Overview
- Builds on renewed interest in ASEAN’s successes and roles following its 50th anniversary in 2017 and on topical issues such as human rights violations in Myanmar
- Discusses the involvement of regional organisations in the domestic governance of member states, using an underexplored case study
- Serves as a critical reminder that democratic and human rights rhetoric is quite different to political reality
Part of the book series: The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy (PSTCD)
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Table of contents (4 chapters)
Keywords
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- ASEAN
- democracy
- legitimacy
- human rights
- regionalism
- rhetoric
- regional organisations
- institutional legitimacy
- democracy rhetoric
- human rights rhetoric
- references to democracy
- non-democratic regimes
- regional human rights commission
- external regional legitimacy
- Southeast Asia
- political reality
About this book
Southeast Asia is a vast, populous and diverse region. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) promotes democracy and human rights as central to regional order and cooperation, but most members are not democratic and have poor or questionable human rights records. This book explores why Southeast Asian countries have collectively adopted the rhetoric of democracy and human rights, and argues that they are motivated by their concerns about external regional legitimacy. It analyses ASEAN’s references to democracy and the reality of backsliding in several countries; examines the adoption of human rights rhetoric; and considers the implications for how we understand regional cooperation. The book is relevant for students and analysts who are interested in regionalism in Southeast Asia and elsewhere – particularly given growing global concerns about liberal democracy and the gaps between rhetoric and political realities.
Reviews
“This book is very interesting and does an excellent job of addressing its core concern: why has ASEAN evoked the rhetoric of democracy and human rights and what does this rhetoric mean in practice? The author has put forward a clear and defensible thesis: the ASEAN states have adopted this rhetoric because it legitimizes their organization in the eyes of the Western world” (Shaun Narine, St Thomas University, Fredericton, Canada)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Avery D.H. Poole is Senior Fellow at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. She was previously Assistant Director of the Melbourne School of Government at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Democracy, Rights and Rhetoric in Southeast Asia
Authors: Avery Poole
Series Title: The Theories, Concepts and Practices of Democracy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15522-3
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-15521-6Published: 24 May 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-15522-3Published: 23 April 2019
Series ISSN: 2947-4469
Series E-ISSN: 2947-4477
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 83
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Democracy, Human Rights, Asian Politics, Regionalism, Political Communication, Comparative Politics