Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CRISEA (Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia)

Teaser

Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia (CRISEA) is an interdisciplinary research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme that studies multiple forces affecting regional integration in Southeast Asia (SEA) and the challenges they...

Summary

Competing Regional Integrations in Southeast Asia (CRISEA) is an interdisciplinary research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme that studies multiple forces affecting regional integration in Southeast Asia (SEA) and the challenges they present to its peoples and regional institutional framework, ASEAN, from a macro-micro perspective.

Coordinated by the Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO), the project brings together seven European and six SEA institutions, with three objectives:

1. Research on regional integration
Internal and external forces drive regional integration in SEA and compete for resources and legitimacy. CRISEA investigates five ‘arenas of competition’ for the interplay of these forces.

2. Policy relevance
CRISEA reaches beyond academia to engage in public debate and impact on government spheres. By establishing mechanisms for dialogue with government stakeholders, it furthers European science diplomacy in SEA and promotes evidence-based policy-making.

3. Capacity-building
CRISEA reinforces the European Research Area (ERA) in the field of Asian Studies through coordinated EU-ASEAN academic network development. It connects major research hubs with emerging expertise.

CRISEA conducts research on five ‘arenas of competition’:

1. The Environment
The Universities of Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Lodz (Poland) lead research on the extent to which competition over regional ‘commons’ is reaching a tipping point, with potentially wide-ranging consequences for the region’s security. Failure to face transnational environmental challenges could undermine ASEAN’s legitimacy.

2. The Economy
The Universities of Malaya (Malaysia) and Naples L’Orientale (Italy) lead study on whether the ‘uneven development trap’, that ensnares labour in precarious circulatory migration and undermines social stability, will erode SEA models of developmental capitalism and regional integration.

3. The State
Cambridge University, UK, and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences head the team that analyses forces that contest the liberal State in the region, asking if they herald an era where governance is legitimized by group interests that challenge the liberal values central to ASEAN’s model.

4. Identity
The Universities of Hamburg (Germany) and Ateneo de Manila (Philippines) ask whether the celebration of difference – at the heart of regional integration – is undermined by today’s crisis of globalisation and risks being subsumed in nationally and culturally conferred legitimacy.

5. The Region
The EFEO (France) and the University of Mandalay (Myanmar) assess ASEAN’s capacity to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving geopolitical environment and confront non-traditional security issues (environment, trafficking, migration). Lisbon’s Institute of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP) leads study of Timor Leste’s admission to ASEAN.

Migration, gender and security are examined within each WP.

Led by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Oslo University, Norway, CRISEA\'s dissemination plan seeks to deepen the EU’s engagement with ASEAN and help forge relevant foreign policies with SEA countries.

By promoting public debate and people-to-people contact, CRISEA’s “dissemination through dialogue” strategy includes:
• events for targeted audiences in Europe and SEA
• scientific publications, documentary films and policy briefs

Website: www.crisea.eu
Flyer: http://crisea.eu/news-and-events/crisea-project-flyer

Work performed

CRISEA held its Kick-Off Meeting at the EFEO Centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on 2-3 December 2017. Scientific Coordinator, Jacques Leider, outlined the research agenda focusing on the five arenas of competition. Project Manager, Elisabeth Lacroix, gave a presentation on H2020 rules. For WP Leaders this was an opportunity to engage with their research teams and establish work schedules. Medelina Hendytio, from CSIS (Jakarta), presented CRISEA’s communication strategy.

As Coordinator, the EFEO drafted a Consortium Agreement that lay down the rules for a management system among the partners and prepared a manual of procedures and detailed schedule of planned tasks and events.

On 22 November 2017, the managament team met H.E. David Daly, head of the EEAS Southeast Asia Division in the presence of Project Officer Danila Conte, to discuss CRISEA’s dissemination strategy. A 1st policy briefing session on ‘The Influence of China on SEA’ – a topic selected in consultation with EEAS – took place in Brussels on 19 June 2018.

In January 2018, an International Academic Advisory Board and Stakeholder Board were established. An Ethics Board, comprising Paulo Castro Seixas (ISCSP, Lisbon), chair, Andrée Feillard (CASE, Paris) and Tim Harper (Cambridge University) was also set up.

In June 2018, a 1st draft of the Data Management Plan was submitted to the EC.

All five research WPs presented a theoretical framework at CRISEA’s 1st Research Workshop, produced a Working Paper on State of the Art and Theoretical Framework and conducted fieldwork.

In July 2018, a policy brief was published on “Local Governments in China\'s Policy Towards ASEAN”. Contacts have been made with the EU Delegations to Malaysia and the Philippines to prepare for CRISEA\'s 1st and 2nd Dissemination Workshops (Manila, February 2019; Kuala Lumpur, July 2019).

Results were presented as follows:
• Research Workshop 1, Hanoi (Vietnam), 28-30 March 2018.
• Policy Briefing Session 1 on ‘The Influence of China on SEA’, EEAS, Brussels, 19 June 2018.
• 2nd International Conference: European Studies on SEA, ‘Comparing Regionalism, The EU Model as Reference Point for Integrating Regions’, Ateneo de Manila, Philippines, 16 November 2018.

Final results

Research on regional integration:
Theoretical frameworks presented at the 1st Research Workshop demonstrated the high quality and innovative nature of the research being conducted, one that fosters dialogue between micro-studies specialists and macro-analysts in international relations and political economy. Results will be published in books and journal articles, special issues and in a CRISEA collection. CRISEA is expected to make a substantial contribution to academic knowledge on challenges to integration in SEA.

Bridging academia, civil society and policy making:
In addressing the need for more culturally and historically informed dialogue between Europe and SEA, CRISEA builds on the achievements of the IDEAS and SEATIDE projects in the development of an ambitious strategy that links diplomacy and academia. Through the organisation of Policy Briefing Sessions and Dissemination Workshops, CRISEA demonstrates the advantages of bringing together researchers, government stakeholders and civil society in Brussels and SEA to discuss challenges to integration. In the long-run, CRISEA is expected to provide up-to-date information which may assist stakeholders in the formulation of external relations policies.

Europe-SEA network development:
The CRISEA Consortium comprises European and SEA research institutes and think tanks with different traditions of Asian studies. Strengthened by collaborative work and regular meetings, this network will contribute to the integration of the ERA through the promotion of joint research programmes. The relationships developed are expected to strengthen future knowledge generation capacity, as well as providing a model for similar initiatives.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.crisea.eu.