Civil Society

Non-state actors in Lao PDR are reshaping the single-party system through shared governance, blending local knowledge with expert guidance. Despite being in an "experimental phase," this approach is yielding positive impacts on natural resources and fostering new political dynamics.

Isaan Record, long-term partner of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Southeast Asia Office, interviewed Tanwarin Sukkhapisit on the factors that are influencing a sea-change in Thai society’s attitudes towards gender equality, focusing on a long discussed civil union bill. This bill would allow LGBT+ to enter a marriage-like partnership which is awaiting a final decision from Thailand’s yet-to-be-decided government.

Governments and corporations are driving the demand for water, land and organic resources of all kinds as never before. Citizens are fighting for their rights and working to preserve their livelihoods. Our study "Tricky Business" shows how the mechanisms of expropriation work.

The eleven-year experience of engagement with the official ASEAN process has taught civil society movements in Southeast Asia valuable lessons that should guide its future trajectories. Disappointment, rejection, and disillusionment should now be a thing of the past and chalked up to experience. The real challenge facing ACSC/APF today lies from outside and beyond the established ASEAN process. 

A Keynote on the Civic Charter at its Launch at the Global Perspectives Conference on 26th October 2016 in Berlin.

Pundits have been keen to predict that Southeast Asia will soon leave behind its authoritarian past and head toward a more democratic future. This optimism was boosted in 2010 by Myanmar’s decision to “transition” to democracy, allowing for elections and assigning a role to the opposition.

Civil society space is under attack worldwide. In her welcoming speech to the Global Perspectives Conference, Barbara Unmüßig urged 160 representatives of civil society organisations from around the globe to stand in solidarity with each other and to put the issue of shrinking and closing spaces back on the political agenda.

On 12 October 2016, SEA Junction organized a panel discussion titled “ASEAN Governance: Is There a Role for Civil Society?" in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Southeast Asia. More than 70 participants, many of them from Southeast Asia, filled SEA Junction premises at the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre (BACC) in Bangkok, Thailand to eagerly listen to the speakers and exchange views on the challenge of establishing a more representative governance system for ASEAN as a "people-centered" inter-governmental institution.