NON-TRADITIONAL MARITIME SECURITY THREATS; THE DYNAMIC OF ASEAN COOPERATION

Abstract

This article attempts to analyze ASEAN’s response to maritime security cooperation. As an organization in Southeast Asia, ASEAN needs to establish good maritime cooperation to protect the various interests of the members and the busy SLOCs as well. The author uses cooperative security to analyze ASEAN maritime security cooperation and identifies sources of cooperative maritime security to explain their willingness to join or not to join a cooperation agreement. This article shows that there is an overlap of cooperation as the result of different in terms of prioritization, capability, and especially perspective regarding the absolute and collective gain that leads to ineffective cooperation. In addition, there are no legally binding frameworks as an outcome from formed cooperation beside a series of dialogues between ASEAN members. But, although each country has different priorities, capability, interest and perspectives, the Cooperative security may become a bridge to overcome the difference. It is possible as the ASEAN members keep showing their willingness to overcome maritime issue by doing bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral cooperation.