By Mehmet Enes Beşer People often call ASEAN the “central” player in the region — a forum that helps Southeast Asia avoid getting caught up in the games of bigger powers. But behind the rituals of summit diplomacy, one problem keeps coming back, and ASEAN has never really cracked it: leadership. Not charismatic, personality-driven leadership, but the sort that can ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer ASEAN has spent much of its life doing a particular kind of political magic: holding a diverse region together by refusing to pretend its members are the same. Different systems, different threat perceptions, different economic models—yet a shared habit of consultation. For decades, the “ASEAN way” wasn’t a punchline. It was a practical technology for preventing ...
Only Bold Leadership Can Save It By Mehmet Enes Beşer ASEAN has, now for over two decades, been a balm of East Asian diplomacy—a convenor of regional gatherings, a guarantor of neutrality, and a symbol of collective muscle for small and medium powers. Its “centrality” dogma has come to pass from rhetoric; it has been an integral part of the ...