Business
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Briefing Paper on:
REGIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA:
THE SEARCH FOR ECONOMIC SECURITY
by Helen E S Nesadurai
1. Introduction
Economic security has long been a central concern of Southeast Asian states. However, these
states do not view economic security in its more traditional sense, of security from the
economic manipulations of other states through economic instruments such as trade, aid, and
resource (energy, water) supplies.1 Nor is economic security envisioned in terms of the
economics-military/defence capabilities nexus. Instead, economic security is commonly
viewed as the safeguarding of national prosperity (Alagappa, 1998: 626). National prosperity
is, in turn, a crucial means to secure the state and especially the regime from threats that are
primarily domestic in origin. Thus, the Southeast Asian states share similar security concerns
with many developing states that are also primarily concerned with threats to national and
regime security coming from domestic sources (Ayoob, 1995). For the Southeast Asian
governments, their paramount concern is especially to ensure the security and legitimacy of
governing regimes (Acharya, 1997). Economic growth and development, while viewed as
priorities in their own right, are employed as a means to address this security concern. Events
that disrupt the conditions that support growth and development, whether intentional or
otherwise, are, consequently, regarded as threats to their economic security. Under conditions
of economic globalisation, external sources of challenges and disruptions to the domestic
economy have increased, especially from the heightened degree of volatility and uncertainty
posed by the workings of global capitalism (Zoellick, 1998/98). This dynamic has had a
major impact on regional economic cooperation in the...
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