Books on ASEAN: Southeast Asia In Search of An ASEAN Community

Original Title in English
by Author Rodolfo C. Severino
Publisher: ISEAS Publishing, 2006, ISBN 9789812303882
My ref: ATA-113


Reviews:
ASEAN is by far the most successful and durable regional association in the developing world. This volume, by a distinguished Philippine diplomat, is a must-read for anybody interested in the Association, its organisation, and its internal and external relations. Rod Severino served as ASEAN Secretary-General from 1998 to 2002, during a challenging period both for the Association and the individual member countries. He knows practically everybody in the field, and in this volume he reflects constructively and deeply on ASEAN, its achievements to date, and its future challenges. (by Hal Hill, H.W. Arndt Professor of Southeast Asian Economies, Australian National University)

There is not one in a better position to assess the trials and tribulations of Asia's most renowned international organisation - ASEAN - than Ambassador Rodolfo Severino. The book addresses the major concerns that have faced ASEAN in the past and will surely require its attention in the future. The former SG provides the wise perspective of a practitioner who served as a mediator on such sensitive issues as changes in ASEAN's non-interference norm, observed its primacy in other subsequent Asian international organisations, and grappled with the question of how ASEAN is reinventing itself to face the transnational challenges of the 21st century. This is a must reading for all who follow Asian international politics. (By Sheldon W. Simon, Professor of International Politics, Arizona State University).

... this important book is being published at an important moment in the life of ASEAN. (By Prof. Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Singapore).
...Not just another book on ASEAN, this volume reappraises the organization from the inside, through controversial or perplexing issues such as the "ASEAN Way", the accession of the new members, including Myanmar, the principle of "non-interference", regional security, regional economic integration, the haze and SARS, and ASEAN's future. Written by a key player, the former ASEAN Secretary-General, this book will illuminate the inner workings of the key Southeast Asian regional institution. It is a must-read for journalists, policy-makers, political scientists and others who need an insiders' view on how ASEAN has evolved, how it operates and whether it will remain relevant in the evolving Asia Pacific and global order (Review by Global Investor Bookshop)

About the Publisher:

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) was established as an autonomous organisation in 1968. It is a regional centre dedicated to the study of socio-political, security and economic trends and developments in Southeast Asia and its wider geostrategic and economic environment.

The Institute's research programmes are the Regional Economic Studies (RES, including ASEAN and APEC), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSC).

ISEAS Publishing, an established academic press, has issued more than 1000 books and journals. It is the largest scholarly publisher of research about Southeast Asia from within the region. ISEAS Publications works with many other academic and trade publishers and distributors to disseminate important research and analyses from and about Southeast Asia to the rest of the world.

About the Author: Rodolfo C. Severino is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore and a frequent speaker at international conferences in Asia and Europe. He was Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 1998 to 2002.