This paper attempts to take Myanmar and Cambodia as examples to explore the consequences of constructive interaction between the international community and Southeast Asian countries after the cold war. After the end of the Cold War, Southeast Asia encountered two regional conflicts and crises of global concern. We finds that for Myanmar and Cambodia, the ability of political elites is the key to leading regional and global peace. The ability of political elites not only determines the process of external norms, but also affects the changes of regional norms. As far as Cambodia is concerned, through cooperation with the United Nations and ASEAN, it has rapidly rebuilt its political authority and effectively internalized the international community's peacebuilding norms. Therefore, Cambodia can improve its national capacity and stability after the emergence of political authority. As far as Myanmar is concerned, after the end of the cold war, the political authority still exists in Myanmar, thus maintaining a certain degree of national stability. With the outbreak of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar in 2015, Myanmar's original national construction gradually began to collapse. On the one hand, Myanmar cannot internalize the international community's peacebuilding norms. On the other hand, due to the decline of political authority, various internal forces began to struggle with each other, which ultimately led to the failure of the country. For the dissemination of international norms, whether in Cambodia or Myanmar, the localization of external norms requires the cooperation of the political authorities to effectively prevent conflicts.
This study attempts to explain the changes in the adaptation of ASEAN states to security norms since the Cold War. This study focuses on qualitative research methods, mainly “process tracking” and “historical comparison.” After the end of the Cold War, the ASEAN states did not immediately adopt the ASEAN framework for security cooperation, but still followed a certain degree of survival instinct. With the strengthening of ASEAN’s normative power, the situation of security cooperation between Southeast Asia and other major states in the region has begun to be dominated by ASEAN. This change has not only led to changes in the security habits of ASEAN states but also prompted ASEAN states to gradually adapt to the security norms based on the ASEAN framework. The changes in the adaptability of ASEAN states to security norms illustrate the fact that ASEAN norms (ASEAN Way) are spread from another perspective, and also show the reasons why ASEAN can advance toward a security community. On the whole, the development of security norms of ASEAN states after the Cold War shows a direction of social evolution, and it is a kind of convergent evolution. With the influence of the external environment, ASEAN states “choose” ASEAN norms (ASEAN Way) to obtain security, and the ASEAN Security Community finally becomes a form of “inheritance”.
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