ASEAN Law Academy Advanced Programme

Module contributor: Dr Tan Hsien-Li, Co-Director of ASEAN Law Academy

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is arguably the most important form of regional cooperation for its ten member states—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—notwithstanding other multilateral arrangements they might have. ASEAN has facilitated the region’s peace and security and, increasingly, its economic significance vis‐à‐vis Asian powers (eg China, India and Japan) and other global powers (eg the US and the EU). Yet since 1967, ASEAN had for 40 years operated under an ostensibly informal status and flexible modality, eschewing an overt reliance on the law. In 2007, however, ASEAN member states sought to ‘catch up’, adopting the ASEAN Charter to radically transform the organisation into a tri‐pillared (political‐security, economic, and socio‐ cultural) community based on the rule of law and rule of institutions. Through the Charter, ASEAN expressed its ambition to have a meaningful presence on the global plane, wield significant leadership in the regional order, and improve the lives of ASEAN citizens. At the end of 2015, the tri‐pillared ASEAN Community (political‐security, economic, and socio‐cultural) was established, with a new roadmap stretching to 2025.

To date, ASEAN remains the only formal, rules‐based organisation in the Asia‐Pacific. As ASEAN gradually evolves and progresses in its rules‐based modality (ie both hard and soft laws), the growing impact of the organisation will necessitate basic knowledge of ASEAN laws and policies by those in the public and private sectors both within and without the region. This course examines the emerging area of ASEAN law and its intersection with national and international law and politics, the management of power relations, and the metamorphosis of ASEAN into a contemporary international (regional) organisation. It deals primarily with Law but is also attentive to the Non Law and Quasi Law aspects inherent in ASEAN’s character as an international person, its values and principles, and its operational modalities, processes, and institutions.

Click here for the reading list and more information on the module.