International Relations of Southeast Asia.

Paper Summary:

Amitave Acharya is a widely-acclaimed political thinker who specializes mostly in Asia Pacific security. Beginning with the pre-colonial era, he explores how identity can surprisingly explain much of the historical journey of both fragmentation and community-building among the diverse states in the region. The author uses the term regionalism to argue it is unlikely that the convergence of the diverse characteristics of the states in Southeast Asia may lead to a common identity , making one region of its own.

Topics include:
Indigenous Imagining
Constructivist Regionalism

From the Paper:

"With these examples, Acharya successfully illustrated the extent to which "Southeast Asia" is a constructed notion, shaped by the way its actors saw the region and themselves. This then leads to his conclusion, that Southeast Asia as a region has faced many challenges and has managed to adjust its regionalism to successfully survive and even become institutionally stronger (p. 163). His constructivist approach leaves much in the hands of the actors; for the future, the region being an imagined or constructed notion can loosen or tighten according to the political will of the regional leaders. While one can agree that this can explain the prospect of ASEAN's survivability as a region, this does not explain its continued strength in facing future challenges. It will be too optimistic, if not too naive, to expect that the strength of political will of ASEAN leaders alone can help them in, for example, bridging and bringing peace to the relationship between North and South Korea."

More papers on International Relations of Southeast Asia.:

• Essay # 28829 : "Southeast Asia"
• Research Paper # 55481 : "Currency and Financial Crisis in Southeast Asia"
• Research Paper # 71754 : "ASEAN in the Global Power Structure"

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