Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 09/2010

Operationalising Regimes and Recognising Actors: Responding to Crises in Southeast Asia

Alistair D.B. Cook

March 2010

Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies

Abstract

Southeast Asia as a region has a unique history, and the evolving relationships between its communities, states, regional organisations and the international community reflect this. Given this context, there is a need to better understand the motivations of the actors in negotiations, to account for the finished agreement and its impact on the region both in the short and long terms. This paper investigates the motivations behind two regional responses in two different periods of time. The first case under investigation is the set of regional responses formulated to address the Indochinese exodus in the 1970s and 1980s. The second case under investigation is the regional response to those affected by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar during the late 2000s and early 2010.