The transformation of Southeast Asia : international perspectives on decolonization

This book provides the basis for a reconceptualization of key features in Southeast Asia's history. Scholars from Europe, America, and Asia examine evolutionary patterns of Europe's and Japan's Southeast Asian empires from the late nineteenth century through World War II, and offer important insights into the specific events of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. In turn, their different perspectives on the political, economic, and cultural currents of the "post-colonial" era - including Southeast Asia's gradual adjustment to globalizing forces - enhance understanding of the dynamics of the decolonization process. Drawing on new and wide-ranging research in international relations, economics, anthropology, and cultural studies, the book looks at the impact of decolonization and the struggle of the new nation-states with issues such as economic development, cultural development, nation-building, ideology, race, and modernization. The contributors also consider decolonization as a phenomenon within the larger international structure of the Cold War and the post-Cold War eras. Contents 5 Introduction 7 1. Dimensions of Decolonization 17 2. The Impact of World War II on Decolonization 37 3. The Economic Impact of Decolonization in Southeast Asia: Economic Nationalism and Foreign Direct Investment,1945-1965 49 4. Monarchy and Decolonization in Indochina 66 5. France and the Associated States of Indochina, 1945-1955 86 6. The Indonesian Revolution and the Fall of the Dutch Empire 97 7. Theories and Approaches to British Decolonization in Southeast Asia 119 8. British Attitudes and Policies on Nationalism and Regionalism 141 9. The “Grand Design”: British Policy, Local Politics, and the Making of Malaysia, 1955-1961 156 10. Making Malaya Safe for Decolonization: The Rural Chinese Factor in the Counterinsurgency Campaign 175 11. ”Nationalism" in the Decolonization of Singapore 194 12. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Trusteeship, and U.S. Exceptionalism: Reconsidering the American Vision of Postcolonial Vietnam 211 13. The United States and Southeast Asia in an Era of Decolonization, 1945-1965 227 14. John Foster Dulles and Decolonization in Southeast Asia 240 15. Between SEATO and ASEAN: The United States and the Regional Oiganization of Southeast Asia 255 16. Parable of Seeds: The Green Revolution in the Modernizing Imagination 271 17. Afterword: The Limits of Decolonization 282 Notes 289 Chapter 1 289 Chapter 5 306 Chapter 6 307 Chapter 7 313 Chapter 8 320 Chapter 9 322 Chapter 10 325 Chapter 11 331 Chapter 12 335 Chapter 14 340 Chapter 15 342 About the Contributors 355 Index 359 "Decolonization is an important part of Southeast Asia's history. An understanding of the evolutionary patterns of Europe's and Japan's empires in Southeast Asia from the late nineteenth century through World War II provides important insights into the specific events of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. In turn, the political, economic, and cultural currents of the "postcolonial" era -- including Southeast Asia's gradual adjustment to globalizing forces -- enhances our understanding of the dynamics of the multifaceted decolonization process. This volume moves beyond the traditional view of decolonization as simply a transfer of power. Instead, the chapters emphasize the process, rather than events, to provide a framework for discussion. The authors look at the impact of decolonization and the struggle of the new nation states with issues such as economic development, cultural development, nation building, ideology, race, and modernization. The editors have brought together European, American, and Asian scholars to share different perspectives and insights on decolonization and Southeast Asia's development in the post-colonial era. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET This work provides the basis for a reconceptualization of key features in Southeast Asia's history. It examines evolutionary patterns of Europe's and Japan's Southeast Asian empires from the late 19th century through World War II, and offer insights into the events of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.