This book revealingly traces the ways in which third-party perceptions of an international actor affect its agency in global affairs by using the example of the European Union’s engagement in Southeast Asian non-traditional security. Utilizing an innovative analytical framework emphasising the intersubjective nature of international actorness, it provides novel insights into cooperation between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The book covers fields such as counter-terrorism, disaster management, or maritime security affairs and emphasises the role that ASEAN’s perceptions of the EU play in them. Based on rich empirical data gained from multiple interviews in Europe and Southeast Asia, the author uncovers the missing link between external perceptions of the EU and their impact on joint EU-ASEAN endeavours in non-traditional security fields. The book concludes by making some concrete recommendations to policy-makers engaged in EU external relations and reminds us that ‘the other’ and its domestic context might be even more important in thinking about international affairs than acknowledged thus far. This book is of key interest to scholars, practitioners and students of EU foreign policy, EU-ASEAN affairs, EU-Asia relations, and more broadly of EU studies, International Relations, regionalism and interregionalism as well as security studies.

Amidst the Eurozone crisis, the European Union (EU) is stepping up its dialogue and engagement with and within Southeast Asia. The EU’s contemporary approach towards Asia emphasises the importance of open economies and common challenges of the 21st Century. So-called non-traditional security issues have been portrayed increasingly as an avenue to share experiences and enhance cooperation between the EU and Southeast Asia. This contemporary conceptual re-orientation demands a closer look at the EU as an actor in Southeast Asia. This book is the first contemporary monograph-length discussion of the EU as a politico-security actor in in the region post-Cold War. Drawing upon the historical and institutional context and a broad range of empirical case studies, it considers the non-traditional security crises of the late 1990s and early 2000s in Southeast Asia as triggers for enhanced regional and inter-regional cooperation. In doing so, the book construes new insights into our understanding of the EU as a global actor and its normative influence in regions far away from Europe. Providing a crisis-centric and sector-specific analysis which is much-needed, the book will be of interest to scholars of Southeast Asian Politics and European Politics, as well as policy-makers.

China's growing economy and military power may allow it to challenge US influence in East and Southeast Asia. Wayne Bert examines the likelihood of this and the impact it would have on Southeast Asian security. The approach taken by both the US and China will affect the outcome of this struggle and both the Southeast Asian commitment to economic growth and the development of regional institutions will encourage peaceful evolution and a power transition that avoids major conflict.

This wide-ranging book analyses EU-Asia security relations in a systematic, substantive and comparative manner. The contributions assess similarities and differences between the EU and its Asian partners with respect to levels of threat perception, policy response and security cooperation in the context of historical, institutional and external factors – such as the influence of the United States. The book presents original empirical research organised in four parts: a number of contributions providing discussions of the global context in which EU-Asia security relations develop; a series of chapters covering the range of dimensions of EU-Asian security, including both traditional and non-military aspects of security; chapters addressing the specific issues touching on bilateral relations between the EU and its partners in the Asia-Pacific region; and a final part presenting the overall findings across the various contributions together with the future outlook for EU-Asia security relations.

Successful reform of the security sector has been regarded as pivotal for a successful transition from authoritarianism to democracy by Western donors. A global cast of contributors examines SSR in a variety of policy fields in Southeast Asia, paying specific attention to the adaption of 'Western' reform concepts by local actors.

This book examines the drivers of regionalism and integration in both Europe and Asia and seeks to forge comparative perspectives between the two regions. Comprising contributions from scholars, analysts and policymakers, this volume explores and debates how and why regional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are formed and sustained. Furthermore, it examines the drivers of, and impediments to, regionalism and integration. The debates regarding what and who constitute drivers are presented in a fresh, thematic and comprehensive manner. Leadership and core states are also critically examined, whilst material, ideational and normative factors are all assessed comparatively. Significantly, in light of the global financial crisis, the book considers the role of crisis as a driver of regionalism and integration. This book will be of interest to students, scholars and policymakers interested in Asian and European politics and comparative politics.

Assessing trends toward creating innovative forms of political, economic and security co-operation in Southeast Asia, this text discusses the international dynamics of Southeast Asian security, and its impact on such external factors as the US, China and Japan.

In China, East Asia and the European Union specialist authors from both Europe and Asia reflect on the dynamic relationship between the three actors from an International Relations perspective. The book is a testimony to China’s seemingly unstoppable rise, both in the East Asian region and in the relationship with the EU and its member states. The authors investigate why the economic links between the European Union and East Asia have become so firmly established, while in comparison the political bond has remained underdeveloped. They conclude that the crises the EU is currently facing seriously affect its manoeuvring space vis-a-vis China and its neighbours, both economically and politically. Contributors are: Ding Chun, Neil Duggan, Enrico Fardella, Frank Gaenssmantel, Tjalling Halbertsma, Daniel R Hammond, Jan van der Harst, Elisa Hörhager, Jing Jing, Werner Pascha, Sanne Kamerling, David Kerr, Silja Keva, Christopher K. Lamont, Li Junyang, Feng Liu, Maaike Okano-Heijmans, Nadya Stoynova, and Herman Voogsgeerd.

Trafficking in persons is a serious crime that affects the human rights, dignity and integrity of all its victims including women, men, and children in the Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) region. ASEAN has made efforts to fight human trafficking through inter alia the establishment of regional counter-human trafficking laws and human rights bodies to establish best norms and practices for its member countries. Nevertheless, the International Labour Organization (ILO) recently declared that there are more than 11.7 million forced labor victims in the Asia-Pacific region encompassing the biggest concentration of forced labour victims in the world. This volume reviews the achievements and the deficiencies of ASEAN’s counter-human strategies at the national and regional level. It offers suggestions for the reform of ASEAN's anti-trafficking laws and for the creation of a regional anti-trafficking human rights body specialized in preventing human trafficking, promoting equal protection of all trafficking victims, and prosecuting human traffickers.

This book focuses on how Indonesian civil society organisations interact with ASEAN to shape human rights institutionalisation in the region. Using Bourdieu-inspired constructivist IR as an analytical lens, the book argues that there are pre-reflexive norms that dominate the field of interaction in the region that shape the way civil society organisations operate. This has resulted in the diverging advocacy practices, thus complicating human rights institutionalisation process in ASEAN.