The Perennial Problems of Democraticpromotion in Southeast Asia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32890/jis2026.22.1.8Keywords:
ASEAN, democracy, human rights violation, sovereigntyAbstract
This article examines the challenges of promoting human rights in Southeast Asia. It focuses on the limited effectiveness of the regional human rights regime, which is influenced by ASEAN leaders’ strong emphasis on state sovereignty and the uneven adoption of democratic governance among member states. The study aims is to identify the factors that hinder the promotion of human rights within ASEAN and to analyze the relationship between the levels of democracy and prioritization of human rights in the region. Using a qualitative research approach, the study analyzes the development of human rights cooperation in ASEAN through the lens of Regime Theory in International Relations. The findings indicate that the promotion of human rights in Southeast Asia is constrained by fragile political commitment among ASEAN leaders and by significant variations in democratic governance across member states. These differences shape national priorities and influence the extent to which human rights norms are internalized within the regional framework. The study concludes that the effectiveness of human rights promotion in ASEAN is closely linked to the level of democratic development among member states. The findings highlight important implications for regional policy-making and underscore the need to address the tension between sovereignty norms and human rights commitments in order to strengthen the institutionalization of the regional human rights regime.
References
Acharya, A. (2009). Constructing a security community in Southeast Asia. Routledge.
Andelman, D. A. (1977, May 2). Refugees depict grim Cambodia beset by hunger. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/02/archives/refugees-depict-grim-cambodia-beset-by-hung er-refugees-depict-a.html
Anthony, M. C. (2016). An introduction to non-traditional security studies. SAGE Publications.
ASEAN. (2009). Cha-Am Hua Hin Declaration on the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Declaration-AICHR.pdf
ASEAN. (2012, June 28). ASEAN VISION 2020 - ASEAN main portal. https://asean.org/asean-vision-2020/
Atkins, G. P. (2019). Latin America in the international political system. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429036781
Beetham, D. (1997). Linking democracy and human rights. Peace Review, 9(3), 351–356. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659708426076
Bennett, C. (2021). Cambodia 2018-2021: From democracy to autocracy. Asia Maior, 32.
Bui, H. (2016). The ASEAN human rights system: A critical analysis. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 11(1), 111–140. https://doi.org/10.1017/ASJCL.2016.9
Burchill, R. (2020). Regional integration and the promotion and protection of democracy in Asia: lessons from ASEAN. Asian Yearbook of International Law, 13(2007) (pp. 51–80). Brill Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004433786_005
Carney, T. (1997). Communist Party power in Kampuchea (Cambodia): Documents and discussion.
Case, W. (2002). Politics in Southeast Asia. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315029474
Chunha, D. (2000). Southeast Asian perspectives on security. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Collins, A., & Bon Tai Soon, E. (2022). The AICHR as a participatory space: contesting the secretive face of power. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 76(4), 359–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2021.2016610
COUNCIL, A. C. O. (2020). Association of Southeast Asian Nations—ASEAN. In Europa Publications (Ed.), The Europa Directory of International Organizations 2020. Routledge.
Cresswell, J. W., & Cresswell, J. D. (2018). Research designs: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Sage.
Croissant, A. (2004). From transition to defective democracy: Mapping Asian democratization. Democratization, 11(5), 156–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510340412331304633
Davies, M. (2013a). ASEAN and human rights norms: Constructivism, rational choice, and the action-identity gap. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 13(2), 207–231. https://doi.org/10. 1093/irap/lct002
Davies, M. (2013b). Explaining the Vientiane Action Programme: ASEAN and the institutionalisation of human rights. Pacific Review, 26(4), 385–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2013. 788066
Davies, M. (2021). How regional organizations respond to human rights: ASEAN’s ritualism in comparative perspective. Journal of Human Rights, 20(2), 245–262. https://doi.org/10. 1080/14754835.2020.1841607
Doyle, K. (2014, September 11). Vietnam’s forgotten Cambodian war. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/ news/world-asia-29106034
Duffy, T. (1994). Toward a culture of human rights in Cambodia. Human Rights Quarterly, 16(1).
