The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1978 and the consequent outbreak of the Cambodian conflict brought Southeast Asia into instability and deteriorated relations between Vietnam and the subsequently established Vietnam-backed government in Cambodia on the one hand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries on the other. As a result of the conflict, the Soviet Union established a foothold in Southeast Asia while China, through its support of the anti-Vietnam Cambodian resistance, improved relations with Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand. Japan's Fukuda Doctrine - it’s declared priorities of promoting cooperative and friendly relations between Communist Indochinese nations and non-Communist ASEAN countries – became increas¬ingly at odds with Japan’s role as a member of the Free World in the broader Cold War confrontation. Tokyo had to steer a path between Washington’s hard-line policy of isolating Vietnam and its own desire to prevent regional destabilization. Against this background, this book addresses the following questions: what was Japan’s response to the challenges to its objectives and interests in Southeast Asia and to the Fukuda Doctrine? What role did Japan play for the settlement of the conflict in Cambodia? How did Japan’s diplomacy on the Cambodian problem affect the Japanese role in the region? It argues that Japan’s contribution was more active than has widely been recognized.

Southeast Asia is rapidly becoming a competitive space for geopolitical rivalries. The growth in China-U.S. strategic competition is creating deep anxiety among Southeast Asia leaders, China's rising power is felt across every corner of Southeast Asia, and many leaders are worried about the long-term implications of rising Chinese influence in the region. The United States' increasingly assertive approach towards China is welcomed by some governments, but the growth in tensions is creating deep anxiety about a possible new Cold War. How can the region prevent a repeat of the divisions and bitter rivalries of the previous Cold War? This book argues that Southeast Asia is emerging as an open, autonomous region, where small and middle powers can maintain their sovereignty and shape the regional order. Despite new superpower pressures, the region is moving towards a multi-polar order, with greater agency for Southeast Asian countries. The key to Southeast Asia's future may be other external powers – particularly Japan, Australia, India, and Europe – who can provide ASEAN governments with more diverse partnerships, enabling them to avoid the bipolar blocs of superpower rivalries. The book argues that external partners are helping to shape the geopolitical order by supporting ASEAN leadership and diluting the influence of great powers. Southeast Asian countries also have remarkable capacity to manage asymmetrical relations and balance external powers. The book describes the region's history of managing great power relations, drawing on historical and contemporary cases. By examining the dynamics between Southeast Asia and external powers, the book predicts that the region's future will look entirely different from its Cold War past.

This book is an introduction to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the economic community founded by Southeast Asian nations. It provides both economic profiles of the member nations and an explanation of the Community itself. This book also discusses the impact of China on the AEC. The book is a starting point for research into the region or into any member country, whether for academic or for business purposes. With over 170 tables and figures as well as an abundance of historical facts, the book offers data-based insights.

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.

Japan has been expanding its military roles in the post-Cold War period. This book analyses the shift in Japan’s security policy by examining the collective ideas of political parties and the effect of an international norm. Starting with the analysis of the collective ideas held by political parties, this book delves into factors overlooked in existing literature, including the effects of domestic and international norms, as well as how an international norm is localised when a conflicting domestic norm already exists. The argument held throughout is that these factors play a primary role in framing Japan's security policy. Overall, three security areas are studied: Japan’s arms trade ban policy, Japan’s participation in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, and Japan’s enlarged military roles in international security. Close examination demonstrates that the weakening presence of the left since the mid-1990s and the localisation of an international norm encouraged Japan to broaden its military role. Providing a comprehensive picture of Japan’s evolving security policy, this book asserts that shifts have occurred in ways that do not violate the pacifist domestic norm. Japan's Evolving Security Policy will appeal to students and scholars of International Relations, Asian Politics, Asian Security Studies and Japanese Studies.

This book presents an overview of political economic change in Vietnam during a period of significant social and economic change and an era of international turbulence. It combines various political economic perspectives to offer an integrated and comprehensive review of Vietnam’s recent development, discussing topics such as public administrative reform, labour markets and special economic zones, environmental management and other important contemporary issues. This concise and highly readable book includes a considerable amount of research, and as such provides valuable insights for scholars and researchers interested in political economic change and in Vietnam.

This book assesses the important role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the management of regional political, security and economic relations. The author argues that ASEAN’s prominent role in the region, spanning 50 years, is largely due to the acquiescence of the great powers who endorsed ASEAN, accepted its regional position and accorded the institution a legitimacy and durability that, otherwise, it would not have. This text offers a key intervention into the debate regarding ASEAN and regional order by showing how ASEAN’s contribution to order management is part of a negotiated division of labour with the great powers. The author applies an innovative social roles analysis, which captures the dynamic interactions between ASEAN and the great powers from the Cold War to the present day.

Japan has increasingly emphasized democracy assistance since the mid-2000s, such that it now constitutes a major part of Japan’s foreign policy. This approach is an ostensible departure from the country’s traditional foreign policy stance, which tries to avoid bringing values to the forefront of foreign policies. This book intends to answer the questions of why Japan has started emphasizing democracy assistance and why it has relegated itself to a minor role in democracy assistance nevertheless. It argues that Japan’s emphasis on democracy assistance reveals its intention to increase its political influence with regards to China based on democratic values, and its usage of the term "democracy assistance" is a performative speech act to orchestrate a comprehensive approach for international democracy support. Shedding light on the novel aspect of Japanese policy, this book contributes to the understanding of Japanese foreign policy and democracy promotion. Providing the analysis that state’s speech act could cause to create foreign policies that counter what is predicted by structural realism, this analysis makes contributions to neoclassical realism which explains states’ foreign policy choices within the constraints of international structure.

Since the late 1980s, many East Asian countries have become more multicultural, a process marked by increased democracy and pluralism despite the continuing influence of nationalism, which has forced these countries in the region to re-envision their nations. Many such countries have had to reconsider their constitutional make-up, their terms of citizenship and the ideal of social harmony. This has resulted in new immigration and border-control policies and the revisiting of laws regarding labor policies, sociopolitical discrimination, and socioeconomic welfare. This book explores new perspectives, concepts, and theories that are socially relevant, culturally suitable, and normatively attractive in the East Asia context. It not only outlines the particular experiences of nation, citizenship, and nationalism in East Asian countries but also places them within the wider theoretical context. The contributors look at how nationalism under the force of multiculturalism, or vice versa, affects East Asian societies including China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong differently. The key themes are: Democracy and equality; Confucianism’s relationship with nationalism, cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism; China’s use of its political institutions to initiate and sustain nationalism; the impact of globalization on nationalism in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan; the role of democracy in reinvigorating indigenous cultures in Taiwan.

As memories of the savage conflict inaugurated by the attack on Pearl Harbor recede, the ethical foundations that influenced postwar interpretations of Japan’s role during the Cold War era are crumbling on different fronts. Retracing Japanese history during the Sixties, this book locates the country’s role in Cold War history against the backdrop of the twentieth century, contextualizing older trends that shaped postwar changes. It also places Cold War Japan in the global context of America’s shifting hegemony and the corresponding structure of the international system. Given its nuanced approach, this book will prove instrumental for students and researchers working in studies of Cold War history, Japanese history, American history and international history.