By Mehmet Enes Beşer As the world is speeding towards a catastrophic climate tipping point, the role of the emerging economies has shifted from the periphery to center stage of global climate negotiations. Within this transformation, the ASEAN region has become a test site and a war zone of what climate ambition is in the Global South. As economies grow, ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer In the context of Southeast Asia’s post-Cold War experience of the disorder of a multipolar world of great power competition, economic fragmentation, and fluid security alignments, ASEAN continues to seek partners that will assist it in promoting its regional interests without threatening it with the hegemonic designs. No other country comes to mind in this search: ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer More than three years have now passed since the Myanmar military overthrew the government in a coup, and the country remains torn apart by violence, turmoil, and deepening humanitarian crisis. The economy has imploded, civil war has intensified, and millions have been forced into displacement. World condemnation has been abundant, but effective action has not been ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer In the 21st century, Asia is not just on the rise—it is remaking the world order. Home to over half the world’s population, the world’s fastest-growing economies, and a rich cultural tapestry of civilizations, Asia is fast becoming the gravitational center of world politics, trade, and technology. But despite its enhanced centrality, Asia is still trapped ...
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 structural attribute of Asia’s institutional landscape ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer The new flare-up between Thailand and Cambodia in the year 2025 regarding the border dispute is just as much about historical antagonism as about unpredictable political undertows characterizing modern Southeast Asia. The most recent incident involving the mobilization of troops and nationalist posturing all across the region of the temples of the Preah Vihear is not ...
By Orçun Göktürk, from Beijing / China In recent days, a long-standing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has flared up once again: the Preah Vihear Temple and its surrounding area. This temple is not only a historical and religious monument, but also a symbol of sovereignty, national pride, and a focal point of great power rivalry in Southeast Asia. ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer The United States dominated Southeast Asia by sheer power and imposed its will through military alliances, naval presence, and economics for decades. While Washington presents its presence as a stabilizing one for freedom of seas, open marketplaces, and democratic values, too many of its actions look more like strategic hegemony and less like cooperative leadership. But ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer As the planet hurtles towards ecological tipping points, the climate crisis has reached not just an environmental crisis, but a civilizational emergency. Record-breaking heatwaves, disappearing coastlines, crashing biodiversity, and the oceans devouring land with an increasingly accelerating ferocity. Somewhere, this is felt—and politically under-served—more than in Southeast Asia. The ASEAN countries, with over 650 million people, ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer The return to the world scene by Donald Trump, albeit more ambitious and with greater political desperation this time, has revived debates over the American foreign policy future—particularly in Asia. His caustic diplomatic style, transactional diplomacy, and disdain for multilateral organizations mean Trump’s foreign policy is not much sophisticated. While Washington might see his assertiveness as ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer ASEAN has been at the very center of Southeast Asia’s political, economic, and diplomatic order for over five decades. It has preserved peace in a region formerly shattered by strife, facilitated trade integration, and become a convenor of dialogue between great powers. But in recent years, its influence has noticeably waned—its voice muffled by geopolitical competitions, ...
By Orçun Göktürk, from Beijing / China The Shangri-La Dialogue 2025, Asia’s largest and most comprehensive security forum held annually in Singapore, has concluded. In addition to the US-China tension, new contradictions and fault lines between Europe and the US also drew attention at the Forum. The Forum takes its name from the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, where it was ...