Why, following the EU’s first attempts at advancing community cooperation in
civil protection and the creation of the EU civil protection mechanism, has
ASEAN undertaken new initiatives, such as the adoption of a legally binding
accord, AADMER and a formal institution, the AHA Center, largely comparable to
the institutional innovations endorsed by the EU, in the same issue area? Can
these developments be interpreted simply as the result of independent
decision-making by ASEAN or are they at least a partial outcome of a transfer
process? The aim of this study is to contribute to the emerging debate on
European influence in Southeast Asia, taking into account how processes of
policy and institutional transfer may lead ASEAN’s region builders to learn
from the EU’s experience. Specifically, by discussing the case of disaster
management, which has remained largely unexplored by comparative IR
literature, this study argues that independent problem solving does not offer
an adequate explanation of ASEAN’s developments. Conversely, lesson drawing
and emulation are suggested as the two most relevant underlying mechanisms
which can explain the gradual and selective adoption of an EU-like model of
disaster cooperation