When the Cold War ended abruptly in the early 1990s, the United States grappled with its new role and responsibility as the world’s only global superpower. However, the world’s attention is increasingly focused on the expanding platform of great or would-be great powers.
Some of these – China and India – are rising rapidly, while others – Japan and Russia – are seeking to restore their influnence, still others – Brazil and Indonesia – aspire to new leadership roles.
The fluidity in power dynamics at this level may present challenges to international stability – in security, economics, energy, and the environment – but it also offers opportunities for new forms of cooperation….
Nowhere is this rising power phenomenon more vibrant than in Southeast Asia, a nearby neighborhood for some of the most significant rising powers. Historically a crossroads for great power competition, the region still reflects an ancient balance of culture and economic influence from China, India and the Middle East before the advent of European colonization.
Today, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) seeks to balance relations with the proliferation of new powers on the global state and in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, it is seeking to deepen relations with longstanding partners such as the United
States, Japan and Australia….
Markets are becoming more central…and supplanting some functions of the nation-state. This has led to the negotiaton of over 100 free trade agreements in the region, an increasingly tangled “noodle bowl” of trade rules and preferences.
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