The authors combine colonial history with social history to provide a twofold analysis of the Southeast Asian region. Stressing comparative interpretations, the authors describe the growth of the colonial regimes, the Southeast Asian response to the West, the crucial period of Japanese occupation, and the difficulties of modern decolonization
Southeast Asia, as a regional configuration of nation-states called ASEAN, is a community of multiple identities. Over time, its citizens' loyalties were formed around national and transnational frameworks involving ethnic, religious, and ideological affinities. In the post-independence period, they were impacted by the processes of decolonization, nation-building, the Cold War, globalization, …