Introduction

This chapter provides an introduction to the history, key processes, and structures of Southeast Asia's international relations since World War II. It does so not just because they have shaped the region, but because they have often been intricately linked to struggles over the shape of global order. It is also an area in which Australia has had a deep and sometimes troubled involvement: Australia has supported the independence of some states, tried to prevent that of others, and provided large amounts of aid, investment, diplomatic support and military assistance. It has joined wars and tried to end them, and has been a significant player in many of the major regional institutions and initiatives. Southeast Asia's recent history has been turbulent and extraordinary, taking in terrible wars and genocides, dictatorship and democratisation, rapid economic growth and social change, economic and political crisis, and novel and difficult experiments in regional diplomacy and intervention. It has challenged some of the dominant norms of international relations, and been subject to some of its most destructive forces.

In 1941, just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Southeast Asia was an imperial playground. None of its peoples were free, and with the beginning of the Pacific War they were soon to exchange one colonial power for another, suffer the consequences of war and occupation, and emerge four years later into a radically transformed regional and international order that is still changing.