International Relations in Southeast Asia: The Struggle for Autonomy

This text offers a clear and comprehensive introduction to the international relations of contemporary Southeast Asia. Organized thematically around the central foreign policy questions facing regional decision makers, the book explores the struggle to overcome their subordination to global political, economic, and social forces. The international agenda continually tests Southeast Asia's policy elites as they are buffeted by the security demands of the war on terrorism; the economic demands of globalism; and social and political demands centered around such contentious issues as democracy, human rights, environment, and gender. One reaction is to give new urgency to regionalist initiatives, especially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Yet, the author argues, regionalism continues to be frustrated by national interests and ASEAN states' insistence on sovereignty and noninterference. Overarching the inter-regional relationships is the shifting power structure between the United States and China. Throughout the book run the key questions defining Southeast Asia's future: Will waning American influence be balanced by the growth of Chinese power in the region? And if so, does Southeast Asia face a new subordination rather than genuine autonomy? An invaluable guide to the region, this balanced and lucid work will be an essential text for courses on Southeast Asia and on the international relations of the Asia-Pacific.