Building a Safe Community--ASEAN and Regional Order

Author: (Canada) Amita Acharya, translated by Wang Zhengyi, Feng Huaxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: In this groundbreaking study, the creative ways ASEAN has addressed national and international security issues are rigorously argued. The book has a tight theoretical structure and comprehensive background information. Amita Acharya is a rare scholar well-versed in security and regional studies. Acharya's work is one of the best, most engaging, and most comprehensive studies on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It provides compelling theoretical foundations for studying international relations through the lens of a security community. This book is a must-read for scholars interested in regional security, particularly in the role of norms and collective identity in the process of peaceful change. It is part of the "Eastern Translation Series."
This book is an empirical study of constructivism, using Southeast Asia as a case study. The authors argue that inter-state cooperation is a socialization process, where binding norms are internalized to influence state behavior, gradually forming identities and ultimately producing positive, even transformative, impacts on international relations, leading states to adhere to the principle of peaceful coexistence. Applying constructivist theory to the order-building in Southeast Asia is an innovative study. The authors rigorously argue for the creative ways ASEAN has addressed national and international security issues in this book. It provides compelling theoretical foundations and rich materials and examples for studying international relations through the approach of a security community.