International politics in Southeast Asia since end of the Cold War in 1990 can be understood within the frames of order and an emerging regionalism embodied in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). But order and regionalism are now under seige, with a new global strategic rebalancing under way. The region is now forced to contemplate new risks, even the emergence of new sorts of cold war, rivalry and conflict.Ang Cheng Guan, author of Southeast Asia’s Cold War, writes here in the mode of contemporary history, presenting a complete, analytically informed narrative that covers the region, highlighting change, continuity and context.

Crucial as a tool to make sense of the dynamics of the region, this account of Southeast Asia’s international relations will also be of immediate relevance to those in China, the USA and elsewhere who engage with the region, with its young, dynamic population, and its strategic position across the world’s key choke-points of trade. This is essential reading for decisionmakers who wish to understand our current situation, looking back to the end of the Cold War thirty years ago, and forward to an uncertain future.