Security Dilemmas of Southeast Asia

Security Dilemmas of Southeast Asia

Referent object: state

Note: there appears to be a contrast between Acharya and Collins. Collins takes note of the peculiarities of Southeast Asia in an in-depth manner vis-à-vis Acharya, who tended to privilege the elite position.

1. Introduction: Evolution of the Security Dilemmaa. Offence-Defense Theory

i. Importance of certaintyb. Three Key requirements of security dilemma

i. Benign intent/illusory incompatibilityii. Uncertainty regarding their intent leads to misperception of threat

iii. Pursuit of paradoxical policies creats greater insecurity2. Third World Security: Security and Insecurity Dilemma

a. Problems within the stateb. Nation-building and state-making

i. Mohd Ayoob- security predicamentc. Insecurity dilemma

i. Ethnicityii. territory

3. Ethnic Tensions and the Security Dilemma in Southeast Asiaa. Ethnic tensions in Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia through perspectives of

ethnocratic regimes, self-determination and migrationi. Empirical data suggests incompatibility

4. ASEAN’s Security Dilemmaa.

5. ASEAN, the China Threat and the South China Sea Dispute6. Conclusion: Application and Mitigation

a. Security dilemma applied to SEA contexti. Relations between actors within states

ii. Is the SD omnipresent and inescapable?1. Realists- Yes2. Constructivist- perhaps, mostly dependent on inter-state-relations via

statesmen.iii. Examination of ethnic tensions show that SD cannot always be relevant to

understanding b. ASEAN Way contains elements of common security and security regime theory which

mitigates dilemma’s worst effects.