Implications of the COVID-19 global health pandemic on ASEAN's security community

Abstract

There seems to be a new reality sweeping through the world, which has prompted some scholars to talk of the increasing salience of non-traditional security issues such as the spread of infectious diseases. Nonetheless, the discourse on global health pandemics, though not new, still remains underappreciated, even though its importance should be evident to statesmen, policymakers, and academics alike, in the wake of outbreaks of avian influenza (H5N1), “swine flu” (H1N1), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and Ebola. Undoubtedly, the major achievement in the area of regional integration in South East Asia has been the setting up of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This book chapter examines ASEAN countries’ fragmented response to the COVID-19 global health pandemic and the likely impact on the regional bloc's cohesion as well as coping strategies aimed at mitigating mutual vulnerabilities arising from emerging transnational security threats. Although the development of a robust regional security framework encompassing health security has proven to be a daunting task in South East Asia, the intrinsic transnational nature of the current threat of communicable diseases provides a strong impetus for regional cooperation and collaboration. Specifically, an attempt is made to address the following key question: Has the COVID-19 global health crisis provided the stimulus for institutional development in ASEAN? To unravel this puzzle, both realist and liberal lenses are used to demonstrate that the cooperation and interdependence among ASEAN member states, underpinned by a shared set of values and interests, will yield appropriate regional policies and approaches to protect the region from emerging threats in a changing world order. Hence, paradigm shifts in ASEAN's crisis response to health pandemics, from a reactive posture to more robust preventive and protection strategies, can have a wider impact. The foregoing issues constitute the main analytic concern of this book chapter.