WP019 | Multilateralism, Neo-liberalism and Security in Asia: The Role of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum

Abstract

Multilateral organisations such as the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum must be situated within the framework of both the hegemony of global hyper-liberalism and the legitimising role of international organisations. The neo-liberal “vision” upon which organisations such as APEC are predicated upon holds particular understandings of how growth and modernisation may be achieved. In contrast to the (relative) success of the Asian developmental state “model”, the hyper-liberal project seeks to delimit most state involvement in the economy. By examining the discourse which surrounds this project and by looking at how certain voices within APEC have sought to cast what “good” economic practice are, how the security of the “average” Asian advanced or compromised is of great interest. The implications of closing off as a “non-option” the formerly exalted developmental state models are particularly intriguing. What this paper seeks to investigate is the way that a particular form of economic common sense is now promoted in Asia as an integral part of a regional and global project, by illustrating the role of one particular multilateral organisation, namely APEC. How this impacts upon security in the region, defined in a broad and non-orthodox manner, is at the heart of this paper.