This book is a product of the Expert Roundtable Discussion on the topic "The Road to Ratification and Implementation of the ASEAN Charter", jointly organised by the ASEAN Studies Centre (ASC) of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and the Habibie Centre, on 17 July 2008 in Jakarta. The objective of the discussion was to illuminate the provisions of the ASEAN Charter and its strengt…
A Plastic Nation examines the immense role of Thai nationhood in domestic and international politics. Although in fact ill-defined, Thainess, or khwampenthai, has been consistently used by Thai leaders to legitimize their power and to defend their economic interests. Not only has the assertion of Thainess been deeply rooted in the private interests of those in power, it has been deployed as par…
This book is an attempt to answer this question, one may find that ASEAN-not just the ASEAN members that have claims to little pieces of land and vast waters of the South China Sea, not just individual ASEAN members, but ASEAN as a whole - has an abiding interest in peace and stability in this region and in freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea. Much of ASEAN's comme…