ASEAN and human rights: challenges to the EU's diffusion of human rights norms

Although it seemed that the year 2012 was to be a pivotal moment for the EU in terms of positioning itself as a global supporter and defender of human rights, the Union continues to find it challenging to foster substantial ideational human rights change in ASEAN, despite cooperation growing on a practical level. Drawing on diffusion theory and with a focus on EU-ASEAN relations, this article examines the EU's capacity to promote human rights to ASEAN and argues that whilst there is awareness within the EU of the shortcomings and challenges of EU external action concerning human rights support, how the EU diffuses human rights norms remains a challenge for the Union. This is primarily due to the fact that EU norm exportation takes place in the context of omnidirectional ideational flows which do not always facilitate the EU's agenda or provide the intended outcomes of EU policy.