This book discusses the shifting regional geopolitical engagements and development of rearranged connections emerging among ASEAN and non-ASEAN actors. First, the book focuses on the crucial discourse surrounding the Indo-Pacific region, including its challenges, continuity, and relevance. The discussion highlights the growing influence of regional actors such as India, Thailand, Japan, and the US, particularly in the context of a pressing question of collaboration versus containment amidst China’s rise. The book delves into various topics, such as geopolitical anxieties, economic strength, foreign policy, international relations, development, and security promotion in South and Southeast Asia, through the lenses of ASEAN centrality and the Indo-Pacific strategy. Second, the volume emphasizes on the escalating tensions and the worsening crises in the region that cause major anxieties and the subsequent realignment and new alignment of countries’ relationships. Among several chapters of the volume, a large Indo-China state, Myanmar, takes a special place in the book’s discussions as it has grown as an important ground for a resource/energy race among geopolitically strategic partners. Additionally, Myanmar has the potential to become a balancer in ASEAN. Therefore, any positive development and change in course of relations to Myanmar, particularly with its neighbors, Japan, and Russia, in both historical and contemporary contexts, can have a significant impact not only on Myanmar’s course towards peace, democracy, and security, but also regional stability. The editors and contributors examine the unique position of ASEAN, with a focus on ASEAN centrality as a platform for addressing anxieties and building relationships to bridge the gap between world and regional players, including both friends and foes. Overall, the volume provides valuable insights into the Indo-Pacific region’s complex dynamics, including cooperation and collaboration among regional actors for long-term stability and prosperity. The interdisciplinary composition of the book invites readers from various backgrounds to engage with constructive debates on general perception, contextual discussion, and the highlights of engaged research from local and international perspectives.

This book discusses the shifting regional geopolitical engagements and development of rearranged connections emerging among ASEAN and non-ASEAN actors. First, the book focuses on the crucial discourse surrounding the Indo-Pacific region, including its challenges, continuity, and relevance. The discussion highlights the growing influence of regional actors such as India, Thailand, Japan, and the US, particularly in the context of a pressing question of collaboration versus containment amidst China’s rise. The book delves into various topics, such as geopolitical anxieties, economic strength, foreign policy, international relations, development, and security promotion in South and Southeast Asia, through the lenses of ASEAN centrality and the Indo-Pacific strategy. Second, the volume emphasizes on the escalating tensions and the worsening crises in the region that cause major anxieties and the subsequent realignment and new alignment of countries’ relationships. Among several chapters of the volume, a large Indo-China state, Myanmar, takes a special place in the book’s discussions as it has grown as an important ground for a resource/energy race among geopolitically strategic partners. Additionally, Myanmar has the potential to become a balancer in ASEAN. Therefore, any positive development and change in course of relations to Myanmar, particularly with its neighbors, Japan, and Russia, in both historical and contemporary contexts, can have a significant impact not only on Myanmar’s course towards peace, democracy, and security, but also regional stability. The editors and contributors examine the unique position of ASEAN, with a focus on ASEAN centrality as a platform for addressing anxieties and building relationships to bridge the gap between world and regional players, including both friends and foes. Overall, the volume provides valuable insights into the Indo-Pacific region’s complex dynamics, including cooperation and collaboration among regional actors for long-term stability and prosperity. The interdisciplinary composition of the book invites readers from various backgrounds to engage with constructive debates on general perception, contextual discussion, and the highlights of engaged research from local and international perspectives.

These essays, written between 1990 and 2000, cover the most significant phase of multilateral institution-building in the Asia Pacific region. They deal with: the emergence of regionalism in Southeast Asia; ASEAN's transition to the post-Cold War era; the role of the ASEAN Regional Forum; the engagement of China; the changing relationship between sovereignty and regionalism; and prospects for the regional institutions such as ASEAN, APEC and the ARF after the Asian economic crisis. The essays address the most challenging issues of regional order and articulate an institutionalist understanding of international relations in the region. This updated second edition includes four new chapters and two revised chapters.

The book examines ASEAN's mechanisms in managing challenges and threats to regional security. Its extensive analyses of the ASEAN story of managing regional security cover the different phases of ASEAN's development as a regional organization and explore the perceptible changes that have occurred in regional mechanisms of conflict management. The book also examines the roles of relevant actors beyond the states of ASEAN and the key interactions that have evolved over time, which have been instrumental in moving regional mechanisms beyond the ASEAN way. The book argues that the ASEAN way has not been impervious to change. As the association finds its way through periods of crises and continues to confront the many challenges ahead, ASEAN and its mechanisms are already being transformed beyond the narrow confines of the modalities associated with the ASEAN way. The changes in the political and security landscape of the region, as well as the democratic transitions taking place in some member states, have set the stage for a much more dynamic set of regional actors and processes that bring into question the kind of regionalism that is now taking place in the region. the way regionalism is changing in Southeast Asia.

Barack Obama’s "rebalancing" or "pivot" strategy, intended to demonstrate continued US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region in a variety of military, economic, and diplomatic contexts, was launched with much fanfare in 2011. Implicit in the new strategy is both a focus on China – engagement with, and containment of – and a heavy reliance by the United States on its existing friends and allies in the region in order to implement its strategy. This book explores the impact of the new strategy on America’s regional friends and allies. It shows how these governments are working with Washington to advance and protect their distinct national interests, while at the same time avoiding any direct confrontation with China. It also addresses the reasons why many of these regional actors harbour concerns about the ability of the US to sustain the pivot strategy in the long run. Overall, the book illustrates the deep complexities of the United States’ exercise of power and influence in the region.

This volume discusses the relationship between economics, geopolitics and regional institutional growth and development in the Asia-Pacific region. How do states (re)define their relationships amid the current global power transition? How do rival actors influence the rules and formation of new institutions for their own benefit? What role will institutions take as independent actors in influencing and constraining the behavior of states? Institutional development in Asia is characterized by idiosyncratic and diverse motivations (both material and non-material), a variety of policy strategies (strategic and norm-based), and the looming question of China’s future depth of involvement as its economic position becomes more stable and its confidence in foreign affairs grows. The book reflects the broadening definition of Asia by examining multiple perspectives, including Japan, China, South Korea, the United States, Australia, India, Russia, and Taiwan. In addition to state actors, the contributors address several important regional institutions in development such as the ASEAN (+3, +6, and the East Asian Summit), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), existing security alliances, and other bilateral institutions. Ultimately, this volume describes the unique, slow, and diverse growth of a multitude of regional institutions, the complexities of generating cooperation, membership concerns, and competition between states and with existing institutions in the context of China’s increasing confidence and strength. This book will be of much interest to students of Asian politics, regional security, international organizations, and foreign policy.

In view of the fast-changing world order, emerging countries are increasingly influencing the dynamics of regional securities. This timely and in-depth book examines India’s reorienting strategic posture and describes how New Delhi’s security policy in the Indo-Pacific region has evolved and expanded over the past two decades. The author argues that India’s quest to leverage its geostrategic location to emerge as an Indo-Pacific actor faces multiple challenges, which create a clear divide between the country’s political rhetoric and action on the ground. The author critically examines these contradictions to better situate India's security role in an increasingly fluid Indo-Pacific region.