Safety Culture And Regional Orde

How to understand the security order in Southeast Asia and how these security orders were formed? Various academic research has attempted to provide answers to this question,using different approaches that focus on factors such as power,institutions,and norms.However,regardless of the approach,the explanatory power of the research seems insufficient,making it difficult to fully understand the true nature of the regional order in Southeast Asia.To address the limitations of existing literature,this thesis proposes a middle-ground analytical framework that integrates constructivist normative research and international practice theory.The core argument of this paper is that the evolution of security order in Southeast Asia is a social process defined by security culture,which includes the interaction between security norms and local practices within this process.Guided by the above questions,this thesis defines three key concepts:security norms,local practices,and regional security culture.Security norms refer to the shared knowledge of security formed by specific behavioral entities through long-term interaction,including specific references,sources of threats,and implementation paths.The strength of security norms determines their ability to shape regional order.Local practices are socially significant and patterned performance actions initiated by the local practice community based on shared local background knowledge.They are the dominant practices in the collection of international practices in the region.Local security culture is the collective viewpoint of local behavioral entities on security subjects,security threats,and security acquisition paths.It is constructed through the interaction and mutual construction of security norms and local practices.Security culture shapes the perception of security interests among regional behavioral entities and influences the form of regional security policies.At the same time,new security policies may also lead to new local practices and promote the evolution of regional security culture.There exists a transformation mechanism between security culture and regional order.Firstly,As part of the security culture,security regulations and local practices,they jointly shape the form of regional order,which is the basic feature and internal logic of the order.Secondly,the inherent stability and continuity of cultural factors point to the basic stability of local practice activities,while repeated practice activities contribute to the diffusion and deepening of security standards within the region,thereby strengthening the legitimacy of the regional order.Finally,the inherent tension generated by the interaction between security norms and local practices promotes the transformation of the regional order.When new practical crises arise and existing local practices are hindered,a new security culture is conceived through reflection and then applied to the evolution of the regional order.Based on the above theoretical thinking,this thesis conducted a historical review and empirical analysis,pointing out that the Southeast Asian order is a consultative,inclusive,and balanced order.The mutual reinforcement between ASEAN’s local practices and security norms endows Southeast Asian security culture with the characteristics of “negotiation”,“inclusiveness” and “neutrality”,which further define the Southeast Asian regional order of negotiation,inclusiveness and balance.The establishment of the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone reflects the interactive process of Southeast Asian negotiation norms and establishment practices.In this process,the norms of negotiation have actively guided the practice of the establishment,promoted the negotiation culture of ASEAN,and deepened the negotiation order in Southeast Asia.The establishment of the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone eliminated the possibility of a nuclear crisis in Southeast Asia.At the same time,in the process of establishing the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone,ASEAN resolved the difficulties one by one by relying on the practical logic of the negotiation culture.The establishment of the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone fully contained the power of the negotiation culture,and the establishment of the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone itself also fed back the negotiation culture.The expansion of ASEAN after the Cold War reflects the interactive process between Southeast Asia’s expansion practice and inclusive norms.In this process,the practice of expansion has given new connotations to inclusive norms,enriched the inclusive culture of ASEAN,and strengthened the inclusive order in Southeast Asia.From the establishment of ASEAN to the “Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia” to the expansion of ASEAN after the Cold War,ASEAN’s inclusive norms have been continuously improved and developed.The different ways in which Vietnam,Myanmar,and Cambodia join the ASEAN are the process of enriching inclusive norms,and the inclusive order of ASEAN is also further developed.The evolution of the regional order in Southeast Asia from neutrality to autonomy to centrality reflects the interactive process of neutral norms and balanced practices in ASEAN.In this process,the mutual construction of neutral norms and balanced practices has formed the balanced culture of ASEAN,and the balanced order in Southeast Asia has also emerged as the times require.The great powers’ fighting without breaking in Southeast Asia is the prerequisite for the balanced order in ASEAN.The driving force for the creation and maintenance of a balanced order is ASEAN’s balancing practice based on the evolving norms of neutrality.The balancing practice has the distinctive feature of“dynamism”.Although the regional order in Southeast Asia is defined by regional security culture,it also has global significance.On the one hand,through the practices of ASEAN’s foreign exchanges and regional cooperations,the security culture of Southeast Asia has been diffused across regions and institutionalized into a series of cross-regional cooperation.On the other hand,in the context of intensified strategic competition between China and the United States,the promotion of ASEAN’s “negotiation”,“inclusiveness” and “neutrality” security culture will help eliminate the unfavorable factors in the competition between major powers and maintain balance and stability in the global order.