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foreign ministers of five countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand–
met at the Thai Department of Foreign Affairs building in Bangkok and signed the ASEAN
Declaration, more commonly known as the Bangkok Declaration. Since then, membership has
expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam aim is to include the accelera-
tion of economic growth, social progress, cultural development among its members & protection of the
peace.
Body—ASEAN’s agenda-setting and decision-making processes can be usefully understood in
terms of the so-called Track I and Track II. Track I refers to the practice of diplomacy among
government channels. The participants stand as representatives of their respective states. All official
decisions are made in Track I. Track II on the other hand refers to diplomatic activities that are
unofficial and includes participants from both government and non-government institutions such as the
academic, economic communities and NGOs. This track enables governments to discuss controversial
issues. The track that acts as a forum for civil society in South-East Asia is called Track III, which is
essentially people-to-people diplomacy undertaken mainly by CSOs. Track III network claim to
represent communities and people who are largely marginalised from political power centres and unable
to achieve positive change without outside assistance. The ASEAN Leaders’ Formal Summit was first
held in Bali, Indonesia in 1976. Its third meeting was held in Manila in 1987 and during this meeting, it
was decided that the leaders would meet every five years, consequently, the fourth meeting was held in
Singapore in 1992 where the leaders again agreed to meet more frequently, deciding to hold the summit
every three years. In 2001, it was decided to meet annually. On 15 December 2008 the members of
ASEAN met in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta to launch a charter, signed in November 2007, with the
aim of moving closer to “an EU-style community.” The charter turns ASEAN into a legal entity and
aims to create a single free-trade area.
Conclusion—During the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cuba, several activist groups staged anti-
globalization and anti-Arroyo rallies. They also viewed the organization as imperialistic that threatens
the country’s sovereignty. A human rights lawyer from New Zealand was also present to protest about
the human rights situation in the region in general. Thus ASEAN has agreed to an ASEAN human
rights body which will come into force in 2009.
Anti-globalization
Introduction—“Anti-globalization” is a term that encompasses a number of related ideas. What is
shared is that participants stand in opposition to the unregulated political power of large, multi-national
corporations, and the powers exercised through trade agreements. Recent developments, which are
unprecedented changes in the global economy, have been characterised as ‘turbo-capitalism’, ‘market
fundamentalism’, ‘casino capitalism’, etc. Some similar terms include the Global Justice Movement, the
Anti-Corporate-Globalization Movement, Anti-Intellectualism, the Movements, the Alter-globalization
movement, etc.
Body—Supporters believe that by the late 20th century those they characterized as “ruling elites”
sought to harness the expansion of world markets for their own interests; this combination of the
Bretons Woods institutions, states, and multinational corporations has been called “globalization” or
“globalization from above.” In reaction, various social movements emerged to challenge their
influence; these movements have been called “anti-globalization”. Protesters believe that the global
corprorations exercise privileges that human citizens cannot : moving freely across borders, extracting
desired natural resources, doing permanent damage to the natural capital. Activists goals are for an end
to the legal status of “corporate personhood” and the dissolution of free market fundamentalism
measures of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund. Anti-Globalization refer’s to a specific form
of international economic integration, one based on investor rights. Although over the past years more
emphasis has been given to the construction of grassroots alternatives to (Capitalist) globalization, the
movement’s largest and most visible mode of organizing remains mass decentralized campaigns of
direct action and civil disobedience. This mode of organizing, sometimes under the banner of the
People’s Global Action network. One of the major causes of poverty amongst third-world farmers are