CPSA/ISA-Canada section on International Relations

C03(a) - Governance in South and SouthEast Asia

Date: May 30 | Time: 10:30am to 12:00pm | Location: Classroom CL-305 Room ID:15701

Chair/Président/Présidente : Yili Zhou (Carleton University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Linda Elmose (Okanagan College)

Networks of Recovery: Remittances, Social Capital and Post-Disaster Recovery in Tacloban City, Philippines: Yvonne Su (University of Guelph)
Abstract: Social networks are recognized as a central resource for people exposed to natural hazards, especially those in weak states. But in the event of an extreme disaster, such as Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, a households’ core social network of those geographically close are equally affected and households need to rely on weaker extra-local ties. In the Philippines, migrants and diaspora communities emerged as significant sources of external support in post-Haiyan recovery. But who benefits from these networks and who are excluded? This study asks what is the degree of access to remittances by different groups and what are the implications of this for their ability to recover from disasters? Drawing on a networked theory of social capital, this article argues that differing access to, and mobilization of remittances shapes the ways different households recover. Using surveys, interviews and participatory approaches, I compare middle and lower class households in three heavily Haiyan-affected communities in Tacloban City, to map households’ social networks to understand the type of assistance they received, the types of social ties they had and the helpfulness of the assistance for recovery to understand how various households benefitted from extra-local networks and the exclusions these patterns of recovery create.

From Talk-shop to Community of Discourse: ASEAN’s Security Community-building Process as Performance: Stephanie Martel (Queen's University)
Abstract: No multilateral institution in the world is more deserving of the label “talk-shop” than ASEAN. According to critics, the grouping's evolution has been marked by a succession of empty slogans and showboating declarations, supplemented by a lack of concrete results despite more than a thousand meetings a year. ASEAN's venture towards becoming a “security community”, formally established on December 31, 2015 despite its inability to fulfill the criteria for claiming this status, has been treated as a case in point of the grouping's failure to walk the proverbial talk. Yet, repeated predictions of the regional process unravelling still haven’t materialized as ASEAN continues to baffle its sceptics through the continuous commitment of its members and partners. This article addresses the puzzle of the grouping's resilience through a focus on the role of discourse in security community-building, arguing that ASEAN is best conceived as a community of discourse, produced through an ongoing debate over the meaning of regional security. In this debate, actors invoke competing versions of the security community, the boundaries of which are negotiated in the process. Despite the incoherence this creates within its approach to regionalism, ASEAN is able to convince that its security community, however defined, is a laudable project that all should continuously strive to improve. The demonstration draws from research conducted in Southeast Asia, including interviews with officials, experts and civil society representatives involved in the regional process.