Siloes, Synergies and Prospects for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief in Southeast Asia

Abstract

As the Asia-Pacific is the most disaster affected region in the world, there is widespread disruption to the functioning of states and the security and well-being of people. Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief has emerged as an important site of both cooperation and competition in the region as civilian agencies, militaries, international and regional organisations, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations respond to crises. This chapter seeks to explain the myriad actors involved in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief through the lens of polycentrism that conceptualises security in the Asia-Pacific as having multiple and overlapping frameworks. Through an assessment and mapping exercise, this chapter demonstrates normative competition through a web of security architectures that reveals a greater appreciation of the multiple sites of interaction between state and non-state actors is needed. The interactions around humanitarian assistance and disaster relief lay the groundwork for a more informed understanding of the sometimes cooperative, and at other times competitive, security environment in the Asia-Pacific.