Image and Substance Failures in Regional Organisations: Causes, Consequences, Learning and Change?

Abstract

States often pool their sovereignty, capacity and resources to provide regionally specific public goods, such as security or trade rules, and regional organisations play important roles in international relations as institutions that attempt to secure peace and contribute to achieving other similar global policy goals. We observe failures occurring in these arrangements and activities in two areas: substance and image. To analytically account for this, we distinguish four modes of substance and image change and link these to specific types of failure and (lack of) learning. To empirically ground and test our assumptions, we examine instances of image failure in ASEAN (political/security policy) and substantive policy failure in EU labour migration policy. In so doing, this article contributes to several different fields of study and concepts that have hitherto rarely engaged with one another: analyses of policy failure from public policy, and regional integration concerns from area studies and international relations. We conclude with suggestions for ways forward to further analyse and understand failures at the international and supranational levels.

Four Phases of South China Sea Disputes 1990–2020

“…This resulted in "ASEAN's Six-Point Principles on the South China Sea," issued by ASEAN foreign ministers on July 20. Although it neither stated ASEAN's common position toward the Scarborough Shoal incident nor fully alleviated intra-ASEAN discontent, the statement restored ASEAN's image by reaffirming its collective principles on the SCS matter (Chou et al, 2016;Hussain & Nazeer, 2012). Natalegawa expressed the urgency of establishing a binding COC so as to maintain stability in the SCS, as indicated by one of the six points in the statement (PDI , 2012b).…”

Institutional Strategies of ASEAN/ASEAN-Led Institutions

“…Institutional strategy could only be employed with the consensus of ASEAN members, but the membership expansion in the 1990sto include Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam-made this more difficult due to the collective action problem that came with divergent national interests. Therefore, the AMM's 2012 failure to issue a communiqué reflected negatively on ASEAN as it was perceived to be unable to handle the disputes effectively (Chou et al, 2016).…”

Higher education regionalism in Europe and Southeast Asia: Comparing policy ideas

“…The ASEAN Way is unique to the region, with most of the member states sharing a colonial past and the resultant desire to assert their individual sovereignty vis-àvis the rest of the world and against one another (Narine, 2008;Rüland & Jetschke, 2008). This remains the case despite continual criticisms of how this approach limits the regional capacity to face external challenges and internal discord (Chou, Howlett, & Koga, 2016). Our interviewees repeatedly referred to the ASEAN Way, and the region's historical legacy, as responsible for the singular organisational division of labour -i.e.…”