The Making Of South East Asia (rle Modern East And South East Asia) (routledge Library Editions: Modern East And South East Asia)

From the time of its original publication in France, this cultural history (first published in English in 1966) by an international authority has stood apart from other histories of South East Asia. Most such accounts describe events before 1500 in summary fashion, and concentrate on later developments. This book, on the contrary, deals mainly with the earlier, formative epochs that marked the flowering in the region of the Great Traditions of Hinduism and of Buddhism. Following a succinct sketch of the prehistoric period, the book moves on to a chronological account of the developments from the Chinese conquest of Annam in the third century to the period of European conquest in the nineteenth. It reflects the author's thoughtful views concerning the evolution of political institutions, religions, literatures, and arts that distinguished the region. In geographical scope it embraces Thailand, Burma, and the area formerly known as French Indochina, and is an indispensable guide to the making of the region. This book, first published in 1995, traces the attempt by the British Foreign Office to establish an international regional organisation in South-East Asia which would allow Britain to dominate the region politically, economically and militarily. The author explores the changing emphasis of Britain's regional policies and puts the issues affecting South-East Asia in the post-War period into a wide context. He explores events in the light of the Japanese defeat in the Second World War, the Communist struggle for supremacy of China, the development of Anglo-American relations in Asia and the beg The West no longer regards communism in East Asia as a threat. On the contrary, because the communist party states of East Asia appear to be undergoing a process of reform directed primarily at economic modernization, it is now regarded as a potential market. The West's attitude is reinforced by the recognition of East Asia's economic importance more generally - a perception which in itself undoubtedly stimulated reform in the region's communist party states. The causes, extent and consequences of reform in the East Asian communist party states are the concerns of the contributions to this vol This 7-volume set reissues a range of classic out-of-print texts that cover a host of issues that have contributed to the development of modern East and South East Asia. With titles covering economics, politics, history, anthropology and security, this set provides the researcher with an essential resource on the region.