Description
The escalating humanitarian crisis in Myanmar has posed significant threats to the human security of Myanmar civilians and broader regional security, thereby calling for ASEAN Centrality in addressing the crisis. The paper analyses the feasibility and efficacy of ASEAN’s Fight-Point Consensus (5PC) plan for Myanmar, and proposes pathways for overcoming the present impasse through the assertion of ASEAN Centrality. Employing a liberal institutionalist–English School framework and a comparative case study design, this paper analyses the responses of ASEAN and other Global South regional organisations like AU and ECOWAS to military coups within their respective regions. By situating these responses within Southeast Asian and African international societies and their associated primary institutions, the paper synthesises lessons and best practices regarding regional crisis management. Through this comparison, the paper concludes that the ongoing gridlock regarding the implementation of 5PC is set to continue without any adjustments to the current approach, strictly based on ASEAN Way, and suggests that moderate adjustments to the ASEAN decision-making procedures, the institutionalisation and expanded mandate of the ASEAN special envoy, and the intensification of ASEAN-led proactive engagements with ASEAN’s key dialogue partners like China and Australia, offer the means to break the impasse and assert ASEAN Centrality.