Regional trade agreements and conflict: The case of Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has witnessed a relative subsidence in conventional security threats such as territorial disputes, arms races and inter-state warfare over the last decade or so.1 Instead, non-traditional security threats and intra-state conflict have taken greater precedence in recent years.2 These non-traditional security threats in the region have manifested themselves as social unrest (including forced displacement) and political instability associated with environmental crises, energy shortfalls, terrorist attacks, pandemic diseases, religious differences and economic recession. Such threats have risen sharply since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.