Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2020. x, 353 pp. (Tables, figures, maps.) US$29.00, paper. ISBN 978-981-4881-08-1.
Mely Caballero-Anthony and Lina Gong’s work provides a comprehensive look at non-traditional security (NTS) threats in Southeast Asia. As the world grapples with Covid-19, the need to understand and come up with coordinated responses to human security threats has never been more stark. We are seeing in real time tremendous variation in how states are coping with the pandemic, and we are seeing only modest transnational cooperation. This edited volume, written before the 2020 pandemic, contains chapters on the following issue areas: climate change, food security, the marine environment, disaster response, nuclear energy, human trafficking, displaced persons, and health security. The breadth of topics here is advantageous. The goal of the book is to examine governance of these transboundary threats and to identify areas where we see progress and where gaps still exist. The takeaway points of the book are the need in Southeast Asia to push for effective enforcement of national and regional laws to address NTS, the need for better coordination across different sectors and levels of government, and the imperative for deepening regional multilateral cooperation to improve human security. The strongest chapters are the overview, chapter 1, from the editors, chapter 2 “Climate Change and Regional Cooperation in Southeast Asia” by Margareth Sembiring, and chapter 8 “Displaced Populations and Regional Governance in Southeast Asia” by Alistair D. B. Cook. What makes these chapters stand out is that they provide both the key information about climate change and refugees, but they also do an excellent job detailing the strengths and weaknesses of regional and international efforts to coordinate responses to the problems. The overall thesis of the book is that more needs to be done to engage multiple actors (government officials, civil society, IO, and the private sector) in the governance of NTS issues, and this complex engagement needs to happen within and across states, but not every chapter links back to this point.
While the book provides us with an excellent view of eight important human security issues, it misses an opportunity to asses why we see successful cooperation on NTS and why we don’t. What conditions need to exist to improve responses to NTS and why is this so hard? The book provides some clues to this in the details of the chapters, but the dots aren’t connected. One possible explanation draws on literature from international organizations and hegemonic stability theory. International organizations facilitate cooperation, and they are most successful at this when a superpower helps provide incentives for other countries to cooperate. A hegemon can provide funding and carrots and sticks to get other countries to modify their behaviour and help solve common problems (Robert O. Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, Princeton University Press, 1984). Julius Cesar I. Trajano and Yen Ne Foo’s chapter on trafficking in persons discusses the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). This is an American law, but it has become linked to international anti-trafficking regimes because of how it shapes states’ anti-trafficking behaviour (200). Here, a great power is using foreign assistance as a carrot and shaming as a stick to get countries to do a better job addressing human trafficking. Cambodia, under threat of being downgraded and sanctioned under TVPA, passed stronger laws to criminalize all forms of trafficking (201). Likewise, in chapter 2 on climate change, Sembiring discusses external funding for adaptation efforts to combat the effects of climate change on water usage in the Mekong River. European countries are the largest donors and their involvement has influenced what projects move forward (40). Modest efforts to address these threats to human security are taking place, and it would be helpful to readers to understand when and why we might see some success.
A second possible explanation for weaknesses in addressing human security problems might be found by taking a closer look at governance and corruption. State actors have diverse interests; they want to stay in power, and also (presumably) serve the public good. Sometimes these goals conflict. When Cambodia confronted avian influenza, they received donor aid and rather than use the money to compensate farmers for culling sick and exposed birds, they used it to design public service campaigns, which allowed government officials to control and disburse funds to allies and supporters. Indonesia also struggled to combat avian influenza as ministries vied for primacy and there was conflict between local and national jurisdictions (Sophal Ear, “Emerging Infectious Disease Surveillance in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia and the US and the US Naval Area Research Unit 2,” Asian Security, vol. 8, 2012). Likewise, dam building in Laos isn’t motivated by the need to provide energy for Laotians, but rather it serves the interests of political elites who benefit from deals with Thai, Korean, or Chinese construction firms. Then, there are local and regional negative externalities when there are droughts or monsoons, or infrastructure disasters. This was the case when, in 2018, a dam that was part of the Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower project in Laos collapsed, releasing five billion cubic litres of water into the surrounding region (141). In all of these cases, human security needs were unmet due to weaknesses in governance and accountability. Across Southeast Asia accountability mechanisms to provide citizens with recourse against corrupt officials are weak or lacking all together. Ultimately, human security threats are about the well-being of people and how well or poorly a government is able to secure the lives and property of their citizens. This book gives us a sense that the glass is both half full and half empty. There are attempts in Southeast Asia to create regional frameworks to address NTS, like AADMER (ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response) and the Mekong River Commission. As this book points out, there are initiatives to build capacity to address threats to human security, but these efforts are poorly funded and it isn’t clear that governments are really committed to changing norms of behaviour to better serve human well-being.
Amy L. Freedman
Pace University, New York