Civil Society and Regional Governance

The Asian Development Bank and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

By (author) Anders Uhlin

Not available to order

Publication date:

12 September 2016

Length of book:

236 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498517843

Through detailed comparative case studies of civil society engagement with two major regional international organizations in Southeast Asia this book demonstrates the potentials and limitations of civil society actors as democratizing agents in governance beyond the nation-state. Drawing on previous research on civil society, social movements, transnational activism, and democratization, Uhlin develops an analytical framework focusing on a) how national and international political opportunities shape—and are shaped by—civil society advocacy; b) how civil society activists frequently combine inside and outside strategies when targeting international organizations; and c) how civil society advocacy can have a liberalizing impact on the targeted international organizations. Drawing on rich empirical data, including more than 100 qualitative interviews with civil society activists and representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the study demonstrates how civil society actors have contributed to pushing ADB—and to a much lesser extent ASEAN—in a political liberal direction, improving transparency, strengthening accountability, and introducing mechanisms protecting people from the abuse of power. With its innovative analytical framework, broad scope covering civil society activism across Southeast Asia, and in-depth analysis of civil society attempts to influence ADB and ASEAN the book makes important contributions to research on civil society activism in Southeast Asia as well as the more general field of civil society and governance beyond the nation-state.

1 Introduction
2 Political Opportunities, Civil Society Advocacy, and the Liberalization of International Organizations: An Analytical Framework
3 National Political Opportunities in Southeast Asia
4 International Political Opportunities: ADB and ASEAN
5 Civil Society Advocacy Targeting ADB and ASEAN
6 Civil Society and the Liberalization of ADB
7 Civil Society and the Limited Liberalization of ASEAN
8 Conclusion

This is an impressive book exploring an important theme. Uhlin enriches the literature on governance beyond the nation state by systematically focusing on the opportunity structures and the advocacy strategies of civil society organizations interacting with international organizations in Asia. He authored a theory-guided, highly context-sensitive and empirically rich book that in a nuanced way assesses the participatory space of non-state actors in a significant region of the Global South. The book benefits from the author’s enormous expertise acquired in many years of intensive research on and with civil society organizations in the Asia-Pacific.