Establishing a Security Community: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Democracy

Abstract

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was created in 1967, with the purpose of creating peace in Southeast Asia. The region had previously been marred by a backdrop of violence which included great power interference, poor development and the spread of communism to name a few problems. ASEAN was the third organisation to try and create peace and cooperation in Southeast Asia and therefore was heavily doubted from the beginning. However, despite not aiming to create a security community, ASEAN had unnoticeably established the foundations of a successful security community very early on in its existence. By 2003, ASEAN had proposed the concept of the ASEAN Security Community largely due to the success the organisation had been experiencing since its inception. Karl Deutsch proposed the concept of security communities in 1957, but never limited the concept to democratic states. However, various authors have since claimed that only democratic states can build security communities because of the values they possess, in particular due to the Democratic Peace Theory, civil society involvement, democratic identity markers, democratic values, democratic institutions and internal stability, found most commonly in democracies. Using a constructivist theory perspective, the purpose of this analysis is to determine whether the claim that only democratic states can build security communities is correct using ASEAN as a case study, and to what extent ASEAN can be considered a security community. Following analysis, it is concluded that there is no basis for the claim that only democracies can build security communities. While the necessity of civil society involvement and internal stability is confirmed, limiting Deutsch's concept to democracies is inaccurate and could have various negative implications. ASEAN is an example of a non-democratic ascendant security community today, and is likely to progress to a mature security community in the future.