Nationalism in Southeast Asia : If the People Are with Us

Nationalism in Southeast Asiaseeks a definition of nationalism through examining its role in the history of Southeast Asia, a region rarely included in general books on the topic. The state building of the colonial phase 1949-1975 is seen as a directed process with unexpected outcomes: it helped to create and to provoke opposition that took the form of "nationalist" movements. Tarling goes onto consider the role of nationalism in the "nation-building" of the post-colonial phase, and its relationship both with the democratic aspirations associated with the winning of independence and with the authoritarianism of the closing decades of the twentieth century.

Nicholas Tarling is a Fellow of the New Zealand Asia Institute, The University of Auckland.