Imagined Proximities: The Making and Unmaking of Southeast Asia as a Region

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amitav Acharya
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Regional Identity ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Political Idea ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Second World ◽  
Deliberate Effort

AbstractThis essay adopts an international relations perspective in understanding Southeast Asia as a region and stresses regionalism as the chief agent in regional construction. It argues that the modern, post-Second World War concept of Southeast Asia resulted from a deliberate effort by a group of governments in the region to develop a regional identity based on political and strategic considerations. Regionalism and regional identity were seen by these governments as an important way of furthering nationalism and national interests. This, in effect represented a shift from the colonial, orientalist and geopolitical views of Southeast Asia's regionness to a more indigenous and essential political idea of Southeast Asia emerging out of the evolution of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). "Nations come and go - why shouldn't regions?" Don Emmerson (Emmerson, 1984:20)

Non-Alignment: Ideological Pluralism

1984 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-206
Author(s):  
Samaan Boutros Farajalla
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Second World ◽  
Present World ◽  
World Environment ◽  
Acute Crisis

There is no doubt that the world scene has undergone fundamental evolution in every respect during the past thirty-five years or so. The Non-Aligned Movement followed this evolution and became an important factor of international relations after the Second World War. The Non-Aligned states themselves feel very strongly about the importance of their role as they are convinced that their policies have to be taken into account, even by the Super Powers. Nevertheless in recent years, they have also become deeply conscious of the shortcomings of their policies due to their military and economic weakness and disunity in many instances. They have also realized the limitations of their influence. These shortcomings and limitations have generated a deep sense of frustration to a point that the Non-Aligned Movement is currently under stress, facing even an acute crisis of identity. Needless to point out, this crisis is related to the complex phenomenon of non-alignment itself which has always been beset by different currents and cross-currents depending on divergent national interests. It is therefore necessary to fully understand the concept of non-alignment in the context of the contemporary world environment in order to clarify its general objectives and their relevance to the present world situation, loaded as it is with a host of problems, which remain without adequate answers or solutions.

Regional Organizations in Southeast Asia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kilian Spandler
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Second World

Research on regional organizations in Southeast Asia began to form during the Second World War. Although not always explicit, realist assumptions informed most of this early scholarship. From the organization’s foundation in 1967 until the end of the Cold War, research focused almost exclusively on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In the 1990s, new regional initiatives led to a broadened empirical scope and encouraged the adoption of new perspectives from broader debates in International Relations theory, such as liberalism and constructivism. However, this increasing pluralism was still highly Western-centric in terms of its theoretical underpinnings. Since the 2000s, there has been a conscious effort, driven by scholars from inside and outside the region, to draw on critical and indigenous traditions of political thought in accounting for the distinctive features of regionalism in Southeast Asia. Despite the diversity of research questions and approaches, researchers keep returning to three central, long-standing themes: ASEAN’s institutional features, its effects and relevance, and its relation to the broader regional and global context. By exploring these issues, scholars of regional organizations in Southeast Asia have not just passively adopted insights from broader International Relations research but also driven conceptual and theoretical innovation, most notably regarding the development of non-Western approaches in International Relations.

scholarly journals The Westphalian model and sovereign equality

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER M. R. STIRK
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Sovereign Equality ◽  
Normative Principle ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Second World

AbstractAlthough the Westphalian model takes many forms the association of Westphalian and sovereign equality is a prominent one. This article argues firstly that sovereign equality was not present as a normative principle at Westphalia. It argues further that while arguments for sovereign equality were present in the eighteenth century they did not rely on, or even suggest, a Westphalian provenance. It was, for good reasons, not until the late nineteenth century that the linkages of Westphalia and sovereign equality became commonplace, and even then sovereign equality and its linkage with Westphalia were disputed. It was not until after the Second World War, notably through the influential work of Leo Gross that the linkage of Westphalia and sovereign equality became not only widely accepted, but almost undisputed until quite recently. The article concludes by suggesting that not only did Gross bequeath a dubious historiography but that this historiography is an impediment to contemporary International Relations.

Korea 1905–1945

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ku Daeyeol
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
World War ◽  
Colonial Korea ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World

This important new study by one of Korea’s leading historians focuses on the international relations of colonial Korea – from the Japanese rule of the peninsula and its foreign relations (1905–1945) to the ultimate liberation of the country at the end of the Second World War. In addition, it fills a significant gap – the ‘blank space’ – in Korean diplomatic history. Furthermore, it highlights several other fundamental aspects in the history of modern Korea, such as the historical perception of the policy-making process and the attitudes of both China and Britain which influenced US policy regarding Korea at the end of World War II.

Nigerian Forces Comforts Fund, 1940–1947: “The Responsibility of the Nigerian Government to Provide Funds for the Welfare of Its Soldiers”

Itinerario ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-542
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Nwafor Mordi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
East And Southeast Asia ◽  
Nigerian Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
Second World

AbstractThis study seeks to make an original contribution to the historiography of Africa and the Second World War. It examines the efforts of the Nigerian government and the British Army towards the welfare and comforts of Nigerian soldiers during their overseas services from 1940 to 1947. Their deployments in East Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia had brought the issue of their morale maintenance, namely comforts and welfare, to the fore. Extant Nigerian studies of the Second World War have been concerned with Nigerian contributions to Allied victory in terms of diverse economic exertions and those guided by charity towards Europeans affected by the German blitzkrieg, particularly in Britain. Consequently, this paper explains the genesis, objectives, and policy directions of the Nigerian Forces Comforts Fund and its impact on Nigerian servicemen's comforts and welfare. The study posits the argument that constant disagreements and indeed struggles for supremacy between the military and the civil power adversely affected troops’ comforts and welfare. Delayed postwar repatriation of the idle and bored troops to West Africa, in breach of openly proclaimed wartime promises, bred anxiety and made them prone to mutiny. The end of demobilisation in 1947 left many disgruntled ex-servicemen applying for reenlistment.

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