Southeast Asia: theory between modernization and tradition

This article inquires into the absence of non-western theorizingupon Southeast Asian international relations by positing thatmodernization and its conceptual kin ‘realism’ haveproclaimed themselves as the mainstream in both theoreticaland empirical research. This is as much a product of postcolonialwestern scholarship as it is of indigenous scholarship in reproducingthe former's frameworks. The effect of this Gramscian hegemonyis to marginalize possibilities for non-western internationaltheory. There are nonetheless flickers of hope for a generic‘Southeast Asian contribution’ to theorizing InternationalRelations, inclusive of non-mainstream western scholarship,if one considers the categories of transitional and hybrid scholarship,in addition to historically informed possibilities of a traditionalSoutheast Asian statehood. Received for publication May 16, 2006. Accepted for publication June 27, 2007.