International Relations in Southeast Asia
- LAST REVIEWED: 23 June 2023
- LAST MODIFIED: 23 June 2023
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0363
- LAST REVIEWED: 23 June 2023
- LAST MODIFIED: 23 June 2023
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0363
Introduction
Situated at the geographic and cultural crossroads of China and India, Southeast Asia has historically attracted the attention of larger powers and has been a site for several experiments in self-determination, regional autonomy, and order building. The region has featured prominently in global processes past and present: from colonial rule in its various Euro-American and Japanese permutations, and decolonization in revolutionary and neo-colonial stripes, to the three Indochina Wars that spanned the arc of the Global Cold War, and a new era of Sino-US Great Power competition. These historical experiences inform the themes that structure the academic study of Southeast Asia’s international relations. These include: the foreign policies of the regions’ states vis-à-vis one another and the outside world, the involvements of the Great Powers, and diplomatic projects spearheaded by Southeast Asian elites to express their vision for regional order. A conspicuous feature of the International Relations (IR) scholarship on Southeast Asia is the dominance of often apolitical and indeed depoliticizing “regionalism studies” centered on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—the region’s most enduring project in multilateral diplomacy created during the Cold War. Notwithstanding its significance, the focus on ASEAN and regionalism has been arguably excessive. It has led to a fixation with narrow theoretical debates centered on ASEAN and has stymied a wider exploration of the region’s international politics drawing on area studies, international history, foreign policy analysis, and political sociology which would shine the spotlight on how colonialism, race, gender, class, emotions, populism, trade, political parties, interest groups, state-society relations etc. have shaped the regions international politics. Indeed, some of the more exciting new scholarship on the international relations of Southeast has been emerging in other disciplines and fields, namely, Cold War international history, comparative politics, and new currents in IR inspired by political sociology and microsociology. This article outlines these new literatures with a view to open the study of international relations in Southeast Asia in historical, theoretical, and substantive terms. This essay is divided into nine sections. Following General Overviews, the section Colonial Legacies looks to the colonial period to understand patterns of class and identity formation that have structured contemporary fault lines in regional relations. Decolonization, Cold War, and the Emergence of a Southeast Asian International System foregrounds how Cold War international pressures internationalized decolonization struggles and shaped the birth (and splintering) of Southeast Asia’s post-colonial international system. The Indochina Wars highlights the pitched “hot” battles of the Cold War that unfolded in Southeast Asia, most famously as the three Indochina Wars. Diplomacy: From SEATO and Bandung to ASEAN examines the diverse diplomatic responses by Southeast Asian elites—including Bandung and ASEAN—in crafting a preferred vision for regional order. Foreign Policy surveys some of the key works in the genre of foreign policy analyses of Southeast Asia’s major states. Southeast Asian Security in the Era of United States-China Rivalry examines a body of conceptually innovative literature on how the region’s small and middle powers have responded to the escalating post–Cold War rivalry between the United States and China. In the First Image: Biographies and Memoirs foregrounds the large but underutilized genre of biography and memoir on Southeast Asia’s diplomatic players, a resource that could be better integrated with emerging “first-image” studies in IR. The final section identifies some of the major journals and platforms for online commentary that serve the study of Southeast Asia’s international politics.
General Overviews
There are only a handful of overviews on the international relations of Southeast Asia. This contrasts with cognate fields of Southeast Asian comparative politics and Southeast Asian history where one finds several sophisticated and up-to-date overviews of the region. The few available overviews are framed around specific themes. Acharya 2014 and Weatherbee 2015 offer an account of Southeast Asian international relations (IR) from the perspective of ASEAN’s history and development. Liow and Emmers 2006 and Haacke 2005 offer a general account of the field by surveying the intellectual legacy of the late Michael Leifer. Clive 2001 offers a rare intellectual history of Southeast Asian responses to colonial rule and the Cold War. Sidel (Sidel 2012, Sidel 2021) uses comparative historical sociology to look at the longue durée of Southeast Asian history—from precolonial patterns of state and class formation; and colonial era integration of colonies into the world economy; to postcolonial Cold War pressures— to advance a deeply international and cosmopolitan account of nationalism and revolution in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Hamilton-Hart 2012 surveys the region from the standpoint of the region’s foreign policy elites and their perceptions of the Great Powers.
Acharya, Amitav. Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Among the most well-known and widely cited texts in the field. This book single-handedly plugged ASEAN to a wider IR constructivist research program on security communities, norms, identity, and socialization. It has also fueled a long-running debate on the effects of ASEAN diplomacy for peace and security in the region.
Clive, Christie. Ideology and Revolution in Southeast Asia 1900–1980. Richmond, UK: Curzon Press, 2001.
