| Information about your thesis |
Haze or smoke pollution in the Southeast Asian region is caused by grass, forest and peat fires mostly originating in Indonesia. This haze travels across the oceans, affecting the health and economies of several ASEAN member-states. The most severely affected are Malaysia and Singapore. Since 1985, ASEAN has considered the annual haze a regional crisis, and have actively tried to address it on a regional level. However, the well-known association of ASEAN with norms like non-intervention and the non-use of force have thrown doubts over the organization’s capability to do so.
ASEAN-level environmental cooperation has faced some successes, and some failures. This research will investigate to what extent the norms of the ASEAN Way have helped or hindered regional cooperation over the haze. This topic will be addressed using two levels of analysis, the first being interstate relations, and the second being the organization level. This research will be significant in further understanding the tension between materialistic and social or normative factors in determining state interests and action, and also the strategic use of norms to achieve those interests. On the organizational level, this study aims to contribute towards the debate of international organizations as actors in their own right.
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