Mechanisms of Dispute Settlement:The ASEAN Experience

Abstract

Introduction Since its establishment in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has made its mark in the international community as a successful sub-regional grouping. Its success can be said to lie in its ability to cope reasonably well with the numerous challenges that have confronted the organization as well as its relations with other states and regions. ASEAN not only seems to have weathered both internal and external pressures that may have threatened its very existence as a subregional body but, more importantly, it has earned for itself a significant role as a key player in regional and international affairs. Even against the rapid changes and uncertainties that have occurred in the global arena, ASEAN appears to be cruising along. Looking back thirty years since its inception, ASEAN's political achievements have been quite remarkable by any standard. If one were to zero-in on what these achievements have been, perhaps what stands out most is ASEAN's maintenance of peace in what was once a trouble-ridden region. Fortuitous circumstances may have helped in achieving this regional but certainly without the conscious and painstaking efforts put into the process by the respective member-states, this peace dividend would not have been reaped at all. There is, however, the tendency to sometimes overlook the role played by sub-regional bodies in maintaining regional peace and stability when analyses of geopolitical, security and economic affairs are viewed from the framework of the realist concept of international relations. In this framework, it is the diktat of realpolitik that really matters and, more often than not, in international affairs regional actors have to act or at least are constrained to act in accordance with the interests of the major powers. Regional states are more likely to be mere bystanders in the unfolding of international events. Notwithstanding the fact that many of the realist concepts of international affairs may still hold some truth today, the dramatic changes that have occurred after the end of the Cold War necessitate a re-evaluation of the kind of role(s) played by sub-regional bodies in defining regional affairs. It is against this conceptual backdrop that an analysis of ASEAN and its mechanisms of dispute management is placed. Sub-regional Organizations and Regional Security Regional and sub-regional organizations have been established with the primary aim of maintaining resolving regional conflicts, and/or containing them to avoid further escalation. The vision was to have regions which were to become islands of peace, and for regional organizations to become the building blocks of peace.(1) Indeed, after World War II, many regional organizations emerged. Although conceived mainly to address security concerns, these regional and subregional organizations varied in type and were shaped largely by the kind of security framework each had adopted.(2) Whatever form they took, however, the common denominator of these organizations was the need to maintain regional security through the resolution and prevention of regional conflicts. This interest stemmed from the often unexpressed insecurity complexes felt by member-states, highlighting further the importance of settling disputes peacefully.(3) However, since many of these regional organizations were creatures of the Cold War contest - for example, the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) - some soon found themselves irrelevant, especially after the Cold War.(4) Yet, in spite of this ignoble past, some did manage to survive and, as post-Cold War structural changes would have it, paradoxically, these brought about renewed impetus for regional organizations to be more visible, encouraging rethinking on regionalism in the international order. Perhaps, the best indication of the resurgence of regionalism and, more importantly, a recognition of the relevant role of regional organizations in international affairs, is found in the seminal document written by the former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, An Agenda for Peace. …