THE SOUTHEAST ASIA REGIONAL SYSTEM: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY
THE SOUTHEAST ASIA REGIONAL SYSTEM: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY

Summary/Abstract: Southeast Asia, since its early inhabitation, has formed a distinctive regional system thanks to its peculiar geography. The area that contains the Strait of Malacca, because of being at the crossroads of both internal and external regional water-borne trade and thus social interaction since ancient times, has gained a status of being the economic, politic and cultural hub of the region. The study argues the Southeast Asia regional system through two main periods; pre-colonial period and colonial period. The colonialism in the region has taken as the axis here since the Southeast Asia regional system has been established before and fully functioned until the advent of colonialism. During this period, Indian, Chinese and the Middle Eastern economic, politic and cultural influences spread to the region. The colonial administrations hit a fatal blow to the system and the economic, politic and cultural demography of the region changed dramatically. In the framework of this historical background, the study concludes that the recent Southeast Asian regionalism, rather than being a unique example, can be considered as a revival of the ancient Southeast Asian regional system.

• Details
• Contents