LSE Southeast Asia Forum 2017

This year’s LSE Southeast Asia Forum took place on Monday, 22nd May as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gears up to mark the 50th anniversary of its establishment. However, even as ASEAN prepares to celebrate its many achievements, Southeast Asian states are facing a set of complex challenges. Some are linked to the strategic rivalry between the United States and China and the geopolitical competition of regional powers. Other challenges relate more specifically to ASEAN’s community project.

How can ASEAN overcome the gap between its stated commitments in relation to the ASEAN Economic Community and the reality of economic integration achieved? With respect to the grouping's political-security community objectives, how can member countries maintain the Association’s vaunted ‘centrality’ even in the absence of full ASEAN unity? How are key domestic political debates in some of the core states addressed by the key actors involved and how different are the approaches regional states are adopting when it comes to issues of democratization and civil-military relations? How does domestic political change in member states impact on their foreign policies and regional order?

Our Forum addressed these questions through four expert panels and a keynote lecture, with speakers drawn from the region as well as Europe and the US.