Reassessing ASEAN's Five-Point Consensus: on Shifting Boundaries of Legitimate Involvement and a Contested Consensus

Abstract

The Five-Point Consensus (5PC) of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted after the 2021 military takeover in Myanmar is generally understood as a failure given its objectives have not been achieved. Meanwhile, existing debate about the 5PC's origins, the reasons for its lack of effectiveness, and controversies surrounding its implementation have produced competing arguments. The article engages these arguments by reassessing the 5PC with reference to the literature on ASEAN's evolving principles and practices, the grouping's substantial implementation efforts, and responses to the 5PC by Myanmar's key stakeholders. This analytical and empirical contextualisation allows for a more balanced evaluation of ASEAN's 5PC. Significantly, the 5PC has involved an important shift in how far ASEAN's legitimate diplomatic involvement in Myanmar affairs now extends and represents unprecedented conflict management. At the same time, intramural contestation arising from 5PC implementation has focused on ASEAN's recent practice of the consensus principle.