26-27 Nov 2009: INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP: EU-ASEAN Relations in the 21st Century: Towards a Strategic Partnership?

Monash University – Caulfield Campus, 900 Dandenong Rd, Caulfield East, Melbourne, Australia

When the European Economic Community (EEC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed their first agreement in 1973, it was a step charged with symbolic importance – the EEC became ASEAN’s first dialogue partner. Since then, the EU and ASEAN have come a long way to appreciate each other as key partners. Yet, despite a well-established economic cooperation spanning almost five decades and countless joint declarations characterizing the partnership as “underpinned by [the] commitment to shared values”, the EU-ASEAN relationship is only very slowly moving from a consultative to a substantive footing.

Crucially, the EU and ASEAN have largely failed to understand each other’s position and appreciate differences in their respective strategic objectives and outlook on global affairs. This has had its effect on the partners’ on-going relationship and has hindered the move away from the talking shop to more concrete cooperation.

What, then, are the sources of this gap in perceptions between policymakers on both sides? How can the two groupings enhance their understanding of each other’s positions to bridge this perception gap? To what extent do ASEAN and the EU agree on what role the latter should play as a security actor in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region over the next decade? Can the EU’s recent accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) be interpreted as its readiness to move the EU-ASEAN relationship into the ‘strategic partnership’ category?

This international conference will bring together a large number of practitioners of international relations with academics based in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Southeast Asia. The result will be a unique and valuable interdisciplinary dialogue and exchange of views on the nature of EU-ASEAN relations with an emphasis on their potential impact on Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

In particular, the international workshop aims to address the following key themes:

1. Bridging the Perception Gap

A comparative analysis of ASEAN countries’ attitudes to the EU: the influence of historical, cultural-societal, and political factors on foreign policy elite’s perceptions in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.
The impact of the ongoing global economic and financial crisis on the way the EU and ASEAN view each other and perceive each other’s role in and attitudes towards globalization and international trade liberalization negotiations.
A case study of the EU’s soft power: To what extent does ASEAN and its member states accept the EU as a ‘model’ for the Southeast Asian integration?

2. EU-ASEAN: In Search for Common values

Democratic transformation, regionalism and foreign policy of the EU and ASEAN (20-year/10-year anniversary of the democratic change in the Czech Republic and Indonesia).
Conflicting Notions of Sovereignty and Human Rights between the EU and ASEAN.

3. ASEAN in the EU’s Asia Policy

The EU’s ‘common foreign and security policy’ in the case of ASEAN: one voice or many?
The implications of ASEAN’s burgeoning relationship with China and India for the grouping’s relations with the EU.
The continuity and change of the post-Bush United States’ engagement in Europe and Asia: contrasting the EU and ASEAN perspectives.

4. Commonalities and Differences in Security Perspectives

Bridging the perception gap: Prospects for effective cooperation, as opposed to paper declarations, between the EU and ASEAN on global issues (terrorism, climate change, arms proliferation, energy security).
ASEAN’s perspectives on the EU as a strategic actor in Southeast Asia and in the emerging multi-polar security system in the Asia-Pacific: the EU’s potential and limits.
Does ASEAN matter in Asia? The EU’s view on the potential and limits of the ARF, ASEAN+3 and East Asian Community processes.
Juxtaposing the EU’s with ASEAN’s ‘neighborhood’ policies: post-Cold War enlargement, ‘European Neighborhood Policy’ (ENP) and the ‘ASEAN Plus’ schemes.
The meaning and implications of the EU’s accession to the TAC for the future dynamics of the EU-ASEAN relations: Heading towards ‘strategic partnership’?

In addition to conference materials, the registration fee includes:
Welcome afternoon tea on Thursday 26^th November, and Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea on Friday 27 November 2009.

* Discounted registration for students must be accompanied by a copy of your Student ID. This can be faxed to +61 3 9903 4686 or a scanned copy sent via email to Trish Arnold (details below).

For further information please contact:
Daniel Novotny
Event Convenor
Email: Daniel.Novotny@arts.monash.edu.au
Telephone: +61 3 9903 4242 or +61 423048786
Fax: +61 3 9903 4686