Contemporary Southeast Asia articles from December 2007

Contemporary Southeast Asia archives from December 2007

Introduction: ASEAN--facing the fifth decade.
December 1, 2007... At its formation forty years ago on 8 August 1967, ASEAN (created by a joint political declaration rather than a formal charter) was an association of just five Southeast Asian nations in a Southeast Asia divided by the Cold War. In the...

ASEAN beyond forty: towards political and economic integration.(Report)
December 1, 2007... In August 2007, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its foundation. In each of the Association's ten member states, observances were more numerous and elaborate than usual. This was particularly...

Challenging ASEAN: a "topological" view.(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)(Report)
December 1, 2007... "ASEAN is concerned about the impact of this [Myanmar/Burma] issue... on our credibility and standing, because the world seems to think that ASEAN should be the one tackling this issue and bringing about some positive outcome". --Ong Keng...

United States-ASEAN relations on ASEAN's fortieth anniversary: a glass half full.(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)(Report)
December 1, 2007... During this 40th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 30th anniversary of the United States-ASEAN Dialogue, unfortunate scheduling decisions have overshadowed generally improving ties between the United States...

ASEAN's relations with the European Union: obstacles and opportunities.(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)(Report)
December 1, 2007... Introduction Over the years diplomacy has gradually taken on a more multilateral character and few nation-states handle their relations with other countries and/or groups of countries outside a multilateral framework. This augurs a new...

Vietnam's membership of ASEAN: a constructivist interpretation.(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)(Report)
December 1, 2007... It is widely accepted in Vietnam that the government's decision to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was both timely and wise (Nguyen Phuong Binh and Luan Thuy Duong 2001, p. 192). (1) In the absence of a detailed...

International regime-building in ASEAN: cooperation against the illicit trafficking and abuse of drugs.(Report)
December 1, 2007... Introduction Governments and national law enforcement authorities in Southeast Asia have had to deal with the particularly difficult question of how to tackle the illicit trafficking and abuse of drugs. (1) The four primary categories of...

Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World.(The Dragon Looks South: China and Southeast Asia in the New Century)(Book review)
December 1, 2007... Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World. By Joshua Kurlantzick. Yale University Press, 2007. Hardcover: 306pp. The Dragon Looks South: China and Southeast Asia in the New Century. By Bronson Percival. Praeger...

The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumipol Adulyadej.(Book review)
December 1, 2007... The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumipol Adulyadej. By Paul M. Handley. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2006. Hardcover: 499pp. The King Never Smiles is the third book (to be banned) on the life of...

Vientiane: Transformations of a Lao Landscape.(Book review)
December 1, 2007... Vientiane: Transformations of a Lao Landscape. By Marc Askew, William S. Logan and Colin Long. London: Routledge, 2007. Hardcover: 265pp. This book, as the authors say, is the first attempt to write a social and political history of...

Democratising Indonesia: The Challenges of Civil Society in the Era of Reformasi.(Book review)
December 1, 2007... Democratising Indonesia: The Challenges of Civil Society in the Era of Reformasi. By Mikaela Nyman. NIAS Press, 2006. Softcover: 258pp. By its very nature, civil society is an extremely difficult topic for any researcher. It poses the...

Legitimizing Military Rule: Indonesian Armed Forces Ideology, 1958-2000.(Soeharto's Armed Forces: Problems of Civil Military Relations in Indonesia)(Book review)
December 1, 2007... Legitimizing Military Rule: Indonesian Armed Forces Ideology, 1958-2000. By Salim Said (translated by Toenggoel P. Siagian). Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan, in cooperation with Southeast Asia Research Centre, Hong Kong, and Universitas...

Japan's Security Policy and the ASEAN Regional Forum: The Search for Multilateral Security in the Asia-Pacific.(Book review)
December 1, 2007... Japan's Security Policy and the ASEAN Regional Forum: The Search for Multilateral Security in the Asia-Pacific. By Takeshi Yuzawa. Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge Series, 2007. Hardcover: 219pp. Perceived anomalies of...