Look south: challenges and opportunities for the ‘rules of the road’ for cyberspace in ASEAN and the AU

As the inaugural United Nations Open-Ended Working Group (UN OEWG) has not significantly updated nor advanced the ‘rules of the road’ for cyberspace, regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the African Union (AU) provide additional venues wherein deliberations can continue among a smaller group of states. Several ASEAN and AU member states are also active participants at the UN OEWG. Nonetheless, questions remain on how and where agreement on international law and cyber norms at the regional level can be achieved. To assess the challenges and opportunities for progress, this paper examines the public positions of two ASEAN member states, Indonesia and Singapore, and two AU member states, Kenya and South Africa, during the 2019–2021 UN OEWG meetings and situates them in their respective regions. We argue that substantial progress at the regional level is challenging to achieve, due to varying attitudes and levels of technological development among states, long-standing concerns over state sovereignty, and the vital role that a highly motivated and well-resourced regional actor plays in championing the cause. Opportunities exist, however, in that ASEAN and the AU provide paths for leveraging existing partnerships on cybersecurity and building trust in the region.