Sirens Are Calling

Abstract

This chapter deals with the “human dimension” of regional insecurity in Southeast Asia, focusing on ASEAN’s claim to form a “people-centered” security community. It discusses the evolution of ASEAN’s approach to issues like pandemics, natural disasters, intra-state conflict, and gendered forms of insecurity. It shows that ASEAN is increasingly pressured into developing solutions to ensure the security of its “people” while resisting the “sirens” of human security and the responsibility to protect. The chapter discusses the growing participation of NGOs in the ASEAN process on peace and security, and how it contributes to the development of alternative spaces of security governance where ASEAN’s champion-of-the-people narrative is overtly challenged. Specific cases are covered, including trafficking in persons and the Rohingya crisis, to highlight how civil society actors, despite the constraints under which they operate, are still able to assert agency in shaping ASEAN’s people-centered community.