A rare work of intellectual history in the field which explores Southeast Asian responses to colonial rule and the Cold War. Christie shows how indigenous elites drew upon and interacted with European intellectual currents (like Marxism-Leninism) as they articulated new anti-colonial, national, and pan-Asian solidarities.
Goscha, Christopher E., and Christian F. Ostermann, eds. Connecting Histories: Decolonization and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1945–1962. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press with Stanford University Press, 2009.
A finely edited collection of essays that shines light on a formative period in the international history of Southeast Asia. True to its title, the book teases out the interconnected trajectory of political and international developments in the newly independent states of the region. Chapters by Christopher E. Goscha, Samuel Crowl, and Michael Charney are discussed separately in this bibliography.
Haacke, Jürgen. “Michael Leifer and the Balance of Power.” The Pacific Review 18.1 (2005): 43–69.
DOI: 10.1080/09512740500047108
This article uses the late Michael Leifer’s oeuvre to appraise the career of the balance of power concept in the foreign policies of several Southeast Asian states. Haacke highlights Leifer’s mild irreverence toward Anglo-American IR theories to make a wider point about the importance of area expertise, theoretical eclecticism, and fieldwork in the study of international relations in Southeast Asia.
Hamilton-Hart, Natasha. Hard Interests, Soft Illusions: Southeast Asia and American Power. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012.
Arguably one of the most important and theoretically sophisticated works on Southeast Asian IR in the last two decades. Hamilton-Hart asks why the United States is viewed as a benign power by foreign policy elites in several Southeast Asian states despite its long history of waging war and subversion in the region. She argues that belief in America as a benign power has less to do with objective facts or reasoning than with the security and economic interests of Southeast Asian states’ ruling elites whose regime interests incentivize American geopolitical eminence in Asia. The book draws on social psychology, political economy approaches, and new revisionist histories of Southeast Asia.
Liow, Joseph, and Ralf Emmers, eds. Order and Security in Southeast Asia: Essays in Memory of Michael Leifer. London: Routledge, 2006.
A defining figure of Southeast Asian IR, Michael Leifer’s oeuvre was prolific and diverse. His writing included classic studies of the foreign policies of Cambodia, Indonesia, and Singapore; major works on regional diplomacy during the Indochina conflicts; and an exhaustive encyclopedia on Southeast Asian politics. Expertly edited by Leifer’s last two doctoral students at the London School of Economics, this book offers a critical introduction to the major concepts and intellectual contributions of Leifer.
Sidel, John T. “The Fate of Nationalism in the New States: Southeast Asia in Comparative Historical Perspective.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 54.1 (2012):114–144.
DOI: 10.1017/S0010417511000612
A work of comparative historical analysis that shines light on the importance of Cold War international pressures (alongside precolonial patterns of state and identity formation) in shaping the fate of nation-building projects in postwar Southeast Asia. Features three paired comparisons which provide succinct overviews of the political and international histories of states across island and mainland Southeast Asia.
Sidel, John T. Republicanism, Communism, Islam: Cosmopolitan Origins of Revolution in Southeast Asia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021.
A major work that straddles international history and comparative history sociology as it tracks the transnational sources, circuits, and drivers of revolutionary mobilization in Southeast Asia in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Sidel pushes against primarily nationalist and internalist frames of reference for explaining Southeast Asia’s famous revolutions—namely, the Andersonian thesis of elite bilingual intelligentsias spearheading anticolonial nationalisms, and a contending “history from below” account of indigenous culture and popular movements. Instead, Sidel shows how revolutions in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam were products of institutional, symbolic, discursive, and affective infrastructures that were deeply international and cosmopolitan in origins. Liberalism, Republicanism, and Freemasonry (in opposition to the Catholic Church) supplied key material for the Philippines’ Revolution (1898); Islam and Communism entangled in driving the Indonesian Revolusi; while involvements in the circuits of international communism (Chinese, French, Comintern) alongside inspiration from anti-colonial movements in Africa informed the fate and timing of the Vietnamese revolution.
Tan, See Seng. The Role of Knowledge Communities in Constructing Asia-Pacific Security: How Thought and Talk Make War and Peace. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007.
A rare work on epistemic communities by a leading critical IR scholar in the field of Southeast Asian IR. The book studies the community of defense and security intellectuals housed in think tanks and research institutes across Southeast Asia and explores the effects of their routine professional involvements as they converge in “track two” dialogues. Tan critiques these networks and actors for a lack of self-awareness on how their discourse naturalizes a conservative and authoritarian rendition of Asian security.
