Order and Security in Southeast Asia: Essays in Memory of Michael Leifer

Michael Leifer, who died in 2001, was one of the leading scholars of Southeast Asian international relations. He was hugely influential through his extensive writings and his contacts with people in government and business in the region. He also inspired many new students of the region, an impressively large number of whom are now leading figures in their own right in the study of Southeast Asian international relations. In this important book many of Michael Leifer's students, colleagues and friends come together to explore the key themes of Michael's work, and to discuss the contributions he made. The particular themes explored include the notion of 'order' - a key theme in Michael Leifer's work, a concept never fully defined; the institutions concerned with regional order, especially ASEAN and the ASEAN Regional Forum, which Michael viewed as being only limited in their effectiveness; maritime security and its management, a little studied, but highly important, aspect of Southeast Asian Security,where the interests of China potentially conflict with those of Southeast Asian states; and the making of foreign policy within particular states, where Michael Leifer emphasised the important role of the different worldviews of different states. The book concludes with an overall assessment of Michael Leifer's contribution to the study of Southeast Asian international politics.