In 2009 Indonesian political scientist and defence commentator Connie Bakrie summarised her country’s security posture, saying ‘Outside we are dove, inside we are fox.’ In other words, Indonesia could be repressive, illiberal and authoritarian but beyond its borders would be pacific, irenic and conciliatory. This is exactly the opposite of the Democratic Peace Theory; that authoritarian governments should be more warlike, and indeed statistically are more likely to be involved in militarised confrontations.
In this project I want to unpack this conundrum, by arguing that Southeast Asia, and in fact ASEAN, has developed an historically unprecedented form of community, an ‘informal illiberal authoritarian solidarist community’ (IIASC) that above all cooperates to preserve regime security, regardless of how autocratic and illiberal, and that interstate peace is both a necessary precondition and desirable consequence of this cardinal principle. More broadly, I wish to bring the insights of comparative political science, which focussed on the challenges of democracy, together with IR and security studies, which has tended to ignore or gloss over the nature of Southeast Asian political systems.
The project will investigate the existence of an IIASC through the following specific research questions: (1) Are Southeast Asian states strengthened in their authoritarianism and illiberalism by mutual learning? (2) Are Southeast Asian states strengthened in their authoritarianism and illiberalism by mutual legitimising? (3) Are Southeast Asian states strengthened in their authoritarianism and illiberalism by collusion in the repression of dissent?