From ambiguity to contestation: discourse(s) of non-traditional security in the ASEAN community

'Non-traditional security' (NTS) is prominently featured in the agenda of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other ASEAN-led institutions in the Asia-Pacific. 'NTS' brings together a series transnational and non-military security threats that are considered co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPacific review Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 549 - 565
Main Author Martel, Stéphanie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Routledge 04.07.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
21st century
Ambiguity
ASEAN
Asia-Pacific
Cooperation
diplomatic ambiguity
Discourse
International cooperation
Meaning
non-traditional security
Regional security
Resilience
security community
Southeast Asia
Transnationalism
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Summary:'Non-traditional security' (NTS) is prominently featured in the agenda of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other ASEAN-led institutions in the Asia-Pacific. 'NTS' brings together a series transnational and non-military security threats that are considered common among regional states, urgent for them to attend to, and non-sensitive all at the same time. This a priori makes it a self-evident focus of attempts to bring regional security cooperation 'to a higher plane'. However, this paper reveals that the uncontroversial character of NTS is overestimated, by shedding light on the co-existence of divergent - and potentially contradictory - interpretations of its meaning and implications in ASEAN and the wider region. In a context where ASEAN's relevance to the pursuit of regional security is increasingly being measured against its (in)ability to provide a coherent approach to security challenges that affect the region, the contested nature of NTS has important implications for the grouping's resilience in the twenty-first century.
ISSN:0951-2748
1470-1332
DOI:10.1080/09512748.2016.1264462