There has been too complacent a view that contends that the next century -- the so-called Pacific Century -- will see power essentially defined in an economic sense. This book questions that notion by examining the evolving structure of power in the Pacific. t takes the view that while economics will have an increased weight in the power equation, military strength will still be a defining feature. The essays in this volume provide crisp analyses of a balance of power, the notion of a security architecture, and regional defence dilemmas. They then examine the shifting roles of the four major Pacific powers, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, all of which will essentially shape the future of the Pacific in the next century.

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a grouping of originally five, now nine, resource-rich and mostly economically dynamic countries which lie strategically between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, astride sea-lanes that are vital to the economic and military security of several Northeast Asian countries. As a grouping that exerts strong influence in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and forms the core of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN is emerging as a key player in the security and economic development of the Western Pacific region. Due to these factors, ASEAN's stability and continued development are essential to the future stability and prosperity of the whole Asia-Pacific. In some respects, a linkages exists between the security and economic development of ASEAN and the Arab Gulf. Oil from the Arab Gulf is a very important factor in the economy of ASEAN countries. It is also important to the economic security of Japan, and the fact that this commerce passes through sea-lanes in Southeast Asia accounts significantly for the latter's importance to Tokyo. This, in turn, is an essential consideration in the US strategy in Asia, as its relationship with Japan continues to be the cornerstone of its policy. While non-oil trade between the Gulf states and ASEAN is not substantial, the Gulf is important to many ASEAN countries as a major destination of overseas workers, whose remittances play a large role in their economy. Religion also forms a bond between the Gulf and several ASEAN countries where Islam is the faith of either a majority or a significant minority of the population.

Michael Leifer, who died in 2001, was one of the leading scholars of Southeast Asian international relations. This is an academic and personal volume devoted to Leifer's vast contributions to the discipline of international relations.

Presents selected works of Michael Leifer, the doyen of Southeast Asian Studies, who died in 2001. This book includes works on the Southeast Asian region - ASEAN, regional order and conflict, great power policies towards the region, maritime security in Southeast Asia, and studies of the domestic policies of individual Southeast Asian countries.

This book studies Vietnam's emergence as a major actor in Southeast Asian and global affairs. It focuses its analysis primarily on the period since 1995 when Vietnam became the seventh member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The analysis considers the impact of the Asian financial crisis on Vietnam. The contributors explore the sea change in Vietnamese foreign policy that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s as Vietnam moved from dependency on the Soviet Union to a more balanced and multilateral set of external relations.

This authoritative volume evaluates post-Cold War approaches to security in the Asia Pacific. Leading specialists first examine traditional security concerns-military capabilities, balance of power, territorial and resource disputes, the effects of new technologies on military strategy, and the problems involved in maintaining sovereignty in the face of globalization. They then introduce the new security agenda of economic and financial stability, the effects of environmental degradation, human rights and political stability, and the impact of transnational crime. Their wide-ranging and incisive discussions will be of interest to policymakers, scholars, and students alike. Visit our website for sample chapters!

This book is a critical analysis of how the discursive and material practices of the "War on Terror" influenced security politics in Southeast Asia after 9/11. It explores how the US-led War on Terror, operating both as a set of material practices and as a larger discursive framework for security, influenced the security of both state and non-state actors in Southeast Asia after 9/11. Building on the author’s own critical security studies approach, which demands a historically and geographically contingent method of empirically grounded critique, Writing Southeast Asian Security examines some of the unexpected effects that the discourses and practices of the War on Terror have had on the production of insecurity in the region. The cases presented here demonstrate that forms of insecurity were constructed and/or abetted by the War on Terror itself, and often occurred in concert with the practices of traditional state-centric security. This work thus contributes to a larger critical project of revealing the violence intrinsic to the pursuit of security by states, but also demonstrates pragmatic opportunities for a functioning politics of theorizing security. This book will be of much interest to students of critical terrorism studies, critical security studies, East Asian, and Southeast Asian politics, US foreign policy, and IR in general.