Southeast Asia'S Multipolar Future: Averting A New Cold War

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 aggressive 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 it is possible to preserve Southeast Asia as an open, independent region, because the geopolitical dynamics are changing. Despite new superpower pressures, the region is moving towards a multi-polar, rules-based order. The key to Southeast Asia's future may be other external powers – Japan, Australia, India, Europe and Korea – who can provide ASEAN governments with more diverse partnerships, enabling them to avoid the bipolar blocs of superpower rivalries. To achieve this, however, Southeast Asian leaders must reduce their vulnerability to external pressure through more flexible multilateralism, and deepening engagement with these alternative external partners. By examining the internal debates within Southeast Asian countries, the book will predict possible strategic re-alignments over the next decade and describe how key external powers can best contribute to the preservation of ASEAN centrality, through inclusive and open regionalism in Southeast Asia.

• | Author: Thomas Parks
• | Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• | Publication Date: Jul 13, 2023
• | Number of Pages: 266 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 1350270784
• | ISBN-13: 9781350270787