Dussich, J. P. J. (2018). The ongoing genocidal crisis of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice, 1(1), 4–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/2516606918764998
Duxbury, A., & Tan, H.-L. (2019). Can ASEAN take human rights seriously? Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108566414
Farrelly, N. (2013). Why democracy struggles: Thailand’s elite coup culture. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 67(3), 281–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2013.788123
Feraru, A. S. (2023). Charting the evolution of the ASEAN’s consensus on human rights, 2007–2021. The Pacific Review, 36(6), 1241–1272. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2022.2070655
Finnemore, M., & Sikkink, K. (1998). International norm dynamics and political change. International Organization.
Freeman, E. (2017). The Rohingya crisis. Royal Anthropological Institute.
Gomez, J., & Ramcharan, R. (2014). Introduction: Democracy and human rights in Southeast Asia. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 3–17. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.11 77/186810341403300301
Hanara, D. (2019). A decade in review: Assessing the performance of the AICHR to uphold the protection mandates (Bangkok: Forum-Asia). http://l.forum-asia.org/subscribe.
Haq, M. Ul. (1994). New imperatives of human security. United Nations Development Programme.
Hara, A. E. (2019). The struggle to uphold a regional human rights regime: The winding role of Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). Revista Brasileira de Politica Internacional, 62(1). https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7329201900111
Holliday, I. (2014). Addressing Myanmar’s citizenship crisis. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 44(3), 404–421. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2013.877957
Honna, J. (2005). Military politics and democratization in Indonesia. Routledge.
Human Right Watch. (2013, April 22). Burma: End ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Rohingya muslims. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/22/burma-end-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims
Human Right Watch. (2022, August 24). Myanmar: No justice, no freedom for Rohingya 5 years on. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/08/24/myanmar-no-justice-no-freedom -rohingya-5-years
Jones, N., & Marsden, H. (2010). Assessing the impacts of and response to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis through a child rights lens. (2010–12; Social and Economic Policy Working Paper ).
Kader, M. F., & Choudhury, A. H. (2019). Historical background of the Rohingya refugee crisis and the implication of their statelessness. International Journal of Social Sciences and Economic Review, 1(1), 8–15. https://doi.org/10.36923/ijsser.v1i1.23
Kahler, M. (2000). Legalization as strategy: The Asia-Pacific case. International Organization, 54(3).
Khan, R., Abbas, Z., Shah, S. F., & Khan, M. Z. (2023). International human rights and the plight of Rohingya in Myanmar: Rohingya Muslims bleed due to statelessness and the collapse of citizenship. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 1–19.
Koch, I. E. (2005). Dichotomies, trichotomies or waves of duties? Human Rights Law Review, 5(1), 81–103. https://doi.org/10.1093/HRLREV/NGI004
Krasner, S. D. (1983). International regimes. Cornell University Press.
Krause, K., & Williams, M. C. (1997). From strategy to security: Foundations of critical security studies. In Critical Security Studies.
Kurlantzick, J. (2022, September 9). Why democracy in Southeast Asia will worsen in 2023. Asia Unbound, Asia Program, and Diamonstein-Spielvogel Project on the Future of Democracy. https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-democracy-southeast-asia-will-worsen-2023
Kyrhizova, V. S. (2023). ASEAN competence in the field of human rights. Analytical and Comparative Jurisprudence, 6, 681–686. https://doi.org/10.24144/2788-6018.2023.06.117
Landman, T. (2018). Democracy and human rights: Concepts, measures, and relationships. Politics and Governance, 6(1), 48–59. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v6i1.1186
Landman, T., & Carvalho, E. (2009). Measuring human rights. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780 203867594
Madu, L. (2016). Pelembagaan regional mengenai hak asasi manusia di ASEAN. Jurnal Hubungan Internasional, 5(1), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.18196/hi.2016.0084.40-49
Morgan, P. (1997). Regional security complexes and regional orders. Pennsylvania State University Press.
