Southeast Asia After the Cold War: A Contemporary History

Ang Cheng Guan

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International politics in Southeast Asia since end of the Cold War in 1990 can be understood within the frames of order and an emerging regionalism embodied in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). But order and regionalism are now under siege, with a new global strategic rebalancing under way. The region is now forced to contemplate new risks, even the emergence of new sorts of cold war, rivalry and conflict. 

Ang Cheng Guan, author of Southeast Asia’s Cold War, writes here in the mode of contemporary history, presenting a complete, analytically informed narrative that covers the region, highlighting change, continuity and context.

Crucial as a tool to make sense of the dynamics of the region, this account of Southeast Asia's international relations will also be of immediate relevance to those in China, the USA and elsewhere who engage with the region, with its young, dynamic population, and its strategic position across the world's key choke-points of trade. This is essential reading for decision-makers who wish to understand our current situation, looking back to the end of the Cold War thirty years ago, and forward to an uncertain future.

“Deft and imaginative sourcing gives Southeast Asia After the Cold War a clear and compelling perspective from within the region—one that renders alternative perspectives trivial. In linking the evolution of Southeast Asian regionalism to the uncertain search for a new order, Ang Cheng Guan has written a brilliantly conceived book.”
- Michael Montesano, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore

"No other author has matched the width and depth of analysis as has Ang Cheng Guan. His histories of Southeast Asian international politics, from the viewpoint of a Singaporean at the centre of a diverse and dynamic region, provides a perspective not achieved by any other authority. Southeast Asia After the Cold War brings his penetrating account up to date." 
– Robert H. Taylor, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore

"If you want to understand what the Southeast Asian states have been up to after the Cold War and how successful they have been in crafting a semblance of regional order, you can do no better than read Ang Cheng Guan’s book."
– Khong Yuen Foong, Lee Kuan School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore

Ang’s evident passion for his subject area makes for an energized work, which takes the reader on a whistle-stop, but highly informative, journey through the events of the thirty years preceding 2017...In addition to its broad international relations and history audience, this book would be beneficial to students of Asean, Southeast Asian relations, US-geopolitics, and the rise of China. It provides an admirable overview of the South China Sea dispute, regional pressures, and the tensions between China and the USA.
– Jodie Satterley, University of Law, London, Bijdragen KITLV

Ang Cheng Guan is associate professor, associate dean and head of graduate studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University.

Publication Year: 2019
296pp / 229 x 152mm
Paperback
ISBN: 978-981-3250-78-9