Weatherbee, Donald E. International Relations in Southeast Asia: The Struggle for Autonomy. 3d ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
The closest there is to a traditional overview of the subject. Now in its third edition, this book examines Southeast Asia’s international politics from the Cold War until the present with a special focus on ASEAN and its claims to centrality. The updated third edition also includes chapters on non-traditional security, human rights, democracy, and environmental degradation.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Oceania, Gender, Indigenous and Ethnic Political Represent...
- Advanced Democracies, Electoral System Reform in
- Advanced Democracies, Public Opinion and Public Policy in
- Advertising and Election Campaigns in the United States
- Africa, Comparative Politics of
- Africa, Ethnic, Linguistic, Religious, and Regional Minori...
- Africa, Public Opinion in
- Africa, Women’s Political Representation in
- African Development, Politics of
- American Indian Politics
- Ancient Chinese Political Thought
- Arab Spring, The
- Arab-Israel Conflict, The
- Arendt, Hannah
- Argentine Government and Politics
- Aristotle's Political Thought
- Arms Race Modeling
- Asia, Environmental Politics in
- Asia, Public Opinion in
- Asia, Water Politics in
- Asian American Mobilization and Political Identities
- Australia and New Zealand, Comparative Politics of
- Authoritarian Regimes, Lawyers in
- Authoritarianism in Russia
- Authoritarianism in the Public
- Authoritarianism in Turkey
- Bicameralism in Stable Democracies
- Big Data in Political Science Research
- Biopolitics and State Regulation of Human Life
- Birthright Citizenship
- Brazilian Foreign Policy
- Brazilian Political Development
- Brexit, British Politics, and European Integration
- Business-State Relations in Europe
- Campaign Finance in the Era of Super-PACS
- Canadian Foreign Policy
- Canadian Government and Politics
- Candidate Emergence and Recruitment
- Caribbean, Elections and Democracy in the
- Celebrities in US Politics
- Channels of Electoral Representation in Advanced Industria...
- China, Political Economy of
- China's One-Child Policy
- China-Taiwan Relations
- Chinese Communist Party
- Chinese Economic Policy
- Chinese Nationalism
- Civil Society in South Asia
- Civil War in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Civil-Military Relations in Asia
- Class in American Politics
- Climate Change and Politics
- Collective Memory
- Colombian Politics and Government
- Comparative Capitalism Theory
- Comparative Industrial Relations in Europe
- Comparative Political Economy of Resource Extraction
- Comparative Politics of Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bis...
- Comparative Politics of Chile and Uruguay
- Comparative Politics of Federalism
- Comparative Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
- Computational Social Science
- Congress, Defense, and Foreign Policy
- Congressional Reassertion of Authority
- Conservative Litigation Strategies and Groups in US Judici...
- Constitution, Ratification of the
- Constitutional Politics in Asia
- Constitutionalism
- Corruption in China
- Cosmopolitan Political Thought
- Crisis of European Integration in Historical Perspective, ...
- Critical Elections, Partisan Realignment, and Long-Term El...
- Critical Theory and the Frankfurt School
- Cuban Political Development
- Cycles of Protest
- Democracies, Political Clientelism in
- Democracy and Authoritarianism, Empirical Indicators of
- Democracy and Authoritarianism in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Democracy and Dictatorship in Central Asia
- Democracy and Minority Language Recognition
- Democracy in Latin America
- Democratic Citizenship
- Democratic Consolidation
- Democratic Peace Theory
- Democratic Theory
- Democratization
- Democratization in Africa
- Democratization in Central America
- Democratization in Mexico
- Democratization in the Muslim World
- Development of Survey Research
- Diasporas and Politics
- Direct Democracy in the United States
- Dual Citizenship
- East Africa, Politics of
- East and Southeast Asia, Political Party Systems in
- East and Southeast Asia, Women and Politics in
- East Asia, Civil Society and Social Movements in
- Economic Voting
- Effects of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on American Public O...
- Egalitarianism
- Election Forecasting
- Election Laws in Democracies
- Election Observation and the Detection of Fraud
- Electoral and Party System Development in Sub-Saharan Afri...
- Electoral Assistance
- Electoral Change in Latin America
- Electoral Institutions and Women’s Representation
- Electoral Reform and Voting in the United States
- Electoral Volatility in the New Democracies of Latin Ameri...
- Electronic Voting Systems
- Emotion and Racial Attitudes in Contemporary American Poli...
- Environmental Governance
- Environmental Politics among Advanced Industrial Democraci...
