Toward a Concept of ASEAN Autonomy: Actors, Entities, and Regional Space

ABSTRACT

Widely discussed across disciplines, autonomy is often used in ASEAN studies to describe what actors associated with ASEAN seek. Yet its meaning remains underspecified and differs from dominant approaches of international organization autonomy. This article conceptualizes autonomy in the ASEAN context by reviewing ASEAN studies and relevant international relations literature on autonomy, structured by three questions: autonomy for whom, from whom, and for what, supplemented by brief case illustrations. It shows that ASEAN autonomy can be characterized not as organizational autonomy but as an aspiration, primarily pursued by member states, to secure the autonomy of the Southeast Asian regional space from external actors. It also argues that ASEAN autonomy is not reducible simply to independence or to being free from external interference; it may also involve managing external engagement on ASEAN's own terms. This perspective highlights a misalignment between the actors that pursue autonomy and what is treated as autonomous.