Asia Pacific Confidence and Security Building Measures by Ralph A. Cossa

Author:Ralph A. Cossa [Cossa, Ralph A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Political Science, General, Asia
ISBN: 9780892063079
Google: njVtAAAAMAAJ
Goodreads: 4042289
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1995-09-22T00:00:00+00:00

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A Survey of Confidence and Security Building Measures

M. Susan Pederson and Stanley Weeks

Growing interest in the development of confidence and security building measures (CSBMs) for the Asia Pacific reflects a number of factors: increasing concern about post-cold war security structures; growing apprehension about the pace and extent of U.S. withdrawals; the emergence of an increasingly mature Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) committed to promoting regionwide security dialogue; and activism by United Nations (UN) disarmament bodies in pushing regional arms control agendas.

Although such developments have focused increased attention on CSBMs, the future role of such measures in promoting a regional security agenda is far from clear. The Asia Pacific differs in important respects from areas of the world where CSBMs have prospered. The region is more geographically, politically, and culturally diverse than any other in which confidence building efforts have been pursued. Perhaps most important, although troubled by some of the world’s most explosive hot spots, the Asia Pacific as a whole is characterized less by actively adversarial relationships than by the potential for conflict. Territorial disputes, competing economic and resource interests, and lingering domestic insecurities suggest the need for measures aimed at averting the rise of tension and conflict. CSBMs, by contrast, have been most commonly developed and applied to assist in dismantling confrontational or actively hostile situations.

The nature of the Asia Pacific security environment has led some to argue the futility of transferring European or other CSBM experience to Asia, or to suggest a new approach to confidence building emphasizing economic and social dimensions.1 A competing perspective argues that although the experience of each region is to some extent unique, a careful reading of the record of current CSBMs, especially in Europe, may yield generic lessons relevant elsewhere.2

This chapter takes the latter view and considers current and past experience with CSBMs in Europe and other regions in order to address the answers to two questions:

What are confidence building measures, and does a new understanding of the concept or a new term for the measures need to be defined?

What is the historical record of CSBM implementation, and what lessons can be drawn from the apparent success or failure of measures that have been applied in Europe, South Asia, Latin America, and currently the Middle East?

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