The balance of great-power influence in contemporary Southeast Asia

This article reviews and critiques recent scholarly work onSoutheast Asian relations with the great powers, examining thestrategies that ASEAN governments have used and the effectsof those strategies. The author argues that Southeast Asiangovernments have generally steered away from traditional balanceof power politics to promote a more complex ‘balance ofinfluence’ comprising military, economic, institutional,and ideational dimensions. A key feature of this balance ofinfluence strategy has been its inclusiveness. Southeast Asiangovernments have invited competing great powers to participatein the region's economic and diplomatic affairs so that theydevelop stakes in the region's peace and prosperity. The authorcontends that Southeast Asian efforts have been relatively successfulto date, contributing to a multi-dimensional balance that isrelatively resilient and places significant constraints on anyexternal power's ability to exercise unwanted dominance in theregion. Received for publication August 4, 2008. Accepted for publication September 24, 2008.