Preah Vihear Dispute and ASEAN Regional Security Challenges

Abstract

The Preah Vihear dispute illustrates how cultural heritage, sovereignty, domestic nationalism, and interstate security can become mutually reinforcing in Southeast Asia. This study examines the dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and its implications for ASEAN regional security. The principal analytical period is 2008–2011, when the dispute escalated after the temple was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, while the 2013 International Court of Justice (ICJ) interpretation is used only as a legal endpoint for assessing the clarification of sovereignty. The study employs a qualitative single-case design based on structured literature and document analysis. Sources were selected from peer-reviewed scholarship, official ASEAN and UNESCO documents, ICJ judgments, and Indonesian diplomatic records. The analysis applies Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) through four operational dimensions: security interdependence, amity-enmity patterns, polarity, and regional boundaries. The findings show that the 2008 UNESCO inscription did not create the underlying territorial dispute or determine the international boundary. Rather, it increased the political salience of a cultural site already embedded in a sovereignty contest. Domestic nationalist mobilization made compromise more politically costly and contributed to the escalation of border tensions. The conflict became a regional security concern because two ASEAN members engaged in armed confrontation, prompting ASEAN diplomatic engagement and Indonesia’s mediation as ASEAN Chair in 2011. At the same time, ASEAN’s institutional norms of sovereignty, non-interference, consultation, and consensus constrained coercive collective action. The case demonstrates that a bilateral territorial dispute can become regionally consequential when security interdependence activates regional institutions, while ASEAN’s capacity to manage the crisis depends on member-state consent and diplomatic leadership