- Ethnic Diasporas and US Foreign Policy
- Ethnic Politics
- Eurasia, Comparative Politics of
- European Parliament, The
- European Social Democracy
- European Union, Politics of the
- Extension of Voting Rights to Emigrants
- Failed and Weak States in Theory and Practice
- Far-Right Parties in Europe
- Federalism in the United States
- Feminist Political Thought
- Field Experiments
- Filibuster, The
- Framing Effects in Political Communication
- Gender and Electoral Politics in the United States
- Gender and International Relations
- Gender and Political Violence
- Gender and Politics in South Asia
- Gender, Behavior, and Representation
- Gender Gap in US Public Opinion
- Gender Stereotypes in Politics
- Genetic Underpinnings of Political Attitudes and Behaviors
- German Politics and Government
- Global Inequality
- Globalization and the Welfare State
- Globalization, Health Crises, and Health Care
- Governance in Africa
- Governmental Responses to Political Corruption
- Gridlock and Divided Government in the U.S.
- Health-Care Politics in the United States
- Hegemony
- Historiography of Twentieth-Century American Conservatism,...
- Hobbes’s Political Thought
- Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of
- Hume’s Political Thought
- Hybrid Regimes
- Ideal Point Estimation
- Identity and Political Behavior
- Ideological Reasoning in Politics
- Illiberal Democracies and Democratic Backsliding
- Immigrant Incorporation in Canada
- Immigrant Incorporation in Western Europe
- Immigration and European Politics
- Immigration and International Relations
- Immigration Politics and Policy in the United States
- Impact of Campaign Contributions on Congressional Behavior...
- Impact of C-SPAN on US Democracy
- Implicit Attitudes in Public Opinion
- Income Dynamics and Politics in North America and Europe
- Income Inequality and Advanced Democracies
- Income Inequality in the United States, The Politics of
- Independent Voters, The Study of
- India, Corruption in
- Indian Democracy
- Indigenous Politics and Representation in Latin America
- Indigenous Rights and Governance in Canada, Australia, and...
- Indonesia, Politics of
- Informal Practices of Accountability in Urban Africa
- Institutional Change in Advanced Democracies
- Institutional Factors Affecting Women’s Political Engageme...
- Intellectual Property in International Relations
- Interest Groups and Inequality in the United States
- Interest Groups in American Politics
- Interethnic Contact and Impact on Attitudes
- International Conflict Management
- International Criminal Justice
- International Law
- International NGOs
- International Political Economy of Illegal Drugs
- Internet and Politics, The
- Intersectionality in Political Science
- Interstate Border Dispute Management in the Indo-Pacific
- Iran, Political Development of
- Israeli Politics
- Italian Politics and Government
- Judicial Supremacy and National Judicial Review
- Judiciaries and Politics in East Asia
- Kant's Political Thought
- Labor Migration: Dynamics and Politics
- Labor Politics in East Asia
- Land Reform in Latin America
- Latin America, Democratic Transitions in
- Latin America, Electoral Reform in
- Latin America, Environmental Policy and Politics in
- Latin America, Guerrilla Insurgencies in
- Latin America, Social Movements in
- Legal Mobilization
- LGBT Politics in the United States
- Liberal Pluralism
- Libertarianism
- Local Governments in the United States
- Machiavelli’s Political Thought
- Malaysian Politics and Government
- Marx's Political Thought
- Mass Incarceration and US Politics
- Mechanisms of Representation
- Media Effects in Politics
- Media Politics in South Asia
- Mexican Political Development
- Mexican Politics and Government
- Military Government in Latin America, 1959–1990
- Minority Governments
- Minority Political Engagement and Representation in the Un...
- Mixed-Member Electoral Systems
- Modern Dynastic Rule
- Modern Elections and Voting Behavior in Europe
- Motivated Reasoning
- Narrative Analysis
- National Interbranch Politics in the United States
- Nationalism
- NATO, Politics of
- Negative Campaigning
- Neoclassical Realism
- New Institutionalism Revisited, The
- Nigerian Politics and Government
- North America, Comparative Politics of
- Oil, Politics of
- Online Public Opinion Polling
- Organized Criminal Syndicates and Governance in Mexico and...
- Origins and Impact of Proportional Representation, The
- Outcomes of Social Movements and Protest Activities
- Partisan and Nonpartisan Theories of Organization in the U...
- Partisan Polarization in the US Congress
- Partisan Polarization in the US Electorate
- Party Networks
- Party System Institutionalization in Democracies
- Peace Operations
- Personality and Politics
- Personalization of Politics
- Philippine Politics and Government
- Plato’s Political Thought
- Policy Feedback
- Policy Responsiveness to Public Opinion
- Political Ambition
- Political Economy of Financial Regulation in Advanced Ind...
