This balanced, comprehensive guide to Southeast Asian politics offers a sensible but nondogmatic realist approach to the region's international relations. In this revised, second edition, Donald E. Weatherbee lucidly explains the dynamics of the Southeast Asian subsystem as a struggle for autonomy in pursuit of national interests. He explores three important questions, the answers to which will shape the future Southeast Asia. Will democratic regimes transform international relations in Southeast Asia? Will national leaders succeed in reinventing ASEAN as a more effective collaborative mechanism? Finally, how will the evolving Chinese position, balancing and perhaps displacing the United States as Asia's great power, affect Southeast Asia's struggle for autonomy?
The argument here is that, although Indonesia would appear to be the natural leader in Southeast Asia, it has been singularly unsuccessful in putting its stamp on ASEAN. If anything, ASEAN has been put on Indonesia’s bebas dan aktif (independent and active) foreign policy stamp through Indonesia’s deference to self-constructed obligations to ASEAN solidarity and consensus. ASEAN’s political incoherence on regional security matters suggests that, for Indonesia, strategic independence from the immobilism of ASEAN decision making would put bebas dan aktif back into play in pursuit of Indonesian national security interests.
Southeast Asia consists of the countries of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Historically, U.S. policy and diplomacy with Southeast Asia is defined by U.S. interests in the region, whether it's maintaining free lanes of communication through the South China Sea, gaining access to the resources and markets of Southeast Asia, or containing the spread of Communism. Since World War II, the U.S. has constantly been involved in conflicts in the region: providing material and financial support for France during the First Indochina War, direct involvement in the Vietnam War, providing support to Thailand during the Third Indochina War, and the declaration that Southeast Asia is the second-front in the war on terror after September 11. The Historical Dictionary of United States-Southeast Asia Relations identifies the key issues, individuals, and events in the history of U.S.-Southeast Asia relations and places them in the context of the complex and dynamic regional strategic, political, and economic processes that have fashioned the American role in Southeast Asia. This is done through a chronology, a bibliography, an introductory essay, appendixes, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on key persons, places, events, institutions, and organizations.
This fully revised and updated edition of Donald E. Weatherbee’s widely praised text offers a clear and comprehensive introduction to international relations in contemporary Southeast Asia. The author analyzes the efforts of the Southeast Asian states to adapt collectively through the ASEAN Community-building process to the challenges of traditional intraregional security issues, the requirements of the international economy, and the political demands of nontraditional issues such as democracy, human rights, and environmental degradation. Weatherbee warns that autonomy, expressed in the claim to the ASEAN Community’s “centrality” to Asia, could be threatened by the strategic impact of China’s rise and America’s recommitment to regional strategic balance. An invaluable guide to the region, this thoughtful and lucid work will be an essential text for courses on Southeast Asia and on the international relations of the Asia-Pacific.
This authoritative book provides a comprehensive political history of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ten members of which are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Leading scholar Donald E. Weatherbee follows ASEAN from its inception in 1967, when it was founded with the goal of promoting peace, stability, security, and economic growth in the region. Throughout, a basic assumption of its leaders has been that the achievement of the first three conditions is necessary for the fourth. Weatherbee traces ASEAN’s three reinventions: in 1976, it made security a primary Cold War interest; in 1992, it refocused on economic integration; in 2007, it adopted the ASEAN Charter, which was the legal basis for the establishment of the ASEAN Community in 2015. He shows how at each stage of its development, ASEAN has dealt at three levels of action: the regional international order; intra-ASEAN relations; and the spillover of the domestic politics of member states into regional relations, particularly on questions of democracy and human rights. ASEAN’s greatest contemporary political challenge is in adapting to the regional impact of the US–China rivalry, particularly over South China Sea issues. For ASEAN to maintain its claim to centrality as a driving force in the regional security architecture, the author argues, a fourth reinvention may be required. Dispelling the myths surrounding the organization’s achievements fifty years after its founding, this book will be invaluable for all readers interested in ASEAN’s role in the broader Asia-Pacific region.
The central problem of international politics in Southeast Asia since December 1978 has been the Vietnamese armed presence in Kampuchea. The noncommunist nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have insisted that Vietnam withdraw from Kampuchea; the Vietnamese, perceiving a threat from the PRC and an ASEAN-sponsored Khmer resistance, maintain that the situation is irreversible. The contributors discuss the conflict from the point of view of all parties involved (ASEAN, Vietnam, the PRC, the USSR, and the U.S.) and assess various strategies for its resolution.
The argument here is that, although Indonesia would appear to be the natural leader in Southeast Asia, it has been singularly unsuccessful in putting its stamp on ASEAN. If anything, ASEAN has been put on Indonesia’s bebas dan aktif (independent and active) foreign policy stamp through Indonesia’s deference to self-constructed obligations to ASEAN solidarity and consensus. ASEAN’s political incoherence on regional security matters suggests that, for Indonesia, strategic independence from the immobilism of ASEAN decision making would put bebas dan aktif back into play in pursuit of Indonesian national security interests.
