Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia
ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order
Price: $44.95
Add to Cart- ISBN: 978-0-415-15763-6
- Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
- Published by: Routledge
- Publication Date: 19th October 2000
- Pages: 256
- Illustrations: 2 line drawings and 9 tables
About the Book
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is regarded by many as one of the most successful examples of regional co-operation in the developing world. In the post-Cold War era, however, ASEAN faces serious challenges, not least from an expanded membership and the rising power of China. This book examines whether ASEAN can cope with these challenges and contribute to peaceful change in Southeast Asia, or whether it will crumble under the weight of its burdens, sparking a new spiral of regional conflict.Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia offers the first serious investigation into the prospects for a security community outside the Euro-Atlantic region. It examines several key issues which will determine the future stability of the Southeast Asian and Asia Pacific region, including;
- the effect of expansion on ASEAN's intra-mural solidarity
- whether the ASEAN model of conflict management can be applied to the wider Asia Pacific region
- the threat posed by territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- domestic instability in Burma and Cambodia
- the impact of military acquisitions on intra-regional relations
- debates about sovereignty and non-interference.
This book contains the most comprehensive and critical account available of the evolution of ASEAN's norms and the viability of the ASEAN WAy of conflict management. It is an invaluable resource for students of scholars of Asian Studies and International Politics.
Reviews
Review for the first edition:
'This is a superb study of ASEAN and the main issues that it faces. Acharya provides great insight into key episodes in ASEAN's development with thorough research and cogent analysis...This book must now be considered the authoritative text on the subject of regional organization in Southeast Asia. One hopes the author will consider a second edition in the not too distant future.' - Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia and Oceania
"innovative and stimulating?the theoretical and empirical sophistication that Acharya displays makes this book sure to be a key work on the security and political aspects of ASEAN for academics and policymakers...a vivid and cutting-edge work" - American Political Science Review
"Acharya's book stands as a major contribution to the ongoing Asian security debate and contributes substantially to the quality of that debate's policy analysis." - Survival
"an invaluable resource for every student of the region." - Pacific Affairs
"This is a wise book. It is written with an attention to norms and identities that should make it more accessible, and of greater interest, to the area studies community than is usual with the regional security literature. And the author expresses judgments that challenge analysts in Southeast Asia itself to consider seriously what can be done to chart a new course for the region and its flagship organization." - Journal of Asian Studies
"copiously researched and cogently argued?no serious student of Asia-Pacific affairs can afford to ignore." - The Hindu (India)
"Among the scholars writing on the interface between international relations theory and Asian security, one of the most prolific and highly regarded is Amitav Acharya whose work on Asian regional security institutions is particularly prized. Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia continues to burnish his reputation for applying theoretical constructs to regional policy outcomes." - Contemporary Southeast Asia
"a comprehensive and convincing evaluation of the effect of norms of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on its member states?a scrupulously fair account of ASEAN's development." - International Journal
"a fascinating and important book which advances out understanding of regional security on a number of fronts?Acharya provides an empirically rich analysis of ?ASEAN?Regional specialists will find a great deal to mull over in this nuanced and compelling analysis." - Pacific Review
"In the voluminous but traditionally atheoretical field of ASEAN studies, Acharya's agenda is refreshingly ambitious." Donald K. Ememrson, "Security, Community, and Democracy in Southeast Asia: Analyzing ASEAN," - Japanese Journal of Political Science (August 2005)
"This groundbreaking study illuminates brilliantly ASEAN's novel approach to issues of national and international security. Theoretically sophisticated and contextually grounded, Amitav Acharya is the rare scholar who succeeds fully in engaging intellectually both security and area specialists." - Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University, USA.
"Acharya has written one of the best, most interesting and comprehensive studies on ASEAN and offers a compelling rationale for the security community approach to international relations. It will be required reading for scholars interested in regional security and, particularly, in the role that norms and collective identity play in the onset of peaceful change." - Emanuel Adler, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Toronto
Table of Contents
Map of Southeast Asia. The Evolution of the ASEAN - Ten: A Chronology. Introduction: Security Communities and ASEAN in Theoretical Perspective 1. Constructing Security Communities 2. The Evolution of ASEAN Norms and the Emergence of the 'ASEAN Way' 3. ASEAN and Cambodia Endgame: A Regional Solution to a Regional Problem? 4. Extending ASEAN Norms: Benefits and Burdens of ASEAN - 10 5. Managing Intra-Regional Relations 6. ASEAN and Asia Pacific Security: Limits of the ASEAN Way? Conclusion: ASEAN as a Pluralistic Security Community: Ascendant or Decadent?