Mandalas of Multialignment

This book generates a new connective approach to analyzing Southeast Asia alignment shifts in grand strategy and foreign and security policy. Drawing on cases across nearly a century including the Philippines and U. S. -China competition, Vietnam s multidirectionality after the USSR s collapse and Thailand s WWII Japan alliance it constructs a new Mandalas of Multialignment approach and develops an original Balance of Alignment model rooted in neoclassical realism to explain how states manage alignment challenges. Looking ahead, the book charts out how Southeast Asian states can weave their own alignment webs beyond binaries of great power competition and across spheres of their own influences through a new Connective Alignment Management process.

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Puzzle in Southeast Asia Alignment Behavior. - Chapter 2: The Alignment Challenge in Southeast Asia Grand Strategies. - Chapter 3: The Argument: Mandalas of Multialignment. - Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Japan-Thailand World War Two Alliance and Bamboo Diplomacy. - Chapter 5: Chapter 5: China-Indonesia Cold War Axis and Free and Active Foreign Policy. - Chapter 6: Anglo-Malaysia Post-Withdrawal Renegotiation, the FPDA and Neutrality. - Chapter 7: Russia-Vietnam Recalibration and Post-Cold War Multidirectionality. - Chapter 8: US-Philippine Separation Bid, China Competition and Independent Foreign Policy. - Chapter 9: Navigating the Alignment Challenge in Southeast Asia Grand Strategy.