Contesting Sovereignty
Power and Practice in Africa and Southeast Asia

Examines and compares diplomatic practices and normative change in the African Union and ASEAN.

Joel Ng (Author)

9781108490610, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 July 2021

318 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.6 kg

'… an important book that sheds light on multiple histories of wrestling with sovereignty in regional integration outside the Global North. It deserves to be read widely …' Swati Srivastava, Perspectives on Politics

Sovereignty is a foundational idea upon which regional organisation of nations is built, yet its demise has often been predicted. Regionalism, which commits states to common frameworks such as rules and norms, tests sovereignty as states relinquish some sovereign power to achieve other goals such as security, growth, or liberalisation. This book examines the practice of normative contestation over sovereignty in two regional organisations of Africa and Asia – the AU and ASEAN. A structured comparison of three case studies from each organisation determines whether a norm challenging sovereignty was accepted, rejected, or qualified. Ng has carried out interviews about, and detailed analysis of, these six cases that occurred at formative moments of norm-setting and that each had very different outcomes. This study contributes to the understanding of norms contestation in the field of international relations and offers new insights on how the AU and ASEAN are constituted.

Part I. Normative Contestation in Regional Organisations
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Framework
Part II. The African Union
3. The 'United States of Africa' Proposal
4. The Conference on Security, Stability, Development, and Cooperation in Africa
5. The Pan-African Parliament
Part III: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Part III. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
6. Human Rights 'Protection' in the ASEAN Charter
7. The ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism
8. Extending the 'ASEAN Minus X' Formula
Part IV. Comparative Findings
9. Assessing the Model
10. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: International organisations & institutions [LBBU], International relations [JPS], Comparative politics [JPB]