considering certain fundamental parameters that govern economic viability in the region. In overall, public support for any initiative is a relevant consideration that will govern the response by states. States are usually not willing to take upon unpopular decisions that may spur public outrage. Therefore, it is well accepted within ASEAN that nations will endeavour to seek consensus with the public before taking any step towards the proposals of the union. However, since the proposed initiatives are relevant and credible, it is expected that they will be accepted by the public. In line with the progress of a regional power to tackle conflict and security issues in East Asia, the following recommendations could work well with the ASEAN bloc. The regional body should monitor developments in the areas of interest especially regarding security (Narine 56). This will provide updated information on the situation as it develops on the ground and offer suggested suggestion. Secondly, ASEAN requires doing much with regard to convincing member states to abandon individual goals for regional cooperation in the respective areas. This will boost the participation of member countries that is crucial to the success of the bloc (Gill 56-72). Finally, the regional bloc must engage the international community in their plans so as to ease tensions regarding regional supremacy. In spite of the fact that the bloc aims at asserting its control in East Asia, it must work together with the international community for success and harmony. In conclusion, efficacy of ASEAN’s major reforms and initiatives in enhancing its geo-political clout and relevance in the twenty-first century is a matter that is subject to discussion because there are numerous challenges that the regional community has to surmount before it achieves its objectives. As a result, the steps taken by ASEAN in line with fostering its objectives and remaining relevant in the new era are constructive and significant, but the practical manifestation is pegged on the cooperation among member states, economic challenges, and conflict and security issues among others. Furthermore, the success of ASEAN still lies with other global powers both in Asia and the west; these include China, Australia and western countries which have been exercising authority in the region, in the past. ASEAN has to carefully navigate around regional and international bottlenecks to ensure that it succeed in making east Asia a single economic ad political union that will not only speak with one voice but also successfully tackle conflicts arising in the region. Works Cited Ambatkar, Sanjay. India and ASEAN in the 21st Century: Economic Linkages. Washington: Anmol Publications, 2002. Print Ang, Put. Asian Pacific Phycology In The 21st Century: Prospects And Challenges: Proceedings Of The Second Asian Pacific Phycological Forum, Held In Hong Kong, China, 21-25 June 1999. London: Springer, 2004. Print Gill, Ranjit. ASEAN towards the 21st century: a thirty-year review of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Washington: ASEAN Academic Press, 1997. 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