By Mehmet Enes Beşer People often call ASEAN the “central” player in the region — a forum that helps Southeast Asia avoid getting caught up in the games of bigger powers. But behind the rituals of summit diplomacy, one problem keeps coming back, and ASEAN has never really cracked it: leadership. Not charismatic, personality-driven leadership, but the sort that can ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer Southeast Asian maritime security is usually discussed in the blunt language of hardware: ships, missiles, bases, patrol days, tonnage. It’s the language of what you can float and what you can threaten. But the next big shift in the region’s waters may arrive without a single new hull. It may arrive as a change in what ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer ASEAN has spent much of its life doing a particular kind of political magic: holding a diverse region together by refusing to pretend its members are the same. Different systems, different threat perceptions, different economic models—yet a shared habit of consultation. For decades, the “ASEAN way” wasn’t a punchline. It was a practical technology for preventing ...
By Mehmet Enes Beşer ASEAN has never been short on meetings. What it’s been short on—especially when the region is tense—is machinery that moves faster than the next crisis. In 2026, the Philippines takes the chair at a moment when the big-ticket issues (Myanmar, the South China Sea, border tensions) are already crowding the agenda. That’s exactly why Manila should ...
The Supply-Chain Moment By Mehmet Enes Beşer 2026 won’t be remembered for a single summit, a chairmanship slogan, or a carefully worded communiqué. It will be remembered for something colder and more structural: whether Southeast Asia adapted to a world that is no longer simply “globalized,” but reorganized—by tariffs, industrial policy, export controls, strategic rivalry, and a growing willingness by ...
Rising Aspirations, Enduring Barriers By Mehmet Enes Beşer With this era of climate consciousness and responsible consumption, sustainable fashion is a global movement transforming how individuals perceive apparel. In Southeast Asia, where garment manufacturing and textile production are the drivers of economic growth and international supply chains, green and socially conscious fashion is gradually building momentum. Customers, especially young people ...
Reimagining Development By Mehmet Enes Beşer Development assistance to Southeast Asia has long come from the Global North: bilateral donors, international financial institutions, and multilateral organizations molding the region’s infrastructure, health systems, and governance framework. Although such assistance at times has delivered spectacular success it has also imposed a price: agendas of donors, unpredictable commitments, and conditionality that restrict policy ...
Policy Pathways to Strengthen Value Chain Participation By Mehmet Enes Beşer Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Southeast Asia’s economy. SMEs consist of over 97% of the total number of firms and add significantly to employment and GDP of ASEAN nations. But in spite of all their dynamism and compactness, ASEAN SMEs are still firmly under-connected into ...
If Cambodia is to chart its own independent path, then it will have to diversify its alliances, improve institutional governance, and balance the benefits of Chinese engagement with broader regional and global cooperation. By Mehmet Enes Beşer There is no other nation-state that comes close to equaling the breadth and depth of Chinese engagement in the Cambodian international relations world. ...
The crisis in Myanmar has become the test case for ASEAN. By Mehmet Enes Beşer Today, it is entering its fourth year with no endgame on the horizon. The military regime is as entrenched as ever, and anti-junta forces have become more united in their efforts, while humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate month after month. Within this maelstrom of uncertainty ...