Linkage or Bondage

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region is one of the fastest growing areas of the world. Larger than the European Economic Community in population, the ASEAN member states of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand are likely to surpass that region as a U.S. trading partner by the turn of the century. Authors Hans H. Indorf and Patrick M. Mayerchak examine the relationship between the United States and ASEAN in terms of opportunities for and limits of cooperation. This book is a comprehensive political and economic introduction to the critically important Southeast Asian region. Because of its up-to-date economic data and relevant policy recommendations, it will appeal to members of the business and government communities.

The volume opens with an analysis of general development variables and progresses to problems of the national economies of the ASEAN member states and the characteristics of U.S. bilateral relations with the region. The first three chapters establish a data base for an analysis of the current situation and identify problems and prospects. The chapters that follow explore the obstacles to U.S. relations as well as positive external factors. The activities of international organizations, major trading nations, and ASEAN itself are also scrutinized. In conclusion, the authors offer possible measures the U.S. and ASEAN could take to improve a stagnating relationship. This book will be valuable supplementary reading in courses on Southeast Asia, international organizations, comparative political and economic systems, and economic development.

HANS H. INDORF is President of Asian Affairs Analysts, a Washington, D.C., consultancy, and a contributing editor of Asian Affairs. He has edited, among other books, ASEAN after Twenty Years and Thai-American Relations in Contemporary Affairs. He is the author of ASEAN: Problems and Prospects, Impediments to Regionalism in Southeast Asia, and Strategies for Small State Survival. Dr. Indorf spent many years as visiting professor in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore and has returned to the region annually since the early 1960s for research purposes.

PATRICK M. MAYERCHAK is Professor of Political Science and Director of the International Studies Program of the Virginia Military Institute. He has written Scholar's Guide to Washington D.C. for Southeast Asian Studies and contributed a chapter to The Armed Forces in Contemporary Asian Societies.