At the epicenter of the world's most dynamic economic continent, Southeast Asia provides a window into some of the most important contemporary global developments in politics, and plays a crucial role in determining the wider region's future. The 3rd edition of this highly-acclaimed text provides a comprehensive analysis of Southeast Asia's remarkable variety of political systems, cultures and traditions, which are without exception all undergoing a variety of major changes. Written by a team of leading experts on Southeast Asia, this volume provides an accessible introduction to a region being buffeted by profound internal social transformation and great power confrontation, as well as the continuing challenges of economic development and environmental management. Comprehensive in its analysis and ambitious in scope, this book will be the perfect introduction for students interested in the culture, politics, economy and society of the nations of Southeast Asia.

Global governance is fast becoming a ubiquitous phrase, succeeding globalization as the latest buzz term. But exactly what does it mean? For many scholars and policymakers the term captures important aspects of world politics. This unique volume delivers and compares the key perspectives of the leading thinkers in the area, equipping the reader with an excellent understanding of the debate now defining and mapping the future of this term. This comparative approach is underpinned by a lucid theoretical framework which guides the reader towards building a clear sense of the debate and its complexities. A wide range of empirical issues are covered, including those of Security, International Political Economy, Environment, Human Rights, Social Movements and Regulation. Including theorists of social constructivism, liberal imperialism and realism, this is an essential book for students and scholars which stimulates discussion and presents a fully rounded picture of global governance.

This book seeks to explain two core paradoxes associated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): How have diverse states hung together and stabilized relations in the face of competing interests, divergent preferences, and arguably weak cooperation? How has a group of lesser, self-identified Southeast Asian powers gone beyond its original regional purview to shape the form and content of Asian Pacific and East Asian regionalisms?
According to Alice Ba, the answers lie in ASEAN's founding arguments: arguments that were premised on an assumed regional disunity. She demonstrates how these arguments draw critical causal connections that make Southeast Asian regionalism a necessary response to problems, give rise to its defining informality and consensus-seeking process, and also constrain ASEAN's regionalism. Tracing debates about ASEAN's intra- and extra-regional relations over four decades, she argues for a process-driven view of cooperation, sheds light on intervening processes of argument and debate, and highlights interacting material, ideational, and social forces in the construction of regions and regionalisms.

Global governance is fast becoming a ubiquitous phrase, succeeding globalization as the latest buzz term. But exactly what does it mean? For many scholars and policymakers the term captures important aspects of world politics. This unique volume delivers and compares the key perspectives of the leading thinkers in the area, equipping the reader with an excellent understanding of the debate now defining and mapping the future of this term. This comparative approach is underpinned by a lucid theoretical framework which guides the reader towards building a clear sense of the debate and its complexities. A wide range of empirical issues are covered, including those of Security, International Political Economy, Environment, Human Rights, Social Movements and Regulation. Including theorists of social constructivism, liberal imperialism and realism, this is an essential book for students and scholars which stimulates discussion and presents a fully rounded picture of global governance.

This book seeks to explain two core paradoxes associated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): How have diverse states hung together and stabilized relations in the face of competing interests, divergent preferences, and arguably weak cooperation? How has a group of lesser, self-identified Southeast Asian powers gone beyond its original regional purview to shape the form and content of Asian Pacific and East Asian regionalisms?
According to Alice Ba, the answers lie in ASEAN's founding arguments: arguments that were premised on an assumed regional disunity. She demonstrates how these arguments draw critical causal connections that make Southeast Asian regionalism a necessary response to problems, give rise to its defining informality and consensus-seeking process, and also constrain ASEAN's regionalism. Tracing debates about ASEAN's intra- and extra-regional relations over four decades, she argues for a process-driven view of cooperation, sheds light on intervening processes of argument and debate, and highlights interacting material, ideational, and social forces in the construction of regions and regionalisms.

At the epicenter of the world's most dynamic economic continent, Southeast Asia provides a window into some of the most important contemporary global developments in politics, and plays a crucial role in determining the wider region's future. The 3rd edition of this highly-acclaimed text provides a comprehensive analysis of Southeast Asia's remarkable variety of political systems, cultures and traditions, which are without exception all undergoing a variety of major changes. Written by a team of leading experts on Southeast Asia, this volume provides an accessible introduction to a region being buffeted by profound internal social transformation and great power confrontation, as well as the continuing challenges of economic development and environmental management. Comprehensive in its analysis and ambitious in scope, this book will be the perfect introduction for students interested in the culture, politics, economy and society of the nations of Southeast Asia.