Think Tank (1/2021)
Multilateralism and Trade in a Post-COVID World
Racial Difference and the Colonial Wars of 19th Century Southeast Asia
Farish A. Noor, Peter-Brian Ramsay Carey
The colonisation of Southeast Asia was a long and often violent process where numerous military campaigns were waged by the colonial powers across the region. The notion of racial difference was crucial in many of these wars, as native Southeast Asian societies were often framed in negative terms as "savage" and "backward" communities that needed to be subdued and "civilised". This collection of critical essays focuses on the colonial construction of race and looks at how the colonial wars in 19th-century Southeast Asia were rationalised via recourse to theories of racial difference, making race a significant factor in the wars of Empire. Looking at the colonial wars in Java, Borneo, Siam, the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and other parts of Southeast Asia, the essays examine the manner in which the idea of racial difference was weaponised by the colonising powers and how forms of local resistance often worked through such colonial structures of identity politics.
The Elusive Tipping Point: China–India Ties for a New Order
P. S. Suryanarayana
The Elusive Tipping Point: China-India Ties for a New Order is a timely foreign-policy-relevant book. This insightful book delves deep into the reasons for frequent diplomatic and strategic crises between Asia's two dynamic ancient civilisations with post-modern capabilities. Set in the context of seventieth anniversary of China-India diplomacy, the spotlight is turned on their complex search for neighbourliness and global good. Often a mirage, the positive tipping point in their state-to-state relations is traced through the past, the present and the potential future. A controversial missed opportunity in the past and a collective-win approach for the present are explored. For Beijing and Delhi, imaginative all-weather dialogue is the best option if they wish to stabilise their engagement for the uncertain future. Despite their major military crisis, PRC and India are expected to shape a realistic post-COVID world order.