Southeast Asia, although not garnering the headlines of ten to twenty years ago, is important in global politics. Vietnam's domination of Indochina, for example, has polarized the region, given the Soviet Union new regional access, and magnified the military threat to Thailand. Insurgency movements supported by the radical Left or Right continue to plague governments. The Strait of Malacca, the major sea-lane through Southeast Asia, provides primary access for the U.S. Pacific fleet to the Indian Ocean and the Middle East and is Japan's oil lifeline. U.S. commercial and military interests remain strong in the Philippines and are expanding in Indonesia, the world's fifth largest country (with a population approaching 170 million people), whereas Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore are sources for investment, raw materials, and potential markets. Thailand, once closely allied with the United States, has again renewed those ties in the face of Vietnam's expansion. This comprehensive, up-to-date textbook analyzes Southeast Asia in the context of regional and global political systems, both traditional and contemporary. After looking at the traditional patterns of interstate relations in the region, Professor McCloud shows that Southeast Asia has been and continues to be dependent on the global system. However, he also identifies a "neotraditional current" in contemporary Southeast Asian politics, as elements of traditional beliefs and values reassert themselves in policy and practice, redefine the patterns of interstate behavior in the region, and set the limits to dependence on the global system. The book is intended as a primary text for courses on the history or politics of Asia or Southeast Asia, regional development and integration, and the role of Southeast Asia in world politics. It will also be useful in survey courses in Asian studies, comparative politics, and Third World development.
Originating in India, the Gypsies arrived in Europe around the 14th century, spreading not only across the entirety of the continent but also immigrating to the Americas. The first Gypsy migration included farmworkers, blacksmiths, and mercenary soldiers, as well as musicians, fortune-tellers, and entertainers. At first, they were generally welcome as an interesting diversion to the dull routine of that period. Soon, however, they attracted the antagonism of the governing powers, as they have continually done throughout the following centuries. The A to Z of the Gypsies (Romanies) seeks to end such prejudice by clarifying the facts about this nomadic people. Through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, places, events, institutions, and aspects of culture, society, economy, and politics, the history of the Gypsies and their culture is told.
Southeast Asia consists of the countries of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Historically, U.S. policy and diplomacy with Southeast Asia is defined by U.S. interests in the region, whether it's maintaining free lanes of communication through the South China Sea, gaining access to the resources and markets of Southeast Asia, or containing the spread of Communism. Since World War II, the U.S. has constantly been involved in conflicts in the region: providing material and financial support for France during the First Indochina War, direct involvement in the Vietnam War, providing support to Thailand during the Third Indochina War, and the declaration that Southeast Asia is the second-front in the war on terror after September 11. The Historical Dictionary of United States-Southeast Asia Relations identifies the key issues, individuals, and events in the history of U.S.-Southeast Asia relations and places them in the context of the complex and dynamic regional strategic, political, and economic processes that have fashioned the American role in Southeast Asia. This is done through a chronology, a bibliography, an introductory essay, appendixes, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on key persons, places, events, institutions, and organizations.
How did democracy became entrenched in the world's largest Muslim-majority country? After the fall of its authoritarian regime in 1998, Indonesia pursued an unusual course of democratization. It was insider-dominated and gradualist and it involved free elections before a lengthy process of constitutional reform. At the end of the process, Indonesia's amended constitution was essentially a new and thoroughly democratic document. By proceeding as they did, the Indonesians averted the conflict that would have arisen between adherents of the old constitution and proponents of radical, immediate reform. Donald L. Horowitz documents the decisions that gave rise to this distinctive constitutional process. He then traces the effects of the new institutions on Indonesian politics and discusses their shortcomings and their achievements in steering Indonesia away from the dangers of polarization and violence. He also examines the Indonesian story in the context of comparative experience with constitutional design and intergroup conflict.
Bridging the perceived gap between Southeast Asia's historical and contemporary situations, Donald McCloud focuses on continuities in the region's internal dynamics as well as its relationship to the greater global environment. The author challenges widely held views that diversity and fragmentation are the hallmarks of the region, identifying instead the commonalities that have bound the countries of Southeast Asia together through at least two millennia and have provided the basis for a unique regional dynamic. It has only been since World War II that Southeast Asians, long influenced by the global environment, have defined and developed their own institutions, social structures, and communities. Turning away from inadequate and unadaptable Western institutions, they have begun to create structures more in tune with their own historical experiences. Particularly in the political sphere, many of these new structures seemed to be straightforward military dictatorships. However, time has shown them to be more complex, and many unique organizational practices have developed that may presage more open political systems—if not democracies by strict Western definitions. With the expansion of regional cooperation through ASEAN and strong economic growth, confidence among Southeast Asian states has grown as well. The growing references to an "Asian way" of life have given verbal expression to a surge in neotraditional values and behavior that have always been part of the fabric of Asian life but that in the past were frowned upon as "nonwestern." This text traces the evolution of Southeast Asia and focuses for the first time on the neotraditional bases for contemporary, independent development of the region.
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