Description
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has in the last decade attempted to implement a more ‘people-centred’ approach to governance and shake off its reputation as an elite-driven regional project. Despite the rhetoric, little has actually changed in the formal institutional channels through which civil society organisations (CSO) can meaningfully influence ASEAN governmental policy. Compounding this problem is the well- documented ‘illiberal’ shift across a large number of ASEAN democracies, putting civic spaces under extreme duress. I argue that although the current outlook for democratic regional governance appears bleak, a more prominent role for the largest civic gathering in the region, the ASEAN People’s Forum (APF), could help to address these deficits. The forum has similarly struggled to gain political traction vis-à-vis regional governance, but recent CSO initiatives have hinted at a multi-stakeholder approach that might hold the key to unlocking the promises of a people-centred ASEAN.
