Managing Multipolarity: ASEAN’s Dialogue Partnership Framework Under Pressure
Joanne Lin, author
Date of publication:
2026
Publisher:
ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Number of pages:
20
Code:
TRS23/26
Soft Cover
ISBN: 9789815361841
About the publication
- ASEAN’s Dialogue Partnership framework has evolved from a small set of relationships into a differentiated external partnership architecture encompassing Dialogue Partners, Sectoral Dialogue Partners, Development Partners, Strategic Partnerships and Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships. This evolution has occurred incrementally, allowing ASEAN to expand external engagement while preserving flexibility, consensus and institutional control.
- Differentiation has enabled ASEAN to accommodate partners with varying levels of strategic relevance, institutional access and substantive contribution. But as more partners have been elevated to Strategic or Comprehensive Strategic Partnership status, these distinctions have become less meaningful. Consequently, the value of a partnership increasingly depends not on its formal designation, but on the substance of its cooperation and its alignment with ASEAN’s priorities.
- The external relations framework is coming under growing pressure from rising external demand, limited institutional capacity, fragmented partner-driven initiatives and intensifying geopolitical competition. The challenge is increasingly not how many partners ASEAN can accommodate, but whether it can retain ownership over the scale, direction and strategic purpose of external engagement.
- ASEAN’s likely response will combine consolidation of existing partnerships, selective admission of new Dialogue Partners and greater use of graduated engagement through Sectoral Dialogue Partnerships and Development Partnerships. The effectiveness of this architecture will ultimately depend on ASEAN’s ability to adapt while ensuring that external cooperation remains coherent, substantive and aligned with ASEAN’s own priorities.
Contents
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Managing Multipolarity: ASEAN’s Dialogue Partnership Framework Under Pressure
[Whole Publication, ISBN: 9789815361902], by Joanne Lin, author
