The Borderlands of Southeast Asia: Geopolitics, Terrorism, and Globalization

Until recently, border studies in contemporary Southeast Asia appeared as an afterthought at best to the politics of interstate rivalry and national consolidation. The maps set out all agreed post colonial lines. Meanwhile, the physical demarcation of these boundaries lagged. Large slices of territory, on land and at sea, eluded definition or delineation. The beginning of the 21st century s second decade is witnessing an intensifying diplomacy, both state-to-state and commercial, over off-shore petroleum. In particular, the South China Sea has moved from being a rather arcane area of conflict studies to the status of a bellwether issue. Along with other contested areas in the western Pacific and south Asia, the problem increasingly defines China s regional relationships in Asia and with powers outside the region, especially the United States.