Asian Journal of PEACEBUILDING

Volume 10 Number 2 (November 2022)

Table of Contents

Special Issue_In Search of Regional Stability in the Age of Hyper-Uncertainty: The US-China Strategic Competition and the Redesign of Regional Order in East Asia

Hedging via Institutions: ASEAN-led Multilateralism in the Age of the Indo-Pacific

Cheng-Chwee Kuik pp. 355-386 doi: 10.18588/202211.00a319
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This article unpacks the dynamics of group hedging in international relations by examining the Southeast Asian states’ collective efforts to use ASEAN-led multilateral institutions as a platform to hedge against a range of risks surrounding intensifying big-power rivalry and increasing global uncertainties. It argues that ASEAN’s collective hedging is a converged but not necessarily coordinated act. Despite the states’ diverging attributes and outlooks, they converge on shared vulnerabilities, collective memories, and disadvantaged positions. Southeast Asian states thus view ASEAN-based multilateralism as an indispensable, albeit insufficient, means to engage big powers and manage other challenges. Through the functions of institutional binding, buffering, and building, ASEAN’s group hedging serves to mitigate and offset risks while shaping Asian order amid deepening uncertainties in the age of the Indo Pacific.

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