ASEAN and the Challenge of Authoritarian Regress

• In Event: Democratic Erosion and Resistance: Domestic to International Factors 2

Abstract

A new literature has addressed the role that authoritarian regional organizations play in sustaining autocratic rule. Yet many regional organizations have heterogeneous political memberships, including both democratic and authoritarian members. We argue that decision-making rules strongly affect the ability of organizations to support democracy and human rights and to discourage democratic backsliding. Using the case of ASEAN, we argue that consensus rules in the organization have both limited the development of explicitly democratic and human rights norms—despite periodic pressures from democratic members to do so—and correspondingly reduced the ability of the organization to respond to episodes of authoritarian regress.

Authors

• Stephan Haggard, University of California, San Diego

• Duong Thi Thuy Pham, University of California, San Diego