Neher, C. D., & Marlay, R. (2018). Democracy and development in Southeast Asia. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429493973
Nishikawa, Y. (2010). Human security in Southeast Asia. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780 203850459
Nishikawa, Y. (2020). The reality of protecting the Rohingya: An inherent limitation of the responsibility to protect. Asian Security, 16(1), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/14799855. 2018.1547709
Numnak, G., & Romandy, M. (2009). The unfinished business : The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. Friedrich Naumann Stifung.
Palmer, E. (2019). The effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions’ relationships with civil society: The Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines. Australian Journal of Human Rights, 25(2), 299–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2018.1558909
Peou, S. (2014). The limits and potential of liberal democratisation in Southeast Asia. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 3–17. www.giga-journal-family.org
Petcharamesree, S. (2013). The ASEAN human rights architecture: Its development and challenges. The Equal Rights Review, 7.
Pisanò, A. (2014). Human rights and sovereignty in the ASEAN path towards a human rights declaration. Human Rights Review, 15(4), 391–411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-014-0313-7
Pisanò, A. (2016). Towards an ASEAN human rights mechanism: The ASEAN Commission on the promotion and protection of the rights of women and children. The International Journal of Human Rights, 20(3), 321–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2015.1079019
Poole, A. (2019). Conceptions of democracy and human rights in Southeast Asia. In Democracy, Rights and Rhetoric in Southeast Asia (pp. 1–18). Palgrave Pivot. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15522-3_1
Rasul, A. (2022). ASEAN and the challenge of democracy. In Sustaining peace in ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific (pp. 177–194). https://doi.org/10.1142/9789811256547_0008
Rüland, J. (2021). Democratic backsliding, regional governance and foreign policymaking in Southeast Asia: ASEAN, Indonesia and the Philippines. Democratization, 28(1), 237–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2020.1803284
Seah, S. (2023). Non-interference versus self-determination. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 45(3), 494–519.
Simon, S. (2008). ASEAN and multilateralism: The long, bumpy road to community. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 30(2), CS30-2E. https://doi.org/10.1355/CS30-2E
Sipress, A. (2003, November 2). Indonesian massacre of 1984 recounted at trials. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2003/11/03/indonesian-massacre-of-1984-recounted-at-trials/7721da1d-755a-45eb-a7e1-31c725605c99/
Stacey, J. D. (2020). ASEAN and power in international relations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003031970
Suzuki, S. (2019). Why is ASEAN not intrusive? Non-interference meets state strength. Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies, 8(2), 157–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/24761028.2019. 1681652
Tan, H.-L. (2011). The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511790386
Taufiq, H. A., & Muttaqee, M. (2023). The Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh: Livelihood pursuits, hope for assimilation, and the associated risks. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ ssrn.4548965
Thlang, M. K. (2021). The protection of right to freedom of expression in Cambodia. Siam University.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2023). Myanmar Situation. UNHCR. https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/situations/myanmar-situation#:~:text=The%202023%20figure%20concerning%20refugees,reported%20as%20dea d%20or%20missing.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2011). States of denial: A review of UNHCR’s response to the protracted situation of stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. www.unhcr.org
Wahyuningrum, Y. (2021). A decade of institutionalizing human rights in ASEAN: Progress and challenges. Journal of Human Rights, 20(2), 158–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2021. 1875811
Walker, J. R. (2022). Rakhine skies: Remote sensing, human rights, and the Rohingya crisis. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(1), 30–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 24694452.2022.2080039
Wesley, J. J. (2014). The qualitative analysis of political documents (pp. 135–160). https://doi.org/10. 1075/dapsac.55.07wes
Wood, P. Q. (2024, April 1). Myanmar asylum seeker crisis needs a humane and regional solution. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2024/04/myanmar-asylum-seeker-crisis-needs-a-humane- and-regional-solution/
Young, O. R. (1986). International Regimes: Toward a new theory of institutions, 39(1) Oct, 104-122. https://about.jstor.org/terms
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of International Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