- Political Economy of India
- Political Economy of Taxation, The
- Political Geography in American Politics
- Political Humor and Its Effects
- Political Institutions and the Policymaking Process in Lat...
- Political Obligation
- Political Participation and Representation, Black
- Political Parties and Electoral Politics of Japan
- Political Roles and Activities of Former Presidents and Pr...
- Political Thought, Hegel's
- Political Thought of the American Founders, The
- Politics and Government, Australian
- Politics and Government, BeNeLux
- Politics and Policy in Contemporary Argentina
- Politics, Gender Quotas in
- Politics of Anti-Americanism
- Politics of Class Formation
- Politics of Disaster Prevention and Management
- Politics of Ethnic Identity in China
- Politics of Financial Crises
- Politics of Foreign Direct Investment in South Asia
- Politics of Higher Education in the U.S.
- Politics of Internal Conquest in the United States and Can...
- Politics of Japan
- Politics of Natural Disasters, The
- Politics of North Korea
- Politics of Science and Technology
- Politics of South Africa
- Politics of Southern Africa
- Politics of the American South
- Politics of the Philippines: From Rizal to Duterte
- Politics of the US-Mexico Border
- Populism
- Populism in Latin America
- Positive and Negative Partisanship
- Postcolonial Political Theory
- Postcolonialism and International Relations
- Post-Communist Democratization
- Preferential Trade Agreements, Politics of
- Presidential Candidate Selection in Comparative Perspectiv...
- Presidential Persuasion and Public Opinion
- Presidential Primaries and Caucuses
- Private Governance
- Protest Participation
- Public Opinion, Cross-National Surveys of
- Public Opinion in Affluent Democracies
- Public Opinion in Europe toward the European Union
- Public Opinion in New Democracies and Developing Nations
- Public Opinion on Immigration
- Public Opinion toward the Environment and Climate Change i...
- Public Presidency, US Elections, and the Permanent Campaig...
- Qualitative Methods, The Renewal of
- Race in American Political Thought
- Racial and Ethnic Descriptive Representation in the United...
- Recruitment and Selection for Elected Office
- Redistricting and Electoral Competition in American Politi...
- Referendums and Direct Democracy
- Regime Transitions and Variation in Post-Communist Europe
- Regional Integration
- Regional Integration in Latin America
- Regional Security
- Regulating Food Production
- Religion and Politics in Latin America
- Religion in American Political Thought
- Religion in Contemporary Political Thought
- Religion, Politics, and Civic Engagement in the United Sta...
- Republicanism
- Rousseau’s Political Thought
- Rule of Law
- Russia and the West
- Science and Democracy
- Science and Social Movements
- Secession and Secessionist Movements
- Semi-Presidential Systems
- Social Networks, Mass Publics, and Democratic Politics
- Social Policy and Immigrant Integration
- South Asian Political Thought
- South Korea, Politics of
- Southeast Asia, International Relations in
- Southeast Asian Politics
- Spanish Politics and Government
- Spectacle, The
- Sport and Politics
- State Building in Sub-Saharan Africa
- State Formation
- State, The Nature of the
- State-Society Relations in South Asia
- Stereotypes in Political Reasoning
- Supreme Court and Public Opinion
- Supreme Court of the United States, The
- Systemic Theories of International Politics
- Taiwan, Politics of
- Tea Party, The
- Thailand, Politics of
- The Crisis of European Integration in Historical Perspecti...
- The New Right in American Political Thought
- The Politics of Parenthood: Attitudes, Behavior, Policy, a...
- The Politics of Waste and Social Inequalities in Indian Ci...
- Third-Party Politics in the United States
- Tocqueville’s Political Thought
- Transboundary Pollution
- Transitional Justice
- Transnational Private Regulation
- Trust in Latin American Governing Institutions
- Turkey, Political Development of
- US Military Bases Abroad
- US Politics, Neoliberalism in
- US Presidency, The
- US Presidential Campaigns and Their Impact
- Venezuela, The Path Toward Authoritarianism in
- Voter Support for Women Candidates
- Voter Turnout
- Voter Turnout Field Experiments
- Voting Technology and Election Administration in the Unite...
- War, Factors Influencing Popular Support for
- Welfare State Development
- Welfare State Development in Latin America
- Welfare State Development in Western Europe
- West Africa, Politics of
- White Identity Politics
- Women and Conflict Studies
- Women’s Inclusion in Executive Cabinets
- Women’s Legal and Constitutional Rights
- Women’s Political Activism and Civic Engagement in Latin A...
- Women’s Representation in Governmental Office in Latin Ame...
- Women’s Representation in the Middle East and North Africa
- Workers’ Politics in China
- Youth and Generational Differences in US Politics