National Interest or Regional Interest: The Political Economy of ASEAN Cooperation

Author: Wang Zichang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: This book primarily studies cooperation among Southeast Asian countries. ASEAN, as an arrangement for regional cooperation among countries in Southeast Asia, aims to create a favorable regional environment for the development of each country. This includes the following four aspects:
First, achieving reconciliation among regional countries and resolving conflicts between them;
Second, opposing foreign aggression and maintaining peace in Southeast Asia;
Third, opposing foreign interference and safeguarding regional stability;
Fourth, expanding economic cooperation and promoting regional prosperity.
This book will introduce and analyze ASEAN cooperation from the above four aspects. It will closely follow the prominent red line of conflicts between national and regional interests, analyzing the interests of each country behind every institutional initiative, the bargaining and outcomes surrounding these initiatives, and how each country, for its own interests, may undermine the hard-won cooperative system, while other countries take actions and make adjustments based on their own interests.