Regional political cooperation experience : Asean and Burma

Abstract

ASEAN's constructive engagement policy on Burma is not successful; however, their relations have undergone significant changes recently. The ASEAN founding principles of non-intervention in domestic affairs and consensus building decision making, ensure incremental changes. Recent calls for internal reform show ASEAN members pay lip service to the international community and domestic and regional civil society but fall short of significant commitments. The ASEAN policy of “constructive engagement” with Burma holds more weight in the regional capitals than political and economic sanctions do, which highlights the organization’s willingness to retain Burma’s membership. Perhaps because of this, significant progress has not been achieved on Burma’s problems such as political and economic refugees in neighboring countries, drug production and smuggling and the spreading of HIV/AIDS pandemic into neighboring countries. These factors diminish the influences of ASEAN in shaping changes in Burma. However, there are some alternative approaches on how ASEAN can work to achieve multilateral cooperation within the international community in dealing with Burma's military government.