Casting Shadows: ASEAN Member States, the Secretariat, and Dialogue Partners

Abstract

This chapter addresses member state agency, both in relation to the ASEAN Secretariat, and ASEAN’s dialogue partners. Aspects assessed in this chapter include member states’ delegation choices to the ASEAN Secretariat and the resulting institutional arrangements, including mandate, organizational design, and interactions in policy making. The chapter takes a long-term view, considering developments in member state-Secretariat relations over the past twenty years. In terms of the member states’ relations with the dialogue partners, the properties of ASEAN’s external environment as well as its partner management strategies are considered. Throughout the analysis, the guiding question is to which degree ASEAN member states are in control of the respective interactions. The insights provided in this chapter inform the analyses of Secretariat and dialogue partner agency in the successive chapters.