Betwixt balance and community: America, ASEAN, and the security of Southeast Asia

Abstract

Realist scholars have long claimed, not incorrectly, that a US-led balance of power is fundamental to the security and prosperity of Southeast Asia. Yet the Southeast Asian experience has also been one where multilateral security dialogue and regional community formation figure prominently. In contrast to viewswhich exaggerate the importance of US preponderance in Southeast Asia whilst dismissing regional multilateral efforts, we offer seven arguments against any undue overstatement of the US contribution to regional peace and stability. If anything, a historically ambivalent US presence contributed to ASEAN’s emergence as a mechanism of regional diplomacy. Such ambivalence is no longer feasible since 9/11. However, Washington’s current engagement in Southeast Asia should focus on revitalizing regional multilateralism. Our claim is not that the region’s security is due to ASEAN regionalism rather than US strategic dominance. We argue instead that absent the region’s fluency with ‘soft’ multilateralism, Southeast Asia’s security would probably have been far worse. Southeast Asians are more acutely aware of the uncertainties of U.S. policies than other regions of the world. They remember the American retrenchment in the 1970s followed by a decade of self-doubt. Hence ASEAN countries drew towards each other to seek greater strength in self-reliance. They found that together in ASEAN, they could better International Relations of the Asia Pacific Vol. 6 No. 1 Oxford University Press and the Japan Association of International Relations 2005, all rights reserved at W aeda U nirsity (P U LC ) on D ecem er 0, 2010 irap.oxjournals.org D ow nladed fom overcome their problems; but they still need the United States to balance the strength of the Soviet ships and aircraft. The renewal of self-confidence in America has reassured us that America will help maintain the peace and stability of the region. It is this balance of power which has enabled the free market economies to thrive.