Internal and external institutional dynamics in member-states and ASEAN: Tracing creation, change and reciprocal influences [electronic resource]
說明
472 p
附註
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3308
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Arizona State University, 2008
ASEAN (the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) continues to have its significance contested in debates characterized by rigid paradigmatism and inabilities to account for institutional change. This dissertation argues that processes of state-building and international organizational development must be examined to understand Southeast Asian relations. It uses an eclectic theoretical framework drawn from political science, area studies, historiography and sociological institutionalism
This framework explains both internal and external dynamics of institutions. In presenting a model of institutional creation and change, it argues that over time, an institution's processes for self-reproduction and adaptations lead to tensions that are necessary for change. It likewise says that member-states and ASEAN constitute, regulate and provide interpretive frames for each other
Longitudinal comparative case studies and process-tracing show that from 1967 to the 1980s, ASEAN complemented newly-independent states' objectives. Over time, this complementarity began to diminish as the members' state-building paths diverged, new bureaucratic groups within ASEAN developed their own interests, and varied institutional momentums intersected
The three case studies---the haze, a regional human rights mechanism, and East Timor's independence---showed that: (1) crises catalyzed but did not determine change; (2) coalitions of actors accounted for the content of institutional change; (3) path-dependent processes influenced the nature and extent of change; and (4) the layered nature of change engendered more tensions within an institution
As for the institutions' reciprocal dynamics, the dissertation found that member-states' foundational principles and governance needs constituted and regulated ASEAN. State-building processes shaped policy-makers' interpretive frames to view ASEAN as a diplomatic vehicle with extra-regional powers and later, a limited agent for domestic change and regional governance. ASEAN also shaped the interpretive frames of both state and non-state actors, and regulated some state actions without formal mechanisms. ASEAN's constitutive influence included reinforcing government policies, deepening divisions among domestic organizations, building governance capacities, and a forum for debate led by non-state actors
Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates that institutional resilience and development result from the interaction of structure, agency and contingency
