Beyond ASEAN? Geopolitics, External Rivals, Internal Differences, and the State of Southeast Asia 2023

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) deserves credit for sustaining peaceful and consensual multilateral cooperation in a diverse and historically divided region.  Accordingly, in principle if not always in practice, outside powers have supported the regional centrality of ASEAN.  But what does that centrality mean and can it survive current challenges?  While still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asia faces the destabilizing consequences of intense US-China tensions, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and global economic uncertainty.  Nor has ASEAN responded effectively to the ongoing domestic repression by the junta in Myanmar, one of the grouping’s own member countries.  Are there steps that ASEAN’s 2023 chair, Indonesia, could take to help meet these challenges?  Should minilateral options be considered?  In the context of addressing these and related topics, Sharon Seah will share pertinent findings from a just-published regional survey of Southeast Asian opinion influencers, The State of Southeast Asia 2023.

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Sharon Seah, in addition to her work for ISEAS-Yusof Ishak’s ASEAN Studies Centre, coordinates the Institute’s Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme.  Her earlier service has included 15 years in Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its National Environment Agency.  Among her research interests are ASEAN, multilateralism, climate change, and the rule of law.  Her publications include, as co-editor, Building a New Legal Order for the Oceans (2019) and 50 Years of ASEAN and Singapore (2017). She has also served as the lead author of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak’s survey reports, The State of Southeast Asia and The Southeast Asia Climate Outlook.  She holds a Master in Public and International Law from the University of Melbourne (2018