Weak States, Vulnerable Governments, and Regional Cooperation: An ASEAN Case Study

The book explores why non-Western governments cooperate or not cooperate regionally, challenging Western-centrism and redefining state weakness. It proposes a set of regional cooperation strategies based on the survival needs of insecure governing elites and tests their validity against regional organizations' experiences. The book calls for international relations scholars to understand non-Western experiences and contribute to addressing security threats.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 222 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The non-Western world faces a multitude of challenges that significantly impact its population, including war, famine, poverty, organized crime, environmental catastrophes, refugees, epidemics, and pandemics. Moreover, wealthy governments often use economic leverage and military force to renegotiate existing norms of international relations in this region. Comprehending the mechanisms and motivations driving these phenomena is of utmost importance and urgency.

This book is the result of a decade-long endeavor to enhance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the factors that influence non-Western governments' decisions to cooperate or not cooperate regionally. It begins by recognizing the Western-centrism of prevailing international relations theories and challenging deeply ingrained assumptions about the nature and roles of states. The book then redefines state weakness and applies this concept to Southeast Asian polities, highlighting its vulnerability to internal and external threats.

Based on the survival needs of insecure governing elites, the book proposes a set of regional cooperation strategies that are empirically validated against the experiences of regional organizations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

The second part of the book delves into how the shared security needs and interests of Southeast Asian governments shaped the emergence and evolution of the identified regional cooperation pattern within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the past 50 years.

Overall, this book serves as a call to international relations scholars to contribute to our understanding of these critical issues. By exploring the complexities and dynamics of non-Western governments' behavior, we can better equip ourselves to address the challenges and opportunities they face and work towards